Hello MJ and Kate,

I'm one of those newbies and its extremely dissapointing to see so much disagreement. My new website, UClaim Insurance Claims Advice Help Information, Problems Questions Answered, Free Policy Form Copy launched in September 2007. Its for information on how to maximize an insurance claim. I've invested a lot of time in the seo forums and reading websites trying to make a decision on this domain name thing. I have a great domain name. But nobody looking for advice on how to handle their insurance claim is going to type "uclaim" in a search engine.

I own plenty of domain names with good keyword phrases like "insurance-claim-help.com", "insurance-claim-advice.com", as well as some good long tail domain names like "insuranceclaimsadvicehelpinformationproblemsquest ionsdeniedhome.com" both with and without the hyphens between the words.

I have more content and authority on maximizing insurance claims than any site on the internet. Yet, most of the search results for insurance claim advice are to insurance companies looking to sell insurance and offer minimal and low quality claims handling information.

Questions:

1. Which kind of domain name do I go with?

2. If I go with anything other than UClaim Insurance Claims Advice Help Information, Problems Questions Answered, Free Policy Form Copy, can't I just forward it and all my other domain names to the main destination url?

3. If content is so great, why is my website buried?

thank you both for your time donated to this forum,
Ron

Jetskiron - - "insurance-claim-help.com" isn't necessarily a strong domain name. Too many words (ie, more than 2 is too many). The hyphens are also against you there, imo.

Hi Ron,

The disagreements here aren't as marked as they appear. I happen to believe - because of my experience with a number of websites over more than a decade - that the most important factor in a site turning up in searches is the domain name itself, *and* the title of the site (also very important). It is true, as others have pointed out, that most of the best domain names have been taken. However, there are still some great domains still available if you use a little imagination. And it is often possible to buy excellent domain names for a few hundred dollars. I think it's well worth it to spend money on a strong domain name - in the long term it can save you a fortune on advertising and optimization services.

Sometimes the owners of really strong domain names just don't bother, or forget to renew them (and god knows how many domain name owners die every year without leaving any record of the domains they own). You'd be surprised at some of the domain names that become available. Obviously, they don't stay available for very long, so you have to be lucky *and* quick.

Most SEO experts - and most people here at this forum - believe that IBL - inward-bound links - are the most important factor in getting a site good positioning in Google search results, and I wouldn't dispute that inward links are *usually* a very important element in search engine positioning - but not always. If the domain name and title are strong enough, it is possible to get a website into the first page of Google search results - even position #1 - without having *any* inward links to that site. I know this for a fact, because I've done it with two websites.

I had a quick look at your website. A few things struck me. The appearance of the site is sober and conservative, which in general is appropriate for the site of an insurance company - you want to convey an impression of reliability and honesty - but nevertheless I think it could be a bit more dynamic without losing its gravitas. It's a bit too "undertakerish" as it is.
The second thing that struck me was that there was no indication of your company's physical location. You could be anywhere in the world; or at least anywhere in the USA. So if I were searching the web for an insurance agent, and I landed on your website - bearing in mind that I am in Europe - there is nothing on your site to tell me whether your offices are located at the end of my street, or ten thousand miles away.
Now, even if I lived in the US - let's say in Chicago, Il - would I be likely to contact you about an insurance claim if I landed on your website? Most people want to do business with an insurance company located in their own area, or at least in their own state. And of equal importance, most people will not even consider doing business with a financial-related company which does not clearly display its bricks-and-mortar address on the index page of its website. I know I wouldn't. You should also have a BIG (freefone) telephone number on your index page.
So, off the top of my head, my suggestion to you would be to focus on your area or state, and make a feature of this in your promotional bumf, and on your website. Get a domain name which includes your location, or at least include your location in your website title (eg "UClaim - Help and advice for homeowners in Southern California").

The other thing that struck me as a bit ambiguous is the fact that your site tries to present two different (and not necessarily compatible) images. On the one hand your title, "UClaim", and the general appearance of your website, suggests - or is more suited to - a large corporation. It has a corporate look to it. However, you then have a link titled "Who is Ron Cercone?" - which suggests that UClaim is, in fact, a one-man show. There is a presentational clash here that you need to resolve. Either you put a big photo of yourself on your index page with text saying something like "Hi, I'm Ron Cercone, and I give great insurance (or whatever)": or you stick with the anonymous, corporate theme. In other words, the company has to be about you as a personality - ie, your potential clients will be dealing with *you*, the person - or you have to project your company as a discreet service, with no outstanding personalities. I think this distinction is very important.

One other thing: your site doesn't have a doctype tag.

__________________
Kate Lennon
Links Manager

I moved these two posts over here from this thread
so that more members are likely to give feedback on the question.

Cheers, MJ

__________________
M.-J. Taylor
SEO Web Design by Cyber Key Search Smart Design® SEO Copywriter & Traveling Vacation Gypsy

You may have spent time on SEO forums. All I can say is that time does not equate to quality. Domain name is maybe less than 1% of SEO.

There are 29 pages of uclaim.com indexed by google, so indexing is not the problem. That leaves content and inbound links as the 2 possible factors. Yahoo knows 2 pages linking to you. The one no longer lists your link on the page - a double negative effect, and the other site did not load so is also probably of no value either.

Shortage of permanent inbound links is a major problem.

Why do you repeat uclaim as a directory name and host all the site is this subdirectory? Content at root level ranks higher than the less important subdirectory content. As a minimum, using insurance as a directory name would have helped - a bit late for that now.

When looking at content, I can't help but comment that the site is very we-we-we and not focused on providing the solution to your visitors' problems nor making the visitor feel like you are going to understand their problem and work towards the solution. Your site is seriously missing content relevant to your industry.

I don't know your industry at all. Looking over your site does not educate me about it - if anything I am left confused. Rather than giving me answers, it looks like you want me to buy an ebook which may or may not contain the information I need.

There have to be other sites that are easier to navigate and offer the information I am after. I am off.

__________________
There are gurus and there are the wise. The wise give freely of their knowledge, the gurus will try to sell you 'the next best thing'.

Copyright 2005 on the homepage means "dead site" to me.

A tie and a leather jacket? Weird photo choice.

Surf to SheerSEO and sign up and track the performance of your keywords.

There is nothing on the homepage to cause me dig deeper. I read the words (too many and too dense) twice and still could not figure out how you could help me.

__________________
Dave Barnes
+1.303.744.9024
http://www.marketingtactics.com
sitting in my basement with my iMac

Rubbish. It is demonstrably the case that the domain name is more important to search engine positioning than any other factor. Where do you get your "1%"? Did you pluck it out of thin air?
A strong domain name will almost always appear on page 1 or 2 of Google search results (usually the former) REGARDLESS of any other factors, including inbound links, meta descriptions, keywords etc.

__________________
Kate Lennon
Links Manager

Not sure about the exact percentage, but moredial is more right than wrong. Keyword rich domain names are a fairly low SEO factor, despite what Kate maintains. She seems to have reasons to believe otherwise, but there are precious few industry experts or observers who agree with her - if any.

At least I couldn't find one...

Jill Whelan, for example, says, "The myth of using keyword-rich domains for SEO purposes has been
perpetuated for way too long, and quite frankly I'm tired of seeing it written about as if it's an all-important SEO factor.that keywords in domains." From: High Rankings' Advisor - Keyword-Rich Domain Names - Issue No. 016

SEO Pundit Bruce Clay seems to think your TLD is more important than keyword richness in the name: "Even though keywords in the URL may give some boost, this should merely be factored into your decision, not rule it." From: bruceclay.com - How to Select a Domain; Top Level Domains

However, there are some reasons why it might seem as though the keywords in the domain name are a heavier factor than it actually is. Keywords in your domain will often help get your keywords into the anchor text of incoming links.

Many SEOs do agree that keywords in domains will give you a boost in Google, but not a great degree. Danny Sullivan says, "Keywords in URLs have commonly been consider to provide at best a very slight ranking boost, so I suppose one of those three choices makes sense."

So, let's go back to Jill Whelan's quote for a moment to help Kate understand why it seems like keywords in domains have a greater influence:

The myth of using keyword-rich domains for SEO purposes has been
perpetuated for way too long, and quite frankly I'm tired of seeing it
written about as if it's an all-important SEO factor.

See for Yourself

Perform some searches in any spidering search engine and sure, you may
very well find keyword-rich domains in the top spots. But upon closer
inspection, you'll see that the same keywords are also in the Title
tags of those sites. Title tags *are* very important to high
rankings; I daresay that they're as important as body copy. Many see
the keyword-rich domain name, and assume that's what is causing the
high ranking. Yet it's much more likely that the high ranking is a
direct result of the Title tag and/or the body text, along with the
other usual SEO suspects.


If Kate or anyone can find three experts of equal reputation to agree that domain names in keywords are a major SEO factor, please let us know ...

Cheers, MJ

__________________
M.-J. Taylor
SEO Web Design by Cyber Key Search Smart Design® SEO Copywriter & Traveling Vacation Gypsy

Thanks to everyone for your help. You guys really opened my eyes on the image thing. I read all your links MJ. Looks like eveyone is against the long tail domain name with 65 characters and 7-9 keywords. And it seems the only concensus on keywords in domain names is if the same keywords are in the title also. And also, that it can't hurt to have keywords in the domain name.

Moredial wrote: "Why do you repeat uclaim as a directory name and host all the site is this subdirectory? Content at root level ranks higher ..."

I don't know why my web designer did that, but I'm going to ask.


1. My website url is uclaim dot com . I don't know how the page title (UClaim Insurance Claims Advice Help Information, Problems Questions Answered, Free Policy Form Copy) got listed in my original post.

2. It seems like everyone is missing the whole purpose of UClaim.

I don't expect anyone who has never had an insurance claim to understand or appreciate what UClaim is about. UClaim.com is intended for people with major insurance claims who don't want to get underpaid on their insurance claim. It is not selling insurance or offering to represent people with insurance claims or to sell insurance claims advice on a case by case basis. Although I am a licensed "Public Insurance Claims Adjuster in California", I'm not using this website to drum up business as a Public Adjuster (an adjuster who represents policy holders against insurance companies). As a Public Adjuster, I can only properly handle one large claim (such as a total loss house fire) per month. Thats 12 claims a year. What I'm trying to do with UClaim.com is to pass on my expertise to enable the average "do itself yourself" type person to get a better insurance claim settlement.

3. The geographic market is for the USA and any country around the world where insurance companies settle claims as they do in the USA.

4. Excellant comment about the "image" Kate. Is it me I'm selling, or a large corporation? Originally I wanted my picture on the home page. But my original web developer insisted a large corporate image be presented. I compromised and put my pic on the About Ron Cercone page. After all, the only reason someone is going to buy one of my books/reports is if one, they are sold on Ron Cercone and two, they click on the Table of Contents links for the larger books and find something that they need help on.

5. Dave, the leather jacket, white shirt and tie are perfect for where I live, which is in the San Joaquin Valley of California, a farming and blue collar area area. People here don't trust the three piece suit corporate look. But as Kate pointed out, it does not go with the corporate image on the UClaim home page either. Something has to change.

So I will put the question to you guys, what kind of image do I present to the average homeowner whose house and or car got totally destroyed?

thanks much to all

A suit to "take on the suits".
"On the Waterfront" Marlon Brando look.

I don't know. Ask your last five clients.

__________________
Dave Barnes
+1.303.744.9024
http://www.marketingtactics.com
sitting in my basement with my iMac

I agree with Dave Barnes about the image. Right now, you are going after the corporate look, where you are basically advising your potential clients that the big insurance corporations are seeing them as dollar signs, but presenting yourself as a big corporation as well. I would go with more the professional industry insider looking to help the customer approach, personally. Keep the site professional, but soften the edges, more of a compassionate expert than faceless company.

__________________
The best way to learn anything, is to question everything.

I have to agree with the idea of getting rid of the leather jacket ... it just doesn't look professional.

And Dave is right, your last 5 clients may give you some helpful feedback. I have one client who always asks clients what was it about my website that made you choose me? And the feedback is very helpful. Customers love to feel valuable and are usually more than happy to help you fine tune marketing.

It's also tough to find out why the "other five" didn't hire you ... and that's why forums like this (with tough, but smart reviewers like Dave and wige) are so valuable ...

I would like to see you present some powerful questions closer to the top. Who is your target market? How can you let them know in the first paragraph that you can get them $$$$$ more than anyone else?

Address their concerns in the first paragraph with something along the lines of:

Handling your own insurance claim, but looking for an edge to maximize your adjustment? UClaim has the information you need to understand how to get the most money from your insurance company. If you've had a claim denied or need to know more about claim law before filing yours, UClaim can help you.

Something that will immediately let them know that the site has what they need ...

__________________
M.-J. Taylor
SEO Web Design by Cyber Key Search Smart Design® SEO Copywriter & Traveling Vacation Gypsy

You are all great and I really appreciate your help.

Dave, I assume you are joking with the Marlin Brando thing. I never heard of the movie, but now want to see it. I did a google image search and didn't see Brando wearing a suit. Then I got a synopsis of the movie. Marlin Brando taking on the establishment is exactly like me with insurance companies (at least the bad insurers). I could end up face down in a barrel of acid too one day. Farmers Insurance hates me for posting their "View Questionaire" on my website. I've also been stupid enough to sue AAA in Pro Per (without counsel) for unfair business practices (and I won).

Wige, if I understand you, your are suggesting to drop the corporate image pic on my homepage and go with my own picture and sell my own expertise. Can you be specific on what edges should be softened? If my feelings get hurt, they will heal .

I'm actually considering replacing the corporate office image on the UClaim homepage with my picture and a phrase to the right of it like: "What Makes This Website So Special? ... The Gold $$$ ... Between the Author's Ears" (with the words The Gold $$$ in gold font?)

And placing above or incorporating to or replacing the Our Mission statement with MJ's suggested text.

Why do clients choose me? In my public adjusting business, clients choose me over the fast talking suit driving the Lexus because they say I have a sincere quality. They believe what I say. (I think its because I look like a nerd .

Moredial, the uclaim/uclaim subdirectory problem should be fixed within 24 hours.

Thanks again to all,
Ron

Ron - - "2. It seems like everyone is missing the whole purpose of UClaim."

Which should tell you that your website isn't as clear as it could be.

MJ - - "Not sure about the exact percentage, but moredial is more right than wrong. Keyword rich domain names are a fairly low SEO factor, despite what Kate maintains. She seems to have reasons to believe otherwise, but there are precious few industry experts or observers who agree with her - if any."

Actually I have discussed these points with some of Google programmers I know - the guys who set the algorithms - and they rate the domain name (and a couple of other things I haven't seen mentioned here) as extremely important. Keyword rich domain names are NOT a "low SEO factor". This is a myth which has apparently been accepted a fact by many SEO "experts". It's easy to disprove. Almost every generic dot com domain name that exists (comprised of no more than three words, and preferable not more than two) appears on page 1 of Google search results regardless of inbound links and other factors. If you have a business selling leather jackets and you acquire the domain leatherjackets.com you are almost guaranteed to get listed in the top Google results for searches which include the term "leather jackets". If you sell dog kennels and your website is dogkennels.com Shop Dog Kennels, Dog Crates & Pens - DogKennels.com, the same thing applies. As I say, it's easy to prove. Make a list of ten items - coffee tables, gold watches, exotic birds, hot air balloons, chop suey, lightning rods, tennis racquets, whatever you like - and see how many of them display a dot com equivalent when you search for the relevant terms. You'll find that the dot com domain matching the term is displayed on page 1 or 2 of Google search results at least 75% of the time. And when it does not, it is usually because the domain doesn't exist, or is a sponsored ad ("parking") website. Or the title of the site is different from the domain name.
Websites with a strong generic domain name which are reasonably well optimized, have a few links going to them, and contain a reasonable amount of content are almost guaranteed to appear on page 1 of Google searches for relevant search terms. And that, whether you agree or not, is a fact.

__________________
Kate Lennon
Links Manager

I am not sure if softening the edges was the right way I should have phrased that. Right now, you say you take on the big corporations, but your entire web site is based on making you look like just another big corporation. I would make the web site look more like a single proprietorship, with photos on the home page including you; you meeting with an (unidentifiable) client, you at the scene of a loss with an adjuster, you working in your office. Include a description, one or two paragraphs, of the service you provide to clients. Put a testimonial or two on the page, where the person giving the testimonial identifies you by name (but only sign the testimonials with initials for privacy).

Basically, from your posts, I get that you are UClaim, so your web site needs to show you as the face of UClaim. Just an idea. Not sure how it would actually work, but I think it would go something along those lines.

Was going to respond to this, pointing out how this quote more or less disproves it's own argument, but that is perhaps a discussion for another thread?

__________________
The best way to learn anything, is to question everything.

By all means, move these posts if you want to try and address this issue. But if you are trying to help Kate see anything new, I don't think a new thread will help. We already discussed this in the thread from which I moved these posts.

Kate seems to truly believe her multi million dollar income from sites is due to keywords in domains and claims a close relationship with Google programmers who have uncharacteristically shared information with her that doesn't seem to be true in real life to anyone else in the SEO business. Nothing anyone says is going to convince her to take a different point of view.

And, really, there is no harm in her belief. Having a keyword rich domain is at least some help and as long as you don't have too many keywords or more than a couple of hyphens, it can't do any harm. Anyone reading her posts may get the erroneous impression that it will help them more than it will, but they have other more authoritative sources to refer to as well, and, again, at worst, it will give them a little less help than they expect. Pretty much the case with most panaceas, no?

__________________
M.-J. Taylor
SEO Web Design by Cyber Key Search Smart Design® SEO Copywriter & Traveling Vacation Gypsy

Kate Lennon said

"A strong domain name will almost always appear on page 1 or 2 of Google search results (usually the former) REGARDLESS of any other factors, including inbound links, meta descriptions, keywords etc."


updated to

"Websites with a strong generic domain name which are reasonably well optimized, have a few links going to them, and contain a reasonable amount of content are almost guaranteed to appear on page 1 of Google searches for relevant search terms. And that, whether you agree or not, is a fact."


Kate you jumped from
"REGARDLESS of any other factors, including inbound links, meta descriptions, keywords etc"

to
" reasonably well optimized, have a few links going to them, and contain a reasonable amount of content are almost guaranteed to appear on page 1 "

Now you need to define
"Few links going to them"
'reasonable amount'
almost guaranteed
and a few other factors like the page name, and some other varibles.

Kate we have novice would be professionals reading these pages. I would hate for one of them to rush out and spend thousands on a domain name. . to later find that they could do better with a well optimised PAGE NAME.

I am gonna give you a negative rep point for that. I think your post was silly

__________________

Tubby - - Read what I said again. What I have been saying all along is that the name of a domain is the single most important factor in where a website is found in Google search results, REGARDLESS of all other factors, and that at least 75% of websites with a strong, generic domain name are displayed on the first one or two pages of search results. I pointed out that I myself have launched two websites (with strong domain names) that went straight to page 1 of Google search results WITHOUT any inbound links. I conceded from the outset that other factors would then come into play to determine precisely where a particular website turned up in search results - eg, on page 1, position 1, or at the bottom of page 2. I then we4nt on to say - in the post you quoted - that having a strong domain name AND having a reasonable well-optimized website practically guaranteed page 1 positioning. There is no contradiction or inconsistency in any of the statements I made. A strong domain name by itself almost invariably turns up near the top of Google search results EVEN IF IT HAS NOT BEEN OPTIMIZED AND DOES NOT HAVE INBOUND LINKS. I know this for a fact, because I've tried it, and it works. I did NOT at any point claim that inbound links, meta tags, content etc., were unimportant, or did not affect a website's search engine positioning. They do; but not as much as the domain name and the title of the site.

MJ - "And, really, there is no harm in her belief. Having a keyword rich domain is at least some help and as long as you don't have too many keywords or more than a couple of hyphens, it can't do any harm. Anyone reading her posts may get the erroneous impression that it will help them more than it will, but they have other more authoritative sources to refer to as well, and, again, at worst, it will give them a little less help than they expect. Pretty much the case with most panaceas, no?"

You're a condescending twit. You have no idea what you're talking about, and you're repeating, parrot-fashion, "facts" that you've picked up from other so-called authorities (who are equally clueless). Anyone reading my posts will get FACTUAL information based on eleven years of creating, launching and running commercial websites - SUCCESSFUL websites that have earned millions of dollars for me. I don't profess to know everything - that's why I continue to visit forums such this one - but what I DO know, I know from experience, not from listening to SEO "experts" who, most of the time, talk rubbish.

Again, it is DEMONSTRABLY the case - ie, it can be readily proved - that the domain name and title of a website are the most important elements in where that site shows up in search results. Inbound links are nowhere near as important, and are NOT NECESSARY for a website to appear prominently in Google search results.

__________________
Kate Lennon
Links Manager

PS - Tubby - - "I am gonna give you a negative rep point for that. I think your post was silly."

I was under the impression that this was a democratic, open forum. WHO TF are you to give me "negative points"? I thought your post was not only silly but also a long way off the mark. Can I give you "negative points", too? Or do I have to be a member of a private club to do that? I've been in this business for more than a decade, and I've made more money from it than anyone else I know. And as far as I'm concerned that makes me as qualified as any other "expert" on the subject. In fact more qualified. Because making money is what it's all about. Isn't it?

__________________
Kate Lennon
Links Manager

Please don't call names. We don't encourage flaming on this forum.

You may be right; it's possible, but you have yet to prove it by showing us examples of sites that have keywords in competitive domains and no IBLs .. whereas others have shown us examples of sites that are keyword rich in their domains and no where near the top.

__________________
M.-J. Taylor
SEO Web Design by Cyber Key Search Smart Design® SEO Copywriter & Traveling Vacation Gypsy

Ok, thanks all for the great advice.

Kate wrote "Ron - - "2. It seems like everyone is missing the whole purpose of UClaim."

Which should tell you that your website isn't as clear as it could be.


You are absolutely right.



What does everyone think of this idea for a domain name: Insurance-Claim-Advice-Help-Questions-Denied-Water-Flood-Auto-Home.com, along with forwarding many doman short names like Insurance-Claim-Help.com, Insurance-Claim-Advice.com as well as the original uclaim.com to the long main one?

You're kidding, right?

If you feel you need keywords in your domain, you want three at the most.

And what is the point of forwarding the domains to Insurance-Claim-Help.com, etc. to the new one?

If you do decide to go for a new domain, pick one such as Insurance-Claim-Help.com or better InsuranceClaimHelp.com (hyphens are very hard for people to remember and search engines can see the keywords without them) and then do a 301 redirect for Unclaim to the new domain to preserve whatever PR/SEO strength the site enjoys now.

I can't see any value in having additional domains from an SEO point of view. You only want *one* domain indexed.

And I don't believe a keyword rich domain is going to give you a considerable boost, but if you do decide to do that, I hope you do change nothing else for long enough to assess the ranking impact of your new keyword rich domain.

Cheers, MJ

__________________
M.-J. Taylor
SEO Web Design by Cyber Key Search Smart Design® SEO Copywriter & Traveling Vacation Gypsy

Thanks for your patience MJ,

No, I'm not kidding. Just an idea that popped into my head.

The idea of forwarding domain names is that if someone happens to type in the exact domain name into a search engine box, the serp should show the domain name that the redirect went to?

I theorize this because:

1. when I type in "uclaim" for example, uclaim.com shows in the top results.

2. Experiment, last week, I forwarded "insurance-claim-help.com" to uclaim.com and submitted "insurance-claim-help.com" to google. I submitted to yahoo on 2 days ago. So far, nothing comes up when I type "insurance-claim-help.com" in google search. And for yahoo, nothing comes up, but yahoo at least gives the option to click on it to see if it takes you somewhere (which it does, to uclaim.com). Would this lack of result indicate the submitted domain "insurance-claim-help.com" is not yet fully processed by google and yahoo?

Isn't one reason for redirected domain names to catch mispelled domain names and forward them to the proper one?

I'm trying the hyphens because I read on another forum that the hyphens are treated as spaces by search engines and they make word recognition easier for search engines. The poster cited a couple of examples of words runnng together that could have different meanings.

As to making the domain name easy for people to remember, I don't think I care about that. If most people are like me, they never look at the domain name, they just book mark the page and change the description if it looks too cluttered. I could, however, use "uclaim.com" in non web advertising, since it would be redirected to whatever name I give the UClaim website?

As to the "long tail domain names", I think I read somewhere that they are recently popular for seo with mutiple keywords?

Does this forum allow attachments? Or can you insert pics in posts?

thanks again

Sorry, didn't mean to pick on you ... this is the one I thought you were kidding about: Insurance-Claim-Advice-Help-Questions-Denied-Water-Flood-Auto-Home.com.

Yes, that is a good reason to own a domain. If you really believe someone will type in keyword-keyword.com into the address bar you should own it and have it 'parked and pointed' to the domain which is indexed.

That was not a good experiment to make. Perhaps I have what you have done wrong here, but you never want to try and index more than one domain with the same content. Never. Never.

Sure, you can do this and it won't hurt you ... but most people don't type directly into the address bar, and I am not sure that the number of hits you might get is worth owning and forwarding the extra domains. And certainly not with the hyphens.

Maybe, but people don't type in hyphens.

Most marketing experts care *very* much about having a memorable domain name. Many people do not use bookmarks but rely on their memories (I am one of those; I am always typing in domain names from memory, even if I do have them bookmarked. In any case, having a memorable domain name is ideal from a marketing point of view. It's an important part of branding. You want to make it as easy as possible for them to return. Frankly I think Uclaim is a pretty good name. Yes, it could be confused and someone you met might get YouClaim in their heads, but once someone has seen the URL I don' t think they will forget it, but I promise you whatever else you name it, if you have hyphens in it, most people will forget the hyphens.

Long tailed keywords are definitely an important part of search marketing and optimization, but not in domain names.

There is an "insert Image" icon in the tool bar ... you need to have the image loaded on another host as it will ask for the link to the URL of the image ...

Cheers, MJ

__________________
M.-J. Taylor
SEO Web Design by Cyber Key Search Smart Design® SEO Copywriter & Traveling Vacation Gypsy

Ron - - What does everyone think of this idea for a domain name: Insurance-Claim-Advice-Help-Questions-Denied-Water-Flood-Auto-Home.com

That won't work. There are too many words (search terms). You need a domain name with no more than three (and preferably two) search terms. Not too many domains of that kind available, I know.... however, the domain name "www.insuranceclaimadvisor.com" is still available. If I were you I'd grab it, quick.

__________________
Kate Lennon
Links Manager

Wow, I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed by all this. I had recently purchased 35 domain names thinking I would point them all to one website and Google would also find show those domain names. So if I understand this right, if I changed my domain name from uclaim.com to insurance-claim-help.com, and did a 301 redirect pointing uclaim.com to insurance-claim-help.com, I would not get penalized by Google? But I would get penalized if I pointed 10 domain names to insurance-claim-help.com?

Why can't Google just display the search result as being "redirected" and let the user decide if they want to follow the link or not? As long at the domain names are relevant, where is the harm? Now if a domain name called "sex.com" was pointed to uclaim.com, I could see the harm.

Thanks Kate for the domain name suggestion. I'll do it.

Thanks to all.

Hello Moredial,

You previously wrote on 1-20-08

"Why do you repeat uclaim as a directory name and host all the site is this subdirectory? Content at root level ranks higher than the less important subdirectory content. As a minimum, using insurance as a directory name would have helped - a bit late for that now."

Well I moved everything to my www uclaim.com root directory from uclaim/uclaim folder on 1-25-08 and deleted the uclaim/uclaim folder and noticed that my dynamic pages were not working. For example on the Peoples Choice page, when you make a new rating or add a comment to an existing rating, an error page pops up "Page Cannot Be Displayed".

I would really appreciate if you or someone can advise me how to fix it?

thanks, Ron