Selecting a good Domain Name / URL for your website can help improve your traffic and income
When you make the decision to purchase a domain for your brand, you want to make sure that the one you select will help positively influence your income and brand awareness. As an adult performer you will need to take many factors into consideration when selecting your domain name to ensure that you are taking full advantage of all the possibilities with your URL. The traffic to your domain name should ideally be a combination of multiple forms of traffic: including your own traffic from your promotions, organic traffic driven from search engines, traffic generated from watermarks on your content, (unfortunately) traffic driven from pirated content which is why the watermarked content is important, traffic from social media, and more. In order to generate all of these forms of traffic, we have some important recommendations for selecting your domain.
Selecting your domain name when you select your alias / brand name will be helpful in the future
Our tips for selecting a good domain name will partially rely on the usefulness of your alias / brand name. The default “best domain name” you can select will be your stage name, but if your stage name is too long, too vague, overused, non-specific, non-human, misleading, or already taken then you may face some hardships in securing a domain name that will meet the criteria to bring in good traffic. If you’ve already selected a stage name and you are finding yourself having a hard time with it due to the overuse, lack of uniqueness, or confusing nature of it then you may want to consider rebranding. A good way to decide on if rebranding is necessary for you is to consider the following questions:
- Is your name too confusing? For example, are there numbers or symbols in the name that could cause confusion in the vocal relaying of it.
- Is your name too long? If your name is so long that it becomes hard to remember then you can lose a significant amount of traffic.
- Is your name overused? Will people find YOU when they search for you on Google (or any other search engine?)
- Is your name human? Generally, people will remember names the more “regular” and “human-like” they are.
- Is your name too simple? If you only go by “Kate” and your username on everything is “SexyKate” that may not be unique enough to drive traffic.
If you have found yourself answering yes to a lot of the questions above, you may find more success in rebranding. If you haven’t chosen your stage name yet then you are in luck! It’s a great time to put a lot of consideration into deciding what your stage name will be.
The best name is YOUR name
The best domain name that you can pick is your name, so long as it meets all of the criteria previously discussed. If it is easy to remember, short, easy to spell, has non-repeating letters, and is at least vaguely human then that will probably be your best choice! It will be your best choice because when people find you on various platforms they are going to search for you by name, this will include your username or the name you tell them. Let’s hope that those are the same! A great way to drive traffic to you domain when it is your name is to make sure you register for every website you use with your name, keeping it consistent across all platforms will eliminate confusion. It is a common adult industry practice to “hold” your name on new sites when they launch to help avoid running into issues with your name being taken. On sites that allow watermarks, you can also put your watermark on all of your content, this will help direct your own internal traffic to your website (where I imagine you’ll list your preferred websites) and it will help customers find you if they happen to come across content of yours that is pirated.
.com names are the best domains to pick
.com (short for commercial) is highly regarded as the standard for top level domains (TLD.) A top level domain is the last part of your domain name, the part after the last dot. Since it is considered the standard, it is the TLD which is most commonly used and generally the first option someone will type in when they search for you. If you are rocking a TLD that is not the standard you may encounter problems with people assuming that your website is a .com instead of a .tv or .live or whatever TLD you decided on. Don’t fret! If your .com is still available, you can simply forward your alternative TLD to your .com, and we actually suggest grabbing all of your TLDs down the line when you’ve got enough income and brand recognition for it. It helps prevent pirating and catfish accounts, and then no matter what a customer types in they’ll probably find you.
Domains that are easily spoken will be better to use
The adult industry relies on speaking almost as much as typing, especially within the camming industry vertical. A domain name that can be easily told to someone will be a better domain name to have, especially if it does not have repeating letters or alternative TLDs. Bonus points if it is the same as your cam site username, because you can say “if the spelling is confusing, just look at my username!”
What if my preferred domain is already taken?
If you run into the unfortunate instance where you didn’t buy your domain name at the same time you created your stage name, you may find your domain name that is a direct match for your stage name is already taken. If you are hard set against rebranding it may be time to get creative with your name. A simple solution to this can be adding “The” in the beginning or “Official” at the end of your domain. For example: if your stage name is Viola Sparks and that domain is taken you can opt for “TheViolaSparks.com” or “ViolaSparksOfficial.com” but this may be difficult to remember or too long so you can also opt for something a bit shorter like “Viola-Sparks.com” or something with more keyword value like “PornstarViola.com.” When your direct name is taken, keywords with your first or last name (whichever is most identifiable and unique to you) are your second best option!
Your domain is important but not as important as what it points to
If it’s too late to rebrand, your preferred name is taken, and for whatever reason you can not find a decent alternative… it is important to remember that while a domain name is special and important it is nowhere near as important as what the domain points to. If you are simply redirecting your domain to one of your clip or cam sites, the search value may already be impacted by this due to the search engine optimization that the site you’re redirecting to offers. Models looking to build their domain while forwarding it should utilize a domain registrar that allows them to add keywords for their domain, so they won’t lose search engine optimization value when forwarding. Models that are looking to attach their domain to their own website should utilize search engine optimization research and knowledge to ensure that they get the most from their domain, while it is important whether or not you get your preferred name, models who are unable to obtain their preferred name can make a drastic difference in traffic and search value by researching and applying SEO tips.
Learn more: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) For Webcam Models
Is a domain name / URL necessary as a webcam model or video seller?
Domains aren’t necessary for success and there are many models who have found success without them, but it does make advertising easier. If you are someone who has spread out your brand to ensure the most recognition for your content, you may lose track of all of the different site names and URLs, which you can easily structure with sub-domains if you have your own domain name. Domain names become more crucial with the creation of your own website, but in the early stages they are certainly not make or break and rely more on your personal preference.
