In this digital age, your company's web site is your electronic
business card. A strong domain name is the key to your Internet
presence. It should be recognizable and relate to your business
name, brand, product, and/or activities. Make sure it fits
on a business card and is easy to remember whether seen in
print or mentioned over the phone.
Use the name people know you by. Don't abbreviate, unless
the abbreviation is your company's trademark. Ask your co-workers,
your customers, your friends, and your family what domain
name they'd expect your company to have.
Don't forget to include your domain name in your site's
logo. And put your domain name on all company promotional
materials such as business cards and stationary.
Length Matters
Conventional wisdom states that a good domain name is easy
for customers to remember, easy to spell, and short. That
said, it's increasingly difficult to secure short domain
names among top level domain names such as .com, .net and
,org. In these cases (and you have 67 characters to choose
from), it's preferable to choose a meaningful statement
such as Lawreferralservice.com" or Hotelreservationservice.com," rather
than lrs.com or hrs.com Give a Good Impression
We all know that first impressions can be crucial, so choose
your domain name carefully. Domain names often come without
spaces, so pay careful attention to the total package. For
example, PatternsExchange can look like patternsexchange.
Select Alternate Names
If your first domain name choice is not available, you can
check the "whois" information box for the domain name,
contact the person listed, and see if they're willing to
sell it. If they want to sell, they will likely charge
more than the $24.95 registration fee. An easier alternative
is to register a variation of your first choice.
For example, if your company name is Mrs Smith's Cookies,
but mrssmithscookies.com and the more obvious cookies.com
are registered, try adding a small letter such as "e" to
indicate that it's an online business. Or add the word online.
Or add your location to attract local customers:
ecookies.com
Cookiesonline.com
CookiesNewYork.com
Alternatively, try registering a local domain name:
mrsmithscookies.ca
mrsmithscookies.us
Use a little creativity, and you may find your alternative
beats your original choice.
Once you've got a list of alternatives for your online business,
test them with your friends and colleagues to see which ones
they like best. Make sure these names can be easily pronounced
and spelled by your test audience. Then, rank them in order
of popularity.
Consider Spelling Mistakes
Consider mistakes people will make when typing your web site
address and how your domain name sounds when you have to
read it over the phone to a customer. Explaining special
characters, abbreviations, and spelling is awkward and
doesn't make good business sense. Will customers accidentally
make spelling mistakes? Will they use the plural form of
a word instead of the singular form, or visa versa? Make
a list of possible mistakes, and register additional domain
names that incorporate these mistakes.
Register Multiple Versions of Your Name
Register all possible domain name variations related to your
company name. If your company's name is hard to spell,
register common misspellings. Register every domain people
might use to find your company. It only costs $24.95 a
year to register each domain name, and that's a small expense
to keep a customer.
Take this example: Before America Online acquired Time Warner
for $178 billion, it registered at least 21 domain names
that might be useful to the new company, named AOL Time Warner,
from AOLTW.com to AmericaOnlineTimeWarner.com. Alternatively,
web sites exist that capitalize on misspellings using them
as advertising vehicles and diverting customers from your
site.
Register Product Names
When users search the Internet for a particular product or
service they often search by product or service, rather
than business name. To increase the chances of having your
site found, register extra domain names that relate to
your core business or products. If you owned the hypothetical
company name of Widgets & Widgets co. but you sold
an array of household products, you could register generic
domain names relating to all aspects of household goods.
You may be too late to snap up obvious domain names such
as detergent.com or vacuum.com, but a little creative thinking
into alternatives can be lucrative. These alternative domains
can be easily linked to your main web site.
Avoid Trademarked Names
Ensure someone else has not trademarked the name you register.
You cannot register names already registered as copyright
(for example, McDonaldsâ"¢). Like company names,
domain names are unique and cannot be duplicated. Avoid
registering domain names that are similar to your competition
or to famous trademarks. Businesses have lost their rights
to registered domain names due to conflicts with existing
trademarks for off-line companies.
Register Locally
If your company is located in Canada, you can register a
.ca domain name even if your business activity includes
export trade. If you have an international presence, a
top-level domain such as .com, .net , or .org is more suitable.
Many businesses choose to register all three, and we suggest
doing so. All three addresses can "point" to the same e-mail
account and web site.
Conversely, you might open a virtual office in another country.
For example, bread.com could also register bread.ca, which
may "point" towards the same site, attracting a larger audience.
Don't forget to check to see if a local presence is required
in the country you wish to register.
Use a metaphor
If your .dot com businesses does not have a name, the world
is your oyster. One Internet incubation company decided
on the metaphor campsix, referring to the final basecamp
on the Everest climb rather than a straight description
of services. The name reflected the difficulty and challenges
of building an Internet company to the scaling of Everest.
Bear in mind that if your web site is the primary tool
for business, the company name must be the company URL.
Shaun Cronrath is the President & CEO of DomainPurpose.com,
a
domain
name registration company offering all the major domain
extensions --.com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .name, .ca, .us,
.cn, .eu, .de, .pro and more.
