Episode Details

In this episode, Barbara and Paul discuss:

• What makes a good domain name.
• Branding on domain name extensions and what makes a domain name valuable.
• The role of domain names in SEO

Key Takeaways:

• If you choose an extension other than .com, it needs to be part of your brand. 
• If a domain name is not available in the .com, and it’s the spelling you like, you should try to acquire it from the owner or look until you find something that is uniquely yours.
• Once you get the domain name, it’s all about the content of your website. 

“You need to have that anchor on the internet. That one spot that is your presence, identity.” —  Paul Nicks

 Transcription

Barbara:         Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales.

We have with us today Paul Nicks. He is the vice president and general manager of GoDaddy’s Domains Aftermarket and has been a leader in that space since 2013. Paul holds more than 10 domain-related patents and is here today to talk to us about the role that domains can play in a physician’s overall digital marketing strategy. Welcome Paul.

Paul:               Thanks Dr. Hales. I appreciate you having me on.

Barbara:         Well, it’s our pleasure. Tell us, what makes a good domain name?

Paul:               You know, what makes a good domain name is that it’s memorable. I can think of domain names that are short, easy to spell. We have a bit of a terminology or a term that we use, the radio test or the billboard test. And it’s very simple. For a good domain name, if you can hear it on the radio or see it when you’re driving 60 miles an hour beyond the billboard and then recall that later on when you’re at your desktop or at your phone and you’re ready to browse and find whatever information you want, that makes a good domain name. So it is —

Barbara:         Yeah. That’s excellent advice. There is a billboard that is recurrent with different funny pictures on it from 100 miles out going from south to north for a place called South of the Border which is between North Carolina and South Carolina. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it. But there is nobody that makes that route that does not know about South of the Border. It’s a great domain name and everybody knows about it.

Paul:               Absolutely. If it’s memorable, it only makes the advertising that much more permanent. You really need to — If you have a subpar domain name, something that you have to spell out for somebody, it takes away a little bit of time, a little bit of effort on making sure that somebody goes to that specific domain name rather than just having it flow right off your tongue and be something that’s easy and recognizable and memorable.

Barbara:         I’d like to mention the fact that they’re trying to find you and they might not.

Paul:               That’s absolutely correct.

Barbara:         With social media like Facebook and Yelp, is your own domain and website even important anymore?

Paul:               You know, I think i