What’s in a name?

Jerry L. Kennedy | TLT Social Media Marketing December 2014

Follow these basic rules in selecting and buying domain names.
 

Finding an appropriate domain name for your business is a challenge when it comes to marketing online.
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WHEN JULIET SAID, “WHAT’S IN A NAME? THAT WHICH WE CALL A ROSE WOULD BY ANY OTHER NAME SMELL AS SWEET,” she clearly wasn’t anticipating a name like www.FreshRosesForSaleInVeronaLLC.biz. And how could she have? After all, in her day www.rose.com was still available.

Today’s business owners aren’t so lucky. In fact, finding an appropriate domain name for your business can be one of the greatest challenges you come up against when you first venture into marketing online. Since the first .com domain name was sold nearly 40 years ago (on March 15, 1985, to be precise), it’s no wonder that finding the perfect.com name can be difficult.

Your domain name is the online address of your business. With that being the case, it’s important to get it right. There are some things to keep in mind when searching for and buying your domain name, provided you follow a few basic rules.

1. First one to the cart wins. There is a universal law to keep in mind when it comes to domain names. If you just thought of a great domain, 23,517 other people just thought of the same one. In other words, don’t wait. I’ve literally thought of a domain name while driving and immediately called a friend, who I knew was at home, and asked him to buy it on my account. Yes, you read that right. I have an account for domain purchases. In fact, I have two accounts at GoDaddy.com and WebDomainBuys.com. I’ve even got them set up with a credit card on file so that all I need to do is log in (or have a friend log in for me), search for the domain, and if it’s available, buy it. No hesitation, no second-guessing. At $15, I can’t afford not to buy them.

And if I don’t end up using all of the domains I buy (and I don’t), what then? Depending on the domain, I might let it expire or I might put it up for sale. Others I continue to renew, thinking that one day I’ll get around to developing the ideas that inspired them. I know that the $15 renewal fee every year is chump change compared to the potential value of a full-fledged online business.

2. If it’s easy to remember, they probably will. One of the most common mistakes I see in domain selection is to be so concerned about getting your business name in the URL that you sacrifice memorability. If the .com domain for your business name is already taken, by all means buy the .biz or .co version of the name but also look for an alternative, easy-to-remember .com name, as well. Why?

While other top-level domain extensions (TLDs) are steadily gaining traction, .com is still the extension that everyone remembers. Create a descriptive, catchy domain name that describes what you do and see if the .com for it is available. You might be surprised by what you find. For example, if cdkcreative.com hadn’t been available when we formed the company, we might have chosen something like wemakewebsitesthatwork.com or wemakewebsitesgo.com, or even makeabetterwebsite.com. Those all have the advantage of being descriptive of what we do and being easy-to-remember. As a matter of fact, I just bought all three.

3. You can never have too many domains. Seriously, folks, you can’t go wrong here, especially when GoDaddy has one of its $1.99 sales on domains. Go on a spree. At $2 a pop, you can afford to buy some stupid domains that you’ll end up allowing to expire at the end of the year. It’s an inexpensive habit that can pay big dividends when it comes to making your Website memorable and easy to find. Just point the keepers to your primary Website or use them for product- or service-specific landing pages and enjoy the admiring looks of the folks who say, “What a great domain name! Why didn’t I think of that?!”


Jerry Kennedy earned his stripes as an operations and sales manager in the lubricants industry. He is currently the co-founder of CDK Creative, a digital marketing agency that brings his real-world sales and operations experience to the world of online marketing. Learn more or request a consultation at http://cdkcreative.com. Email him at jerry@jerrykennedy.com.