Rank and Rent Domain Selection & Hosting Guide
In this section of The Rank and Rent Challenge, I am going to take you through choosing the right domain for your new R&R website.
If you have not read the Keyword Research post, please check it out as it will give you a little more insight into choosing the right domain.
Let’s say that you have done your research and have come up with some keywords that you like the look of:
- Competition is relatively easy
- You feel that you can outrank the websites on the first page of Google
- You can outrank the Google My Business listings being displayed above the search results
Well done… Now it is time to find the best domain.
Choosing the right domain
When it comes to choosing the right domain for your rank and rent website, there are three options you need to consider:
- Branded Domain
- Partially Matched Domain (PMD)
- Exact Match Domain (EMD)
There are pros and cons to each of the domain options mentioned above. Here are some examples of each so you fully understand. Still using the search term: Dog Grooming New York City.
- Branded: loveyourpooch.com
- PMD: doggroominglegends.com
- EMD: doggroomingnyc.com
I personally like using PMD or EMD domains as I still feel they offer benefits when it comes to ranking for local keywords on Google.
Also, if you are building a rank and rent website in different countries, using a localised TLD can work in your favour:
- Australia – .com.au
- United Kingdom – .co.uk
- South Africa – .co.za
Where to buy a domain and hosting?
Ok, I am going to be honest with you… for local websites and especially rank and rent, you do NOT need to spend 100s of dollars on hosting. Yes, you heard right…
Personally, I still use Namecheap.com for the majority of my Rank and Rent sites. They offer very competitive pricing, their support is very good and they work!
Domain pricing is pretty similar across the web and YES, you will find deals for the first year but for simplicity and speed of setting everything up should be taken into account.
NameCheap Hosting
NameCheap WordPress hosting is very reasonable which you will see in the image below.
Remember, when you are selecting your domain and hosting package, your must either buy an SSL certificate or choose a hosting package that provides Free SSL.
An SSL or HTTPS is a ranking factor for Google and it could be the difference of your website being #1 or #6 on the first page.
It’s the small things that help you rank your website.
Some other options for you to consider when buying a domain and hosting:
- PeoplesHost.com (I use this company for my website design clients – a dedicated server)
- HostGator.com
- NameCheap.com
Go ahead and secure your domain and set up your hosting. I will not be showing you how to set up your domain and hosting. As I said Namecheap have great support and the majority of domain and hosting companies will come with support options.
This post is one of the many posts that will be shared in the Rank and Rent Challenge powered by Kocy.org
