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Today's guest article is about creating domain names for specific landing pages on your websites or blogsites, and it's by Dana Lynn Smith. This is something I'm still working on.

Off we go:

How to Choose and Use Multiple Domain Names for Your Author Website or Blog 
By Dana Lynn Smith

A domain name is the address that's used to direct others to your author website, and it's usually preceded by www. For example, my main website and blog is at http://TheSavvyBookMarketer.com.

One of the first decisions authors must make in setting up an author website or blog is what to call the site and what website domain name to use for marketing purposes. But it may be a good idea to purchase several domains and point them to your home page or to different areas of your website. Below are some examples of domains commonly used by authors.

Choose a domain that matches your book title and point it to your book sales page. For example, SavvyBookMarketer.com points to the sales page for my Savvy Book Marketer Guides.

If your book is not yet published, you may want to make sure the domain name (or an easy variation of it) is available before you decide on the final title. Depending on your business strategy, you may also want register a domain to match your publishing company name.

For branding purposes, get a domain that matches your author name and point it to the "about" page or media page on your site. If you have written several books, you can use your author domain name for your main website. You may have to be creative to register your own name – try using a middle name or initials, adding another word such as “author,” or using an alternate extension such as .net instead of .com.

If you have multiple websites, you can create a personal website using your author domain name and link from that site to your other sites. For example, DanaLynnSmith.com points to a website that contains links to all of my other sites.

If you’re a fiction author planning to publish multiple books, consider using a domain name related to your genre for your author website, such as RomanceAuthorJulieJones.com

For search engine optimization, buy a topical, keyword-rich domain to point to your home page or book sales page. Look for domains that contain keywords people are most likely to search for when looking up information about your topic. For example, SellingtoLibraries.com points to my sales page for my book, The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Selling Your Book to Libraries.

According to Search Engine News, a domain name that exactly matches the keywords entered into a search engine tends to give that domain an advantage in the search results. Having keywords in the domain name also increases the chance of the searcher clicking on your link when they see it on the results page. The Google Keyword Tool is a good place to research the best keywords.

When choosing a domain name for your author website, watch out for potential pitfalls such as words or letters that look or sound bad when strung together. In your marketing materials, capitalize the first letter of each word in your domain name – it makes it much more readable. Here are some other tips:

•  Try to get the .com version of the domain name if possible
•  Don’t use hy

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