One of the wonderful powers of domain names is to simply use a descriptive domain name as a redirect method. Simple and effective but it must be executed correctly to take full effect of a domain name redirect.

What is a domain name redirect?

There are a couple forms of a domain name redirect and the process has several "names" but basically all are the same and do the same thing. 301 redirect is a common term used and so is Domain Forwarding.

Domain forwarding can be done for free at most domain name registrars and is an option, but I think doing a domain redirect is best done using your web hosting provider. The main reason I think a web host redirect for your domain name is best, is because you can track stats for the domain, which you can not do via a domain registrar redirect.

Why would you use a domain for redirecting?

• The domain has traffic
• Advertising
• Easy navigation
• Tracking
• Promotions
• Typo
• Changed domain names

The basic principle to a domain name redirect is to make it easier for somebody to get to a specific page/location of a website.

Example

Rayovac batteries is using a small card inserted into battery packages and is running a $500,000 promotion. The inserted card either tells the consumer they are a winner or not a winner! If the card states they did not win, Rayovac is trying to get people to visit there website and is doing so by offer a $1.00 off coupon.

The small card states to visit rayovacbonus.com for the $1 off coupon and gives a code to enter. (Tip: Capitalize each first letter of a keyword to make the domain name easier to read. In this case, the domain name should be displayed as RayovacBonus.com) The capital letters make the keywords "POP" and makes the term easier to read and remember.

Pretty good so far, because this allows Rayovac to use the domain name RayovacBonus.com as a special site (stand alone) or to simply use the domain name to redirect visitors to a special location on its site that offers coupons. Since Rayovac is using RayovacBonus.com as a redirect, it allows them to track how effective this method is because the domain name should and can be specific to this one promotion. (people reading the little card and visiting the domain) Using web hosting stats or a stat provider, allows the domain owner to track visits to it.

Here is where the redirect is poorly executed (IMO)

The redirect simply forwards to the Rayovac main site at Rayovac.com. This is fine, but could be better. Already, the card and domain name location are not specifically sending people to the location to easily get the $1 coupon. Rayovac DOES have a specific location on its site at Rayovac.com/Promotions and IS the location they should be redirecting the domain name.

The next poorly executed situation comes with the "code" on the card. There simply isn’t a location to enter it on the main site, nor the promotions page! This confuses visitors looking to enter in the code!

Poor situation number three comes for those who do not use direct navigation (type the domain name into the navigation bar and visit the domain directly) but use a search engine to "find the site" by typing the domain name, even though they already know what they are looking for. In fact, 140 searches each month type in rayovacbonus.com exactly at Google alone. Rayovac does rank number 1 for the term, BUT they pay no attention to the domain name used in the promotion or the keywords for the promotion. The domain name used, RayovacBonus.com become two important keywords and they shouldn’t be ignored. Rayovac Bonus should be used. The internet runs on keywords and those keywords need to be displayed In the title, meta and page URL to help search engines display the site upon a users search AND to grab the attention of the searcher since they will be familiar with those terms!

Problem #4 for Rayovac. If the customer does happen to find the "Promotions" page upon the redirect to the main site and sees the image to click and get the $1 off coupon… they click that and then are redirect to Facebook to "Like" the company/product to get the coupon? Talk about a run around!!!!

Either redirect RayovacBonus.com to the promotions page on Facebook, redirect them to a special page on Rayovac.com like Rayovac.com/Bonus and give them the coupon!

Domain name redirects can be highly effective for large and small companies but it is important to follow the above suggestions when doing so.

Bullet Points

• Make the domain name easy to read
• The domain name should be descriptive
• Pay attention to the keywords of the promotion on the page you are sending people to and domain name used (search engine Title, Meta and URL)
• Do not confuse the visitor with the redirect

Effective

As the owner of the domain name using the redirect:

• Easily track the domain name with stats of how many visitors, location, keywords and more using a hosting redirect
• Easily send visitors to a specific location / promotion / site

Example of a time when someone could use a domain name redirect?

Easily allow people to find you on Social Media sites! Your user name may be confusing and contain a – or may be long or not an exact match to your business, it may be an odd spelling and more. Instead of having people try to remember… visit us on Facebook at Facebook.com/UserName, use a creative domain name like FollowUs.com and simply redirecting that domain name TO your Facebook page or Twitter page will easily allow you to direct them without much trouble.