Keywords in the domain & .au Vs. no keywords & .com

Is googles ranking of domain name keywords worth risking conversions

[borisbaloney]

I am starting a new site and am deciding on a domain name for my product I will be selling worldwide. The most appropriate available domain name is adjectivenounverb.com.au.

I think that having this domain and TLD is going to have two consequences: keywords in the domain will help with google, an international TLD will hurt conversions from within the US.

Also the international TLD will get me into the "AU and NZ only" google searches.

Getting the keywords I want in the domain will not be possible with a .com as the market is saturated. Is keywords in the domain worth the possible reductions in conversions due to the TLD?

[borisbaloney]

Oh yeah ... and would you be put off at all buying from a site with a .au TLD? would you think it is only selling locally and not investigate further?

Thanks

[Pegasus]

Yo boris. I'm from Adelaide, so I had to make that decision about a year ago.

My site is about adobe photoshop and web design info, so it's not really a locally-based business.

If you're targetting local customers, it might be better to go for a .com.au name. It's more expensive, but you'll get the domain name you want.

Trying to get anything that resembled "Pegasus Web Design Resources" was almost impossible. I ended up having to get a kind of combo-word, but it's only seven letters long, so I'm quite happy with it.

One piece of advice, whatever you do - get a shortish domain name, not a keyword-mass.