Keywords are more important than people think, they attract visitors to your site so if you are writing for a niche, and its in your title, you will be easily found.

I trust SEO more and so play my game on keywords :)

I always believe that there should be a perfect balance of both to get the right result. However, you can lean on one depending on your needs.

Ya know, that almost sounds like it would work... :)

Exactly, and Google has shown they're placing less emphasis on domain names. Keep in mind this is still appropriate in some cases (like what Matt Fox said in his comment) but I think for a long-term venture like a business blog... branding rules and keywords drool. :)

And let's not forget the distinction between domains and URLs. The file name or permalink of a web page should still contain keywords. In fact it is crucial.

I think you've hit it right on. It's about the content, not the domain. Choosing a domain name that's dripping in keywords is getting harder to do. After all there's only so many words in the English language and only so many ways to put them together.

Providing quality content and building your brand online are much more important than keyword laced domain names.

We do what works. If Google decides keyword domains are "spammy" and downranks them, there will not be anyone around to appreciate any other aspect of the page, since pages which cannot be found in search don't exist in any practical way. Essentially what we're looking at here is being punished for over-optimizing. It's almost as if you have to optimize content out of the corner of your eye so you don't look like you're trying too hard.

Google doesn't want anyone to feel they have to pick keyword domains over branding, and they're the least likely to prefer keywords over branding (see the linked articles in my post). This is going to trend stronger not weaker in the future. The domain is not the content.

However, you're absolutely right in that it's easy to change domains and sites over business direction and so forth. Great insight!

I see this a lot in the insurance industry. I prefer keyword in the domain because it's searched more often than the agency name and it would be easier to rank for if your agency name is NOT in the domain. In our agency, we used the agency name in the domain only for email. All our websites had keyword domains for niche areas we targeted.

I think it depends on your business which way you should go. It's easier to set up sites than change your business direction, location, name, etc.

Yes, but what about the lawyer?

In his case wouldn't a keyword domain be a little more benefits-oriented? In his case the keyword domain is somewhat of a headline whereas the brand domain is kinda focused on...features? Himself? It might not have much effect on SEO, but people like benefits and respond to good copy and search engines follow people...

Maybe it's just because he's a lawyer.