Right! You are a happy owner of a holiday home in a sunny (or not so sunny but nevertheless scenic) place. Congratulations! That was a wise and pleasant investment (if you did your homework well). Now you are looking to rent your place sharing your joy with holidaymakers and generating some income from it. Where do you start?

Among many ways to advertise your home, a personal rental website is probably the simplest and the cheapest one. It is more suitable for internet-savvy owners, but hey – you are the one if you are reading this article! All it requires is some of your time along with love towards your property which you already have!

Where shall we start? Domain name, of course! Indeed a very important bit of your website.

Choosing name

Our primary goal is positioning of the website as high as possible in Google search results. We will be choosing a domain name with this in mind.

Although a domain name is not the main factor affecting website position, experts agree it does have influence. And if a domain name helps you jump a few positions higher than your competitor why not use this opportunity?

In order for a domain to fulfill this goal it needs to be keyword-rich. At best the domain name should be the exact phrase a holidaymaker searches for. Exact means exact, i.e. no additional words in it and same word order as in the search phrase.

How do you know which keyword phrases related to your holiday home potential guests search for? Thanks Google there is an excellent tool for that: Google Keyword Tool.

The tool is easy to use and gives you a list of phrases related to the phrase you entered along with search statistics. Two important things to note:

1) At the top of the page where it says something like: “Results are tailored to English, United Kingdom Edit”, click “Edit” and set the language and country to match your target audience. Unless you decide to target specific countries or languages other than English, set it to: “English, All Countries and Territories”.

2) Select “Match Type” to “Exact”. Only this setting will give you accurate search numbers for keywords.

Now enter “italy villas” into the keyword box and hit “Get keyword ideas” button. Make sure “Match Type” is set to “Exact”. Sort the results by “Approx Avg Search Volume”.

You got the list of phrases people search for every month and that are related to your holiday home. Our goal is to find phrases that are free in the extension we are targeting (more about extension later) and that are searched for most often.

You can go through the list now, top to bottom, and build a shortlist of phrases that are suitable for your holiday home website. Or better click on “Download all keywords as .csv (for excel)” and open the downloaded file in Microsoft Excel.

You can try other phrases for your property, for example “italy rentals”, “tuscany homes”, etc. For each of them repeat the above step: save results as .csv, open the file, cut and paste the data to your first spreadsheet so that you have all the results in a single excel document.

At this point you have a long (or not so long) list of domain name candidates in a single excel spreadsheet. You can sort it by “Approx Avg Search Volume” and build a shortlist of names. Remember our goal is to find phrases that are free in the extension we are targeting and that are searched for most frequently. Thus it’s now time to move onto extension!

Which extension?

.com – is the best extension for your holiday home website you can get, however the bad news is all the good names (read: all you can imagine) are taken.

.net – is a good global alternative to .com if .com version is not available.

The above two extensions target global audience, worldwide that is. However what if the majority of your guests come from one country? Registering a domain name in this country’s extension is a good idea then. To name a few, .co.uk and .de are the top popular ones you may want to target.

And now a sweet and important bit about country-level extensions. Google gives slight prevalence to local websites (assuming more influential factors being roughly equal). Consider an example. Let’s assume the two websites ItalyVillas.co.uk and ItalyVillas.com have equal rank and keyword relevance to ‘italy villas’ search phrase. However since ItalyVillas.co.uk has got a more local extension and is hosted in the UK it will show higher in the results presented to a UK-based holidaymaker. Just remember that locality is less important than website ranking and therefore provides advantage only if your website rank is comparable to the ones of your competitors. Plus you need to host your website in the country you are targeting for the locality to work in full.

.eu – heard of it? Yes it exists and available for registrations by Europeans. Not a bad choice for targeting European audience. And it has still got a lot of good free domains to grab.

Anything beyond that, e.g. .org, .biz, .info, .me, .mobi (did you know these exist?) is usually considered 3-d grade and best avoided. However, having said that, search engines do not penalize any exotic extensions, so you can still give them a go. It’s just that your website name won’t look “professional” in potential guest’s eyes. Also users may forget your exotic extension and type .com instead.

At this point you should have a list of domain name candidates along with extensions you want to target. Now it’s time to check what’s available!

Checking availability

Before you dive into exciting world of domain name discovery, a word of caution: do NOT under any circumstances check the availability of names on any website except for trusted ones. Why? – I hear you asking – because there are nasty people out there who write nasty programs and affiliate with shady domain checking websites. Their nasty programs automatically in real time sniff the names you enter and grab any good ones even before you get a chance! This happens within minutes. Stories from real people who lost their ideas to such shady websites come out every other day. So be cautioned.

I recommend this tool for checking domain availability: DomainTools Whois or DomainTools Whois bulk for multiple domain check. This site allows checking of country-level extensions plus exotics: Moniker Whois bulk. These places are known to be safe. (I am not affiliated with these sites, the recommendations come from my own knowledge and experience)

Copy paste your domain list along with extensions to a bulk-checker above and hold your breath.

You can now see what’s available. Pick the domain name with the highest monthly search volume, available in the best extension and..

Register it!

Where? My favorite registrars are Namecheap.com for anything except .eu and Internet.bs for .eu. They offer best price/value ratio in my opinion. (Again I am not affiliated with these websites)

How many?

I know you want a lot now! A lot of websites on different domains all advertising your holiday home. Or you just discovered a stack of good domains – all perfect for your holiday home – and struggling to stick with only one.

An important advice here is to NOT duplicate your website on different domains. This is of absolute importance. Otherwise all of your websites will be penalized by Google or excluded from the search index completely (will not show in the search results that is). So don’t do it.

What you can do instead is having one main website on a single domain with other domains pointing (redirecting) to it. Use “301 Redirect” for that, this option is usually available on the control panel of your hosting account.

Read the most up-to-date version of this article here: Domain name for your holiday home

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A guide to choosing the right domain name for your organization, business, product or brand… More >>
choosing the right domain name

The main advantage to picking the right domain name registration service is that it can create a most affordable means of ensuring a profitable route to conducting a profitable online business. As an owner of an online business you will often be confused about how to go about completing the domain name registration process in an affordable as well as effective manner. Remember that the right domain name plays a very important (nay, vital) role in advertising your business to the world at large. It can therefore even mean that you should consult a good domain name registration service to find out how to pick a domain name that includes the name of your business and which also complements your business.

Know The Charges

You can be sure that most domain name registration services will advertise the amount of money that they are going to charge you for registering your domain name. Of course, these charges are limited only to registering the domain name and will not be inclusive of any web hosting service. What’s more, these rates are the same for everyone and so you need not feel aggrieved that you are being charged more than what others are paying.

Typically, the cost of registering your domain name is less than ten dollars for which amount you can be sure of finding an affordable solution that in turn will ensure that you succeed in attracting greater numbers of customers to your website. Because of the sheer volume of the Internet it is impossible to find what you are looking for. This means that as a business owner you must use a domain name registration service to help you create a website that addresses a niche market and which at the same time allows people that are looking for your kind of products or services to find you without too much effort or bother.

With the help of a registration service you can make customers find you easily and also make them (the customers) feel as if they are dealing with a large Internet based business. This is possible only when the registration service creates for you a stylish name that connects your website to your niche product or service and in a way that boasts of quality as well as value.

There no doubts the fact that purchasing your domain name represents good value for your internet based business and it is most noticeable in the case of fresh businesses. What’s more, since the registration service does not charge a lot of money you are left feeling more secure in the fact that you have created an opening through which customers can find you with more ease.

Your domain registration allows you to do business every day with one unchanging business name that will remain in effect for a period of one year. Of course, different domain name registration services can specify a longer or shorter duration during which your domain name will remain valid. This they do because you are not the owner of the domain name but have only rented the name from the registration service and for a specific period.

What’s more, some registration services have their own specific guidelines about how business owners can use the domain name. If you are willing to put up with such obstacles then there is no harm in dealing with that domain name registration service; otherwise, you will have to expand your search further till you find a less fussy domain name registration service.

After getting your domain name registered it is up to you to choose a web hosting plan so that your business can open up and start receiving visitors. It goes to show that the entire process of registering your domain name can be very affordable and this fact should spur you on to grow your business even further.

Registering a domain name is the preliminary step when you set up your website. Your domain name should expose what your position or your company is about. It should be expressive and simple to keep in mind.

If you can register your domain name by using your greatest niche keyword you will also attain a few points in trying to find your site high up in the search engine rankings. Look for engines who advice you that domain name like www.blue-widgets-purple-widgets-cheap-widgets.com may be not in fact be a valid production and you should therefore be careful not to material your domain name with keywords.

Here is some information to choosing a premium domain name:

1) If your company is famous among your clients it is best to register your business name as your domain name.

2) If you are offering a product or service that you particularly want to market throughout the internet without even HAVING a company, then an explanatory name might be a better option.

3) Hyphens are easier to study and recognize by the search engines. The only negatives about hyphens are that they are complicated for people to hear! You will possibly have difficulty in spelling out your domain name over the phone or in discussion when it contains hyphens. It is also right to say that a name not including the hyphens are also seen as being more practiced.

4) While register a domain name you should register as many alternatives as possible (with hyphens as well as without hyphens) with extensions such as (.com, .net, .info, .biz). Registering domain names are actually not that expensive and you will be defensive the speculation into your company and your website product

5) If you are placed in a country other than the United States, for all time try and register your domain name with your home Top Level Domain conservatory (e.g..co.uk, .co.za) ever since the local adaptation of Google will give favorite to names with extension same your own country.

7) Always try and register your domain with an independent registrar and NOT with your hosting supplier. If you ever desire to move your website to one more hosting provider, it will now be easier to do it if your domain name registrar is also not your hosting provider. You may get it more difficult to get your website left from a shocking hosting provider if they have managed above your domain name as well.

One would think that registering a domain is the first step when setting up your website. This is not quite true. Hopefully you had done your research first to identify your niche keywords, in other words, the primary key terms that people are looking for in relation to your business.

Your domain name should reflect what your site or your business is about. It should be descriptive and easy to remember. If you can register your domain name by using your best niche keyword you will also score a few points in trying to get your site high up in the search engine rankings.

Just note, however, that while this was especially true a couple of years ago, the prevalence of garbage made-for-adsense type of sites to try and register a domain name with keywords in have led to this factor being overused and abused. Search engines are wising up to the fact that a domain name like www.red-widgets-blue-widgets-purple-widgets-cheap-widgets.com might not really be a real business and you should therefore be careful not to STUFF your domain name with keywords.

Here are some tips to choosing a good domain name:

1) If your company has a distinctive name that you use in your marketing campaigns, and if your company is well known among your customers it is best to try and register your company name as your domain name. For example, it will be better for Standard Bank to register standardbank.co.za as opposed to bankingservices.co.za. Branding yourself as a company that provides a specific service is very important.

2) But if your company does not have such a strongly branded presence in the market, or if you are offering a product or service that you specifically want to market through the internet without even HAVING a company, then a descriptive name might be a better option (e.g. www.health-products.co.za)

3) Hyphens are easier to read in print, are easier to ‘understand’ by the search engines (remember that a key linking strategy is to have text links contain your targeted keywords. If your domain name is legible to search engines and it is used to link to your site, you score some points since your keywords are already contained in your domain name), and gives you more choice. The negatives about hyphens are that they are difficult for people to hear! You will probably have difficulty in spelling out your domain name over the phone or in conversation when it contains hyphens.

It is also true to say that a name without the hyphens are also seen as being more professional (often the hyphenated name is seen as being a bit johnny-come-lately as well as spammy due to the reasons mentioned above). Search engines are also getting more and more proficient in understanding text that are embedded within domain names (even without the hyphens) and using a hyphenated site purely so that the search engines can understand them is probably not necessary these days.

4) But a good piece of advice is that when you register a domain name is to register as many variants (with hyphens as well as without hyphens) and as many domain extensions (.com, .net, .info, .biz) as you can afford. Registering domain names are really not that expensive and you will be protecting the investment into your company and your website brand. Remember that there are unscrupulous domain squatters (typo squatters) out there that will register variants of your domain name to either try and sell it back to you at a high cost, or to try and capture some of your traffic.

5) It is extremely difficult to come up with a good .com domain name these days. Most good domain names have been taken already. Here is a good resource page that contains a list of language tools that you can use to try and mix and match words or portions of words to come up with a good domain name. http://marcusvorwaller.com/blog/archives/2005/08/09/how-to-find-a-great-domain-name/

6) If you are located in a country other than the United States, always try and register your domain name with your local Top Level Domain extension (e.g. .co.uk, .co.za) since the local version of Google will give preference to names with extensions matching your own country.

7) Always try and register your domain with an independent registrar and NOT with your hosting provider. If you ever want to move your website to another hosting provider, it will just be easier to do it if your domain name registrar is also not your hosting provider. You might find it more difficult to get your website away from a bad hosting provider if they have control over your domain name as well.