One of the most important decisions you face when starting a South Florida commercial real estate blog is choosing the right domain name. After all, your real estate website design will change over the years and go through multiple updates and redesigns to stay current, but a good domain name will be with you forever. While there is no one right way to choose a domain name, following these top tips will help you avoid some of the common domain name pitfalls.

1. Do not use your name
   Local clients may know who you are, but out of town prospects will be not be searching for your name, they will be searching for real estate properties in your area. In addition, an eponymously named website can only work for you, but a less specifically named site can be sold once you have built your it into a successful marketing tool, should you choose to retire or relocate.
2. Avoid using acronyms, dashes, dots, numbers, and other unusual characters
   Any characters that require an explanation or can cause confusion should not be used as your primary domain name. Hyphens can easily be forgotten, which means your traffic will go to someone else’s site.
3. Definitely go with dot com
   Over a thousand new domain extensions are coming to the web, including ones that are geared specifically toward the real estate market. While these extensions may sound tempting, real estate marketing experts agree that dot com is still the best choice for your South Florida commercial real estate blog.
4. Incorporate the name of your city, area, or region
   Real estate is local; when prospective clients do an internet search for properties in South Florida, they include the geographical location in their search terms. As an added bonus, incorporating the name of your city or region can boost your placement in search engine results.
5. Include keywords
   SEO is still king. When your domain name contains the same keywords featured in your content, your real estate website gets a boost in rankings that can really help to get your agency noticed.
6. Easy to remember, easy to spell
   Shorter names tend to be easier to remember and spell. Try telling your potential name to your friends and see if they all spell it correctly. If not, go back to the drawing board. Using common abbreviations can sometimes help.
7. Secure your chosen domain name
   Your website will form the heart of your South Florida real estate interactive marketing strategy, and you need to keep all the traffic that your marketing efforts generate. The minor investment needed to secure all the various iterations of your name will be well worth it in the end, so make a list, obtain all obvious sources of potential misdirection, and point them back to your actual real estate website. This includes:
   • Your name
   • Your agency’s name
   • Supporting extensions of your domain name (.net, etc.)
   • Common misspellings of your domain name
   • Your domain name with added articles (a, an, the, etc.)
   • Your domain name with hyphens
   • Associated social media accounts using your name as well as agency and domain name (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
8. Make certain your domain name registration does not expire
   After investing all your hard work marketing your domain name, make certain you are not sabotaged by an expired credit card! Most domain names are set up to “auto-renew” on a yearly basis through a credit card; make certain the card you have on file is up to date through the renewal date on your domain name.

Once you choose your domain name, turn to the creative team at For Sale Marketing for the dynamic South Florida real estate website design that will help your site become the top real estate blog in South Florida! The talented designers at For Sale Marketing are experienced at creating real estate websites that incorporate valuable interactive marketing features including lead generation forms, email marketing, advertising programs, social media platforms, and more.

Contact For Sale Marketing today at 954-779-2801 for more information on how a personalized real estate website can help your agency become the area’s top producer!