Because search engines, including Google, place a lot of value on the actual words in the domain itself, many people are now trying to optimize their web presence by purchasing domain names that contain their target keywords.

It’s not a bad strategy because it doesn’t hurt you, but how much does it really help you?

Let’s say you now have 30 domains, all with your target keywords, but not including your main website. What can you do with them?

1. Keep them registered and do nothing. This prevents competitors from registering them and using them to their advantage. End result: No SEO value, for obvious reasons.

2. Within your registrar account, you can set up permanent 301 redirects for each, redirecting them to your main website. Bottom line: No SEO value, but if someone types in the exact domain name of one you’ve registered and redirected, they’ll be taken to your main website, so you might get some traffic, but not likely much. .

3. Use them for the creation of a minisite. This strategy is to use each domain on its own by creating a mini website around it. Bottom line: Potentially a TON of SEO value.

Let’s take a look at this “mini-site building” strategy; the one with the most SEO value.

One by one, take each domain and host a site for it. If you have a hosting account for your main website, you may be able to add new sites to that same hosting account. This is very common and you can easily find out if and how you can do this by calling your hosting company to inquire.

Once you’ve set up your hosting and each domain points to its own minisite, you’ll want to build each site.

To make building each site easier, you need to do two things: first, plan all of your content around your main keyword (the keyword that’s in the domain name) to include both articles and videos; and second, build the site using some sort of ready-made website template with a built-in CMS (Content Management System). Probably the best CMS to use in this case would be WordPress because it’s so easy to use, search engine friendly, easy to set up, and there are plenty of free (and well-designed) templates.

Ok, now you have your domains pointing to their respective minisites, you created all the content for them, developed the sites, and finally published all the content you created on the sites, hopefully using a CMS like WordPress to do it.

Now, with your main website in mind, you’ll want to make sure you’re driving traffic from your minisites to your main website. To do this, simply include content about your main website on those mini-sites and include links back to your main website. Also, if you have a business phone number and operate over the phone, be sure to list your primary business phone number on all of those mini-sites.

There are more advanced SEO techniques that you should employ; however, that is well beyond the scope of this piece of information.

In conclusion, if you have already invested, or want to invest, in buying multiple domains for SEO purposes, use them well. Keeping them “locked” unused or simply redirecting them to your main website are not effective strategies. You want to use them to build an “internet empire” with lots of “internet real estate” all focused on your target keywords and ultimately driving people to your website and main business.

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