So, it's a Dot Com. Now for the logo punch up.

*Logo part of the thread starts on 15 Aug '07.*

I'm (eventually) going to work up a website for my roofing contractor business & wonder if any of you have any preferences as a web surfer when it comes to a 'dot something' extension?

Is it just too deep a habit to have to look up under a .com first & then you realize you need to look under a .biz or other extension?

I'm also toying with the name it would be listed under, i.e. rhroofer.com, r-h-roofing.com, r-h-r.biz, ranch-hand.biz, etc? I think ranchhandroofing.com is a bit long - considering business cards, etc.

Also, tell me what y'all think about THIS WEBSITE here. The designer for this page is probably going to do something similar but with my own photos & other information.

Thanks, y'all.

 

go .com before you go .biz, stay away from hyphens

 

get a domain name that fits your business... austinroofing.whatever
roofinginaustin.whatever

no offense- but the last thing in your domain should be the name of your company. your domain should pertain your line of work, and your geo-target.

your welcome. i think you could use some more of my help. please feel free to email me tknotts258@yahoo.com, it would be well worth your time for us to talk.

 

.com all the way. nobody's really familiar with the other extensions. if you are afraid someone will try to coattail off your business name, then buy .net and .org as well and point them to the .com site.

 

hyphens will kill you. i assume .com costs more, correct? ranchhandroofing.com is perfect. sticks in the mind, has a good cadence.

 

that website looks nice. stylistically it's a big "soft" for a roofing site. but it seems to work well and it's organized.

oh, and i vote for ranchhandroofing.com. no hyphenation. no abbreviation. when you tell people what your website it you don't want to have to say "are dash h dash roofing.com" the long name part of it is less of an issue than people not being able to just type in the name of the company and finding your site. and don't do "roofer" if your company name is "roofing". just stick to your company's name and what people call your company when they tell others about you.

 

ranchhandroofing.com is a good one, use that.

 

I agree about ranchhandroofing, but try .xxx


THAT WEBSITE was a little too busy for me. Navigation is OK, but it took me a little while to orient myself, and sort out the little pictures and links. And when you go to 'Products,' the window is bigger so you have to scroll over to see everything. (Or get a bigger monitor I guess)

 

well, someone registered ranchhandroofing.com through godaddy this afternoon. I hope it was you. Otherwise, someone reading this thread is a class A jerk.

austinroofing.com or similar is also a good idea -- in addition to having your domain match your business name. That'll help you catch people doing web searches. You can just redirect austinroofing.com to your domain name.

 

MilkManDan did it for me about 4 minutes ago...

LoL

 

What x minus said. .com or bust; no hyphens.

btw, that site took me a full minute to download; 90% of that loading the flash. That makes me grumpy, and grumpy guy might not choose your services.

 

I also registered ranchhandroofingisthebestroofingcompanyinaustintexas.com just in case.

 

aggyblowsandousucksbutyoualreadyknewthatdidntyou.org is out there as a public service announcement.

 

Stick with ranchhandroofing.com. You might think about getting the .biz, .net and .us names as well. crayonsweddingdress.com is available if you are interested.

 

You likely have enough feedback, and MilkmanDan has already hooked you up with a domain name. Just to jump on the bandwagon, the name is great, and .com is the way to go.

The site is ok, but not what I would go with. The icons on the right are amateurish and the fonts are too fancy. It does not convey "roofing business" to me. I think you could do better.

 

As to the linked website, I would add:

The background is a little busy, just pick something clean.

The links on the right need to be a bit more professional looking.

Most importantly, have all of your contact information on every page in an easy to locate area (preferably the same place on each page) . Nothing is more annoying than searching to see if the company does/has what I need and then have to go back and search for the phone number/location, etc. For instance, on that page, there is enough room on the banner at the top right to have location and phone number on every page.

Overall a good web page with good information, but just a few things to think about.

 

I own a dotcom domain.

A Google search shows 616,000 results for the term.

I have no tags or links to the domain. The only thing on the site is a logo. I just use it for my personal email.

My domain is ranked number three.

This bit of anecdotal evidence would seem to suggest Google weights the domain name heavily.

 

Well, I can always purchase other domain names that will then do a redirect to the 'primary site'.

I do appreciate everyone's suggestions, assistance & arguments for specific positons.

 

actually in the internet marketing business. i am speaking from a pure marketing angle. maybe you have heard of Google and Yahoo- if you have then my advice is spot on. I help many guys like this roofer, many.

 

that's what tags are for. you don't have to put all the info in the domain name

what about the other 15k sites with the same meta-tags?
advantage domain name.

 

forgot this my bad

 

You can actually do quite a bit of SEO on your own if you read about it. Most of it is pretty easy and cheap.