Paradigm Blog

You’ve registered 12 domain names and you want to choose one to launch or rebuild your site under. Which one do you choose? Let’s put it this way: which one can your customer find?

If Google knows a particular domain name it will give your site a better initial start of attracting people to come to your site. Consider one of client’s two domain names:

Which domain will customers find when searching Google?

It’s pretty obvious. Buyers will find the first domain and won’t find the second domain at all. If Google doesn’t know you, people won’t find you when the search. And if they can’t find your site, they won’t buy from you.

Want to find out if Google knows a domain you own? Go to Google.com and search your domain with a prefix of “site:” such as “site:www.domain.com”. Here are two searches from our example:

• search Google for site:www.propaid.com
• search Google for site:www.prop-aid.com

If Google doesn’t know of any of the domains you own, don’t worry. There are ways to overcome this. But if you own a domain that Google knows about, why not use that to your advantage to draw visitors and buyers to your site?

More on Domains Names

• Example is from our client www.prop-aid.com.
• See more on our web site services.
• Want help with your domain name? Drop us a note.

Put yourself in the shoes of your customer who is shopping online. You come upon two sites which both sell a product at the same price.

Which site would you buy from?

The first description is vague, cold and impersonal. Immediately you wonder:

• What is this product?
• What am I getting?
• How can I use this product?
• How is it packaged?
• What if this isn’t the product I was looking for?

The second site however is informative and friendly. All of our questions are answered:

• What is this product? Fishing rod made for use with Bait Lures.
• What am I getting? A 6′10″ medium-heavy fishing rod.
• How can I use this product? Best used with the listed baits and jigs.
• How is it packaged? Bubble wrapped in PVC tube.
• What if this isn’t the product I was looking for? No hassle warranty with satisfaction guaranteed.

Clearly the second site provides the better description and, based on description alone, it is far more likely you would buy the product from them.

So the next time you are getting your products together to sell online, or considering what you can do to sell more of your products online, consider taking a second look at your product descriptions and ask yourself: Am I really answering my customers questions about this product before they ask them?

More about product descriptions:

• Second description is from our client Kistler Rods
• Jakob Nielsen plugs the benefits of Informative Product Pages
• See our site for e-commerce services
• Need help on your site descriptions? Let us know.