In the business section of my dying local newspaper I always check out the News & Notes section that at time displays a local business that launches a New Website.

This write up is not about "picking" on this company, but it’s to help if YOU are considering of a launching a website for your business, product or service.

This companies name is: Exhibit Resource Skyline

The domain name they launched with is: Exhibit-Resource.com

I think a hyphened domain is "good" for search engine traffic but you better hold a hyphen domain that is Keyword strong. What I mean by Keyword Strong is a generic matching term that a lot of people already search for on the net. (see link below for the free tool) If you match a highly searched term, your chances of being found on a search engine is MUCH higher. Having a high P1 rank on a search engine can bring in loads of customers and help cut down on advertising costs.

I know we all would like to think a lot of people are searching for our "company name" but that is not likely.

So if your main goal is to focus on search engine traffic, using a hyphened domain I think is OK as long as it’s keyword strong.

If you plan on using the domain name in any form of advertising like print, radio, TV, Business Cards, Letter Head, Product Packaging etc, I do not think a hyphened domain is the right thing to do. Considering that the majority of sites launched, use the main domain in advertising as well.

One big mistake that I think many site owners miss when putting a domain to a site is the name itself. Most get all excited about the "Name Of There Company" and think that has to be the domain to use for the site… NO, no, no! Should you own that exact match company name as a domain.. yes, but simply use a mini site for it or use domain name forwarding to your main site. I would use a keyword strong, descriptive domain for my main domain.

Without visiting Exhibit-Resource.com, can you tell easily what they offer? I know I couldn’t… What if they used the domain name TradeshowBooths.com or ExhibitBooths.com or TradeShowExhibits.com ?

Those domains that I suggested are Descriptive. They explain what you offer clearly just by seeing them. To top it off, those are also some of the Highest Searched terms for this product / service. With a little content and SEO will likely get you to rank well for the specific term. Having a high rank brings in interested buyers and some of the most Targeted Traffic you could ever ask for!

Owning the perfect domain name helps you kill two birds with one stone. Well, really A Lot of birds with one stone!! The domain is descriptive and explains itself, plus you are matching what the most people are searching for on the net already! Keywords, trust, direct navigation and so much more! Using the free Google Adwards tool can greatly help you in picking the domain you Should Use for your site.

If the domain name is "not available to register" doesn’t mean you may not have a chance to own it. Using the domain name owners database Whois, allows you to get in contact with the current owner of your perfect domain. Do not be shocked if the offering price may be higher then you first think if the domain name is for sale. Great domains have value. If you do not have a budget for domain name in your site launch, redo your numbers and put in a budget.

You can do keyword searches for reported domain name sale at NameBio.com or check out the weekly reported domain sales on DnJournal.com or the YTD sales as well.

Another thing that Exhibit-Resource.com did and this is a Positive thing in a way.. was to add a blog to there site. This allows for easy frequent updates, product highlight or allows the site owner an easy way to get out news, new products, upcoming shows etc. These can greatly help your Main Site and your blog postings to rank better in search engines. Fresh and frequent content is loved by SE’s.

Connecting this blog to send new updates to social networking sites like Twitter.com, Linkedin.com and Facebook.com allows you to gain and reach even a larger crowd.

What they did wrong with the blog… a couple things! They didn’t attach it directly to there main site. This is and was a big No, NO! They used a subdomain off of the WordPress blog plateform they used. They used ExhibitResource.wordpress.com .

This should of been done right on the main site either with a subdomain like blog.exhibit-resource.com OR doing it with a category on there main site with the URL looking like Exhibit-Resource.com/blog. This is easy to do to add it directly onto your site and NO reason to use a subdomain of of the blog software service.

Visiting the blog, it looks nothing like the design of there main site. I would suggest having a web designer make a skin for a wordpress template to match your blog design to your main site.

Another large error is the fact that there is NO Link in place on the Exhibit-Resource.com site For the blog! Having the blog is nice, but if nobody see’s it’s, it takes away of the point.

Understanding HOW to write blog posts is also vital to your blog. You have to think Ahead and base your titles, meta and keyword to what people "search for" at search engines. That is how the SE’s find posts and display them in ranks. Writing random titles all the time will greatly hurt any search engine ranks.

I hope this was of some help in one way or another to avoid making common mistakes when going online with a site. If you have any questions, you can leave a comment here.