So you have decided to create a website.  One of the first things you have to do is register a domain name.  Instantly your brain begins to conjure up names.  Your main thought is that it has to be a cool name.  It has to look good on the front page of the New York Times and it has to sound natural when  President Obama mentions it. 

But there are many other factors to consider when deciding on a domain name.  The most important one – the possible show stopper, is whether it is already taken by someone else.  It is great to go on a walk and gaze at the clouds for inspiration.  But if someone has already taken the name then even a domain name whispered into your ear by an angel is useless.  To check whether a domain name is taken go to the website whois.net and do a search.

Is The Domain Name Too Long

So you have decided on a name and have confirmed that it is available.  The next question you have to ask yourself is whether the name is too long or too short.  It seams like a simple question, but it is not.  Domain names can be anywhere from 1 character long to 67 characters long.  1 is too short and 67 is too long.  But what if your domain name is somewhere in between?  Is it too long or too short?

Is The Domain Name Too Long For…Somebody To Remember It?

There is a common claim about websites with names longer then 10 letters.  The argument is that if someone tells you a long domain name, lets say at a cocktail party, you will not be able to remember it when you get home. This is true.  The morning after the party the domain name will be long forgotten.  But so will will scene where you slapped the bartender for refusing to give you the whole bottle. 

Domain names are usually not exchanged verbally at social functions.  They are transfered digitally.  Just like phone numbers.  Initially phone numbers were created with 7 digits  because it is the most that a human can remember.  That mattered 10 years ago.  But it no longer applies.  Our phones store the phone numbers.  I can remember my home phone numbers from 10 years ago, but have no idea what my current cell number is.  If someone wants it then I send it to them through the phone.  They receive it and log it as my name.  They have no idea what my cell number is either.

Normally you come across domain names on the Internet.  Either you click a link on a website or you click the link that your buddy sends you in an email. If you like it you add it to your favorites.  In the favorites folder it is stored as the title of the website – not the domain name.  Most of the websites I frequent I have no idea what the domain name is.  Because I do not need to.   My bookmark know the domain name – I just need to know the name of the site.

I have never had to remember a domain name, because nobody has every told me a domain name.   I cannot remember anybody every telling me a domain name.   Well, maybe they did, but I forgot what it is.

Is The Domain Name Too Long For…Somebody To Type Into The Address Bar?

The argument is that if the name is too long then people will not want to type it into the address bar.  Too much work.  But I ask:  who type domain names into the address bar?  Few if any.  It is just not done.  Either they arrive to your site via a click on a link, through search, or bookmark.  Rarely by typing the name in the address bar.  Even a site like boingboing.net – the most popular blog on the Internet is hard to find using the domain address.  Because the extension is .net not .com.  So you type boingboing.com – that does not work.  Then you type boing-boing.com – that does not work.  Finally you do a search on google for boing boing and it appears as the first site.  Clicking on the link you make a personal vow never to use the address bar again.

What Are Long Domain Names Good For?

Long domain names are great for search engines.  If you have a website about a ranch that offers donkey back trail rides.  A domain name like donkeybacktrailrides.com is a lot better then donkride.com.  With long domain names you can put most of your keywords into the name.  Google and other search engines like this.  Because if a domain name has the keywords in it than your website has something to do with those keywords.  For Google,  donkeybacktrailrides means that your website is about donkeys and trail rides.  An domain name like donkback means nothing to google.  Long domain names increase your chances of ranking high on search results. Which means that long domain names increase your traffic.

What is more important – an intoxicated party goer remembering your domain name or increasing your traffic?  I perfer traffic, which is why this website has a long domain name with four keywords in it.

Want your own domain name?  See how to register domain name.

What YOU Should Do

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a very inspirational story.  Scrooge is a man who knows his business.  He operates it at full optimization.  Every aspect of the business is calculated and profits are maximized.  All that is required is one piece of coal – so all he gives is one piece of coal.  Even the merriment of those around him does not distract from his purpose.  To run a highly profitable business.  Scrooge would be a wealthy webmaster.

If you are trying to make money from a website then you need to think about what is best for the website.  What will bring in the most money.  Your website’s purpose is not to make the world a better place or to help you find the meaning of life.  It’s purpose is to bring in the most amount of money possible. That is it. 

OK, so we have established the purpose of your website.  Now what?  How do you make the most amount of money possible?

Guessing What is Best For The Website

Currently this website makes around $2 dollars a day.  Could it make more?  Yes it can.  The chances that this website is fully optimized is very low.  The website was designed based on what I thought was best.  Not a really scientific method.  Put the ads here, the content there, the header should say this – hopefully that will work.  Unfortunately, at the beginning that is all you can do.  Just guess.  But Scrooge did not become rich by guessing how much coal to give away.  He knew exactly how much Cratchit needed to survive through Christmas.

To find out what makes the most money you need to perform tests on your website.  Tests that will tell you what works and what works better. 

A-B Test

A-B testing is one method to test what makes more money on your website.  You make two pages with  slight variations and then see which one makes the most money.  For example, on one page you put the text ads on the left and on another page you put the text ads on the right.  Run one page for a week and then run the other page for a week.  Compare the results and keep the page with the best returns.

The important aspect of this test is that the content must be the same for both pages.  You are not testing the content.  Your results would be useless if your changed the content.  The content is the product.  You are just changing the packaging.  Test what packaging sells the most content.

Change the location of ads, type of ad, location of the content, the size of the header, the text of the header.  What works better a banner ad or a text ad, a large font bolded header with short text or a small font  but descriptive header text?  ‘THIS IS A GREAT POST!’  or ‘This is a great post because I wrote it’.

Running A Test In Parallel

When performing an experiment it is important to keep the amount of variables that could effect your results to a minimum.  Isolate what you are testing.  Ensure what you are testing is only effected by factors you control.

The normal method of doing a webpage optimization test is to run a page for a week.  Record the results.  Change the page.  Then run the new page for a week.  This method has a major flaw.  It is run in two different times.  There are too many external factors that could effect the results.

The problem is that between the two weeks you receive different types of traffic.  For example, during the first week your website might rise up in reddit.com and you get lots of visitors from reddit.  These are completely different types of visitors then the ones you get the second week in which you make a great post on a niche related forum.  The first week was anybody and everybody, the second week were niche related visitors.  Two different type of visitors.  This situation makes your test completely useless.

What you need to do is run the two pages at the same time.  So that the test is not effected by the type of traffic.  Each page is viewed by the same type of traffic.  You need to run the two pages at the same time.

How to Run A-B Test in Parallel

I created PHP code to run A-B tests in parallel.  Here is what I do:

1. Pick a page on website that I want to test. Lets say tinytim.php.
2. Make an copy of it. Now I have two identical pages.
3. Rename the original page to tinytim_1.php and the copy to tinytim_2.php.
4. I make a small change to tinytim_2.php. Ensuring that the pages have different ads or create specific ad channels for each page, so that you I have a way of measuring the results.
5. Create a new third PHP page. Call it tinytim.php.
6. Paste this code into it:


<?php
srand(time());
$random = (rand()%2);
if ($random==0){
    include('tinytim_1.php');
}else{
    include('tinytim_2.php');
}
?>


How It Works

When the tinytim.php is requested the PHP code randomly picks one the the two pages to display.  There is a 50% chance that  tinytim_1.php will be displayed and a 50% chance that  tinytim_2.php will be displayed.  The PHP code will pick one of the pages and then copy the page to the tinytim.php page.

The visitor does not notice anything different.  As far as they are concerned they are viewing the tinytim.php page.

After a week of running this I compare the results of the different ads.  Which one made more money.

With this method you are certain that your tests is not effected by different types of traffic.  Each of the two pages has an equal chance of being called at any given time.  On a given day if there are a hundred visitors then 50 of them will be presented with tinytim_1.php and 50 will be presented with tinytim_2.php.  The daily variations in  types of traffic does not effect the test results.  Any A-B website test method that is not in parallel – I say ba humbug.

There is a HOW TO in the Post, What YOU Should Do