I was struggling today with a new domain name I wanted to register.

I’ll reveal my niche, but only because it’s extremely competitive and isnt’ worth getting into if you’re not in it for the long haul.

I wanted to register a domain using ‘HCG diet’ as my seed keyword. Since HCG diet products have been around for several years, all the best domain names have been taken.

I finally found that HCGDIETAIDS.COM was taken, but I wasn’t convinced that it would be the best one because of the word ‘aids.’ I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, but ‘aids’ has a very strong meaning in almost everyone’s mind. It’s generally associated with HIV, and I just didn’t feel that people reading the domain name would get the message I was trying to sell on the site.

Of course, you could also argue that it would be the perfect domain because of the potential interest it might generate just by people seeing it written out when it shows up in their searches.

However, I still didn’t feel that it was the right domain for my purpose. I believe that in marketing, you have to lead consumers’ thoughts and emotions directly to your message. Don’t expect them to ‘get’ your message by using quirky cliches, or ‘clever’ blog postings. If your website is selling something and visitors find it through search, chances are that they don’t think like you do. So, they’re not going to ‘get’ your humor and infinite wisdom and intelligence. Just tell them why your product is the best and why they should buy from you.

So, I did a little test. It wasn’t scientific or accurate by any means, and there were tons of variables that I didn’t take into account, and yes, it was very biased.

However, I was just after some quick, raw data.

I asked my 30-something wife (I know her age, but you just need to know that she’s thirty-something), and I asked my 16 year old daughter… “What do you girls think of when you hear Quick Trim diet aids?”

My wife quickly answered “I think about weight loss,” but my daughter answered “I think about HIV.”

As I stated earlier, this was not a scientific survey. I just needed raw input. My daughter and wife would be classified in different age groups, and would each belong to a different market segment in a real survey. And I used Quick Trim because they both know what that is, and my daughter is not familiar with HCG weight loss products.

But, I found the information I was after. With a domain like ‘HCGDIETAIDS.COM,” I probably would have a 50/50 chance of gaining readers, and losing them as well.

So, I thought about this a little further, and then came back to them with another one. I asked them later what they thought about when I said the words “Hot Quick Trim Diet.”

My daughter immediately responded “I think about something that’s going to make me look ‘hot’,” and my wife responded with “Yeah, I think about the same thing.”

BINGO. I think I have a winner.

So, I went on to register HOTHCGDIET.COM.

One thing I realized is that your domain should not only have your main keyword in it, but should also conjure up images of what your audience wants or is after when they see your domain spelled out in their search results.

I believe that these images that get generated in their minds create an instant bond with them because you just made them ‘feel’ something… and that has already established your website as more than just another place on the Internet in their lives. You have already set yourself aside from your competitors, and have started earning their trust.

Now, all you need to do is completely establish that trust by providing good content that closes the deal, and they will buy something from you.

I know many of you have had the same revelation way before me, but I’d like to hear how you dealt with yours.

Please chime in with a comment below.

What’s this blog without a ‘Getting Started’ category? Not much… so I added it.

This site is intended to help you get started on your way to being a profitable P.I.M.P. (Professional Internet Marketing Publisher). Get your mind out of the gutter! You heard it here first. The next time someone asks you what you do for a living, you tell them you’re a P.I.M.P… Wow! Won’t that raise some eyebrows! And isn’t that what Marketing is all about?

In the ‘Getting Started’ category I’ll be posting topics that describe the day-to-day operations of a budding P.I.M.P. and definitions of all the terms, such as SEO, affiliate marketing, PPC, CPA, CPM… all this stuff drove me nuts in the beginning. I’m a network engineer by trade, so I’m more familiar with abbreviations like TCP/IP, OSPF, BGP, OFDM, IPSEC, and VLAN. I’ll try to help you cut through the clutter and get you up to speed fast.

Now that .ME registration are open to the general public, what do you plan on doing with your brand new .ME domain? Post your ideas and the domains you registered to help the rest of us get our creative juices flowing…