Domain Names

[Alan Knighting]

Alan,
Don't you think that "Monflanquin" sounds like something President "tête de veau" Chirac could eat? I'd go for Perigord or, even better if it's possible, "Dordogne". I don't think many potential visitors are going to google for Monflanquin.
Marcus is on page 2 of google uk for monflanquin cottages - but does it matter if nobody googles for it? (Maybe Monflanquin is THE spot everyone is visiting & I should get out more....)

Good luck for your check-up tomorrow,

The check-up was fine, thank you. Too much salt and too much alcohol but that's life and no different from a year ago. What can one expect one week after the Christmas break? The batteries are fine for another six years.
The domain name isn't so easy. If I was thinking about what people might search on, "Monflanquin" would be quite useless - who the hell has ever heard of Monflanquin? Not you and not me, until I landed here. Joan and I just want somewhere to point people to. What a dilemma? I must admit “PerigordProperties� has a ring about it. Bet that’s not available, must have a look in the morning.

Alan

[Paul Carmel]

perigordproperties.co.uk is available.

[mpprh]

Hi

just to point out what you are up against. Google.com (all languages) finds :

Monflanquin = 125,000 references
Perigueux = 3,130,000 references

Whatever you decide will be a difficult compromise.

I'd also say that it will be a long process.

It has taken me 4 years to get here : http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=& ... =languedoc for the keyword Languedoc. And i'm looking over my shoulder all the time !

Peter

[paolo]

perigordproperties makes me think of properties for sale rather than rent. I think you are better off with cottages, gites or rentals.

[Alan Knighting]

Peter & Paolo,

I appreciate that people are much more likely to search on Perigord than on Monflanquin and that the name has an importance when it comes to being found through a Web search. I am not even in Perigord, I am in Quercy but I don't imagine Quercy is a name which springs to mind. Quercy is the area which stretches south from the Dordogne down to the rivers Tarn and Garonne. Perigord is the area immediately to the north of Quercy.

I have no belief that I would ever be on the first two or three pages of a Google search that returned 125,000 or 3,130,000 references. For the moment at least, being found that way is not top of my list of priorities when trying to choose a name. I am much more inclined to regard a personal website as a place to direct people to and thus I think I can be a bit more specific about the name. I may be wrong, only time will tell.

It has been suggested to me that I should complete my domain name registrations with one supplier and arrange hosting with another. I am not sure I fully understand the pros and cons of this approach and would appreciate any views on the subject.

Sorry if I appear to be nitpicking but I might as well try to get it right from the very beginning and I can only hope to do that by asking question, daft though they may be.

Alan

[alexia s.]

Alan,
I'm curious.
I use my personal website esxclusively as a place to direct people to, which is your intention. What are the advantages in paying a host an annual fee when you can get a free website from, say, wanadoo?

[Alan Knighting]

Alexia,

What are the advantages in paying a host an annual fee when you can get a free website from, say, wanadoo?

That's a very good question to which I don't have a proper answer.

I imagine that having a website on e.g. Wanadoo would involve having the Wanadoo name as part of the website name and I don't want that.

I imagine that paid-for hosting will include more space and a more comprehensive set of tools and facilities.

I imagine that hosting with Wanadoo will be in French and I don't want that either - my French is OK but not for technical IT purposes.

I may be wrong on all counts but the paid-for hosting sites charge relatively little so in the overall scheme of things its not an overspend.

Alan

[paolo]

I have no belief that I would ever be on the first two or three pages of a Google search that returned 125,000 or 3,130,000 references. For the moment at least, being found that way is not top of my list of priorities when trying to choose a name. I am much more inclined to regard a personal website as a place to direct people to and thus I think I can be a bit more specific about the name. I may be wrong, only time will tell.

You will be on page one of Google for certain searches, but at first not the sort of searches that many people use. If you work on it and build up your content and people link to your site, as has happened for mpprh, you could one day get to where he has, i.e. number one on Google for the search 'languedoc'. I am not suggesting you will because yours is a much less ambitious site than his. But don't give up on being found through Google for narrow searches. There are fewer narrow searches made, but they are more likely to want what you offer.

That is by the by because your domain name will have little impact on your search engine performance. However, when presented with a list of results in say, a travel directory, will a punter click on something like monflanquincottages, or perigordrentals, or my-dordogne, or maisonrose? And which of them are punters most likely to remember so they can type the url in themselves?

It has been suggested to me that I should complete my domain name registrations with one supplier and arrange hosting with another. I am not sure I fully understand the pros and cons of this approach and would appreciate any views on the subject.

I wouldn't bother with this because you will have to transfer your domain from the registrar to the host. Any host worth its salt will also do the registration for you. I use ipowerweb.com and if you pay for a year up front they include the cost of the domain. They are not as cheap as others mentioned here ($8/month) but I like their comprehensive visitor stats package.

[Alan Knighting]

Paolo,

I know what you mean.

If one searches on "France" one gets millions; if one searches on "Alan Knighting" one gets me, and a couple of others.

If a search is specifically on my area the punter is likely to recognise Monflanquin as somewhere he has heard of so might take a look.

One of the hosting sites I am most interested in is not in itself a registration site but will register domain names for customers at a very small charge. Perhaps that's the best of both worlds?

Alan

[mpprh]

Hi

Free hosting usually comes with ads, and/or a compromised domain name. Problem is that you can not control the ads. Discreet adsense type ads are OK, but flashing lottery winner ads are a problem.

Although not your primary objective, enquiries from search engine visitors would not be turned away ?

So planning the site now with the objective of being found for various keywords is worthwhile. Could be a little surprise bonus.

There has been discussion on the location of hosts and the impact on search engine rankings in different languages. In fact, I'm not sure it is relevant. The Languedoc Page is now with a French host and the rankings are OK on English language search engines.

The benefit of the French host v a cheap US host is speed. French hosting is quite cheap, and this may be a factor to think about. I guess as ADSL reaches more people speed becomes less critical.

Perhaps you should use a host in the country you expect most of your visitors to be located ?

And something worth thinking about :

The majority of potential customers do not have English as a first language. Have you thought about translation : and therefore other language keywords ?

Peter

[Alan Knighting]

Peter,

Thank you for the reassurance about free hosting. If my site is to include advertising it will be because I want it there.

I very much take on board what you say about the importance of keywords, etc. Whilst I may not be expecting to attract interest through Search Engines I'm certainly not going to object to it if it happens. Careful planning may give me that bonus.

When it comes to languages, the vast majority of my enquiries come from English speaking people even though one of my rental sites is in French. I think that is because the profile of my properties is obviously English and it doesn't cater for the expectations and cultural differences of various nationalities.

I suppose I could develop other-language versions of my site (French, Spanish, Italian, German, etc.) but I'm not sure it would be worth the effort. Compared with your Website I will be very small beer indeed.

Even though the Internet is totally global I anticipate using a UK hosting site. Why? Because I would be more comfortable with it. I wouldn't want one in Outer Mongolia - they're not awake when I am.

Alan

[ashtondav]

Hey, Alan, don't despair about getting to page 1 in google. If you write enough content, about a whole variety of travel related things you will get up the rankings quite quickly.

For example you seemed pretty knowledgeable about travelling by road to your place so you could have a pages called "the scenic route to....", "the quick route to...", "local vineyards", "nearby historical sites", "good restaurants in and around..." and so on. I think Google is putting more and more value on content rich sites.

I have only redesigned my site in the last 2 months (and am well aware of its shortcomings) but looking at my statcounter visit history i am on page 1 of various search engines for things like "cheap flights to...", "buses from and to...". Amazingly some of these people have then made enquiries.

Good luck with it!

Tudor

[Alan Knighting]

Tudor,

My expectations for my prospective website are so low that I anticipate nothing at all. Anything positive in the way of enquiries and bookings will be a bonus.

I'll do what I can with key words and things but it's only an add-on to what I already offer.

Alan

[Giddy Goat]

Alan, your website's success as an additional tool depends not only on the design, (though having a big say in its design, I did cough up and got a pro to do that) but equally, on the quality of the text, together with careful preparation of the interiors/exteriors prior to photographing them, plus a sharp, well-composed image. For this you don't need a pro - I did ours - and you're not far from us - would offer to do some photography for you, but it depends on the time frame you're looking at.

I'm sorry you are still a little fluffy about having your own site. There are many who've testified their worth on the forum. But it's godderbeagoodun!

[Alan Knighting]

Jane.

Bugger! (is that Oz for gosh Oh golly gee?). You have sussed me out! You know where I’m coming from although neither of us knows where I’m going to. I’m not doing this because I want to; I’m doing this because I have been persuaded that I should.

When it comes to taking the pictures I have a traditional SLR and a digital SLR camera. A “slight� problem is that I have no creative abilities whatever. If you feel like coming over for a day or two (accommodation and hospitality included of course) just say so. You will be more than welcome.

Alan