Your Domain Name is an Integral Part of How You Market Your Business

Different people will remember different things when they visit a website. Some will remember the search terms or link that brought them to your site, others will remember visual or interactive components, and still others will remember the site name or the domain name.

As I suggested in my blog on how to avoid linking to online cons and pushers, one of the things that people will look for when deciding if they want to link to your site is whether or not your content matches your domain name, but in truth you want all of these elements (inbound links, visual elements, site name, and domain name) to be working in concert.

While it is not an online instance, I am reminded of this point every time one of my friends laments that they cannot find Dreyer’s brand ice cream on the East Coast. When the Dreyer’s company first moved east of the Rocky Mountains, they decided to re-brand in order to make sure that they were not mistaken for their chief rival, Breyer’s. While this marketing approach served them well when first breaking into the eastern US market, Dreyer’s loyalists from one side of the country often have trouble finding their favorite ice creams on the other.

This lesson should be taken into consideration when determining how to market your business online. If your branding and marketing focus on the name of your website, some of your potential clients will search for the name of your website. If your website name is not also your domain name, those clients may well end up somewhere else, possibly even shopping with your competitor.

With this in mind, here are some things to think about when deciding on a good name for both your domain and your website.

1. Do you want a brand domain name or a generic domain name? Generic names are generally more expensive and they won’t necessarily give you an edge with people who have specific ideas about which brands or products they’re shopping for.
2. How long do you want your domain name to be? Longer names are frequently more descriptive, while shorter names are usually easier to remember. Bare in mind that while you are able to have domain names of as many as 67 characters, Twitter will only allow 144 characters for an entire entry, and not everyone is comfortable using “mini URLs.”
3. How available is the domain name you want? If you’re lucky, it’ll be available as a .com in both hyphenated and non-hyphenated forms. If you may need to make some tough choices about branding or which top level domain (.com, .org, &c.) you get your domain through.
4. Could someone make the case that you’re trying to infringe upon the copywrite or trade mark of another company? If so, you should probably back off and try something else.
5. Does your name create expectations? If you are in a position to meet those expectations, this is a good thing. If you can’t you’ll be better served picking a different name.
6. Are you in a position to change your brand if the domain name you want is unavailable? If you do not have this freedom, you may need to think of a longer, more descriptive domain name.
7. Are you willing to accept .biz, .org, or some other top-level domain category besides .com? Most web-browsers look for .com first if someone doesn’t specify which top-level domain contains the site they’re looking for. However, if you make a point of always using the full form of you website’s name, your customers should be able to find their way back to you without problem, and many domain names that have been taken in the .com top-level domain are still available in others.
8. Are you comfortable with puns? As del.icio.us has demonstrated, clever use of the top level domain codes can be quite effective as long as you have a good service in place to back it up.

Hopefully this will give you some food for thought the next time you’re launching a website. Oh, and if you’re heading east and want a pint of Dreyer’s Chocolate Chip Mint Brownie ice cream for desert, it’ll be inside of a package marked Edy’s.

Sources:

• 12 Rules for Choosing Domain Names
• Tips on Choosing a Good Domain Name
• Is Your Domain Name Hurting Your Sales
• Partnering with Dreyer’s