Over the years, several critical technologies have been embedded in how we live our lives and do business, and the internet is the most critical technology of our time. We could say that’s because communication has always been among the essential needs of man, and the internet serves that need better than any technology we’ve ever had.
In the late 90s, when the internet first went mainstream, there were many questions about its relevance, and talks of it being just another tulip mania ensued. But how the tables have turned, and today, businesses who don’t have strong access to it have lost the first resource they need to go global.
Going online is an excellent growth strategy for new businesses wanting to achieve success, and getting a solid domain name is the best way to go about it.
And if you’re an entrepreneur looking to get the best domain to give your company a better chance in the market, read on because we’ve prepared a detailed guide to show you how to choose the perfect domain name for your business.
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Brands that prioritized solid domains
Building a compelling online presence is essential for businesses in this digital economy. That’s because it not only helps to increase brand recognition and revenue but also makes your company appear a lot more professional and experienced.
Your domain name, like any other physical address, is so vital because it’s critical in assisting clients in locating your digital store. Poor domain names can cause confusion and a considerable loss of site visitors.
Major organizations will go to great lengths, whether by using a business name creator or paying seven figures to secure an exact match domain (EMD) name that aligns with their business, because they realize the value of solid domains in increasing traffic and sales.
Tesla is one well-known firm that sets a high value on its solid domain name. Despite owning the domain name teslamotors.com, Tesla spent $11 million and a lot of work to acquire the EMD domain name tesla.com. They did this because they knew it would improve their brand’s internet image, and it did.
Other businesses, for instance, Mural, continuously improved their brand’s domain identity until they found the best solid domain name for their website. The brand revealed that shifting from mural.ly to mural.co and then to mural.com resulted in a big boost in their income.
Another firm, Doorbot, promptly obtained the exact match domain of their rebranded name, Ring. The cost was justified since it helped them achieve their aim of wowing their consumers. Ring’s CEO stated that handing out their email address, name@ring.com, created the desired impression the brand needed.
eCommerce is increasing, and your domain name can result in a revenue increase or decrease.
Benefits of a strong domain name for your business
To fully grasp what a solid domain name brings to your company, it’s vital to realize that business owners get great domains to reflect their brand image as a resource for brand recognition or simply because they don’t want others to have them. But that’s not everything.
It’s the exact fit for your company
Solid domains stand out because they provide the best channel for expressing the essence of your business’s online identity.
And so, it was no surprise that Elon Musk eventually acquired his cherished Tesla.com domain from Stuart Grossman after ten long years and a ton of money. One of the reasons he spent so much money was that he understood that the best way to represent his firm in this digital age is with a solid domain name tailored explicitly to his brand.
Over the years, many people searching for Tesla online accidentally ended up at tesla.com rather than teslamotors.com, and this basic factor was damaging the company’s online visibility and needed to be corrected.
Imagine if tesla.com was in the hands of bad actors or even being used by a competitor. Consider how damaging that would be not just to the traffic of teslamotors.com but also to its reputation.
Buying a solid domain name that matches your company’s name and social media handles can increase your online visibility and make you more accessible to your target audience. Furthermore, selecting a domain name that is somewhat different from your company’s name will negatively influence how well your brand performs online.
And talking about domain names that don’t correspond to the brands they represent, let’s consider abc.xyz.
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, chose abc.xyz over alphabet.com, which is the best fit for their corporate name but was owned by BMW. And considering the current nature of things, it’s safe to say that BMW didn’t want to let go of the domain name.
Now, because Alphabet Inc. does not use a solid domain name, many customers end up at BMW’s alphabet.com. Alphabet Inc. had to spend a lot of money to get people to visit their website, making it a good lesson on why you must consider your domain name while naming your firm. This way, it’ll be easier to avoid the same fate as Google’s Alphabet.
It’s short and easy to say
The importance of domain name clarity cannot be overstated. As previously said, domain names act similarly to regular addresses, and it is common knowledge that the simpler your address, the easier it is to find your brand.
Solid domain names are easier to pronounce and remember, and they also provide more accuracy when people search for your company online.
But it does not end there. Customers can grasp and remember your domain name without much exertion since it communicates a brief and straightforward message.
Given the difficulties of obtaining a solid domain name, you may be tempted to get a lengthier domain name. But before you do, know that long-tail domains could harm your website and, by extension, your business since they are difficult to remember and do not look authentic or trustworthy to prospective buyers.
It’s easier for customers to locate online
To build on the previous statement, the general features of solid domain names make them easier to find. As a result, whether your business is totally online or offline, a solid domain should be the ultimate objective of everyone starting a business.
Purchasing a solid domain name makes it significantly simpler for your target audience to identify, search for, and find your company online.
Let’s go through Alphabet Inc. again. First and foremost, the @Alphabet Twitter handle is not controlled by Alphabet Inc; the same goes for the website alphabet.com and the Alphabet Facebook page. Instead, it uses many user identities across numerous social media networks. This makes it incredibly difficult and time-consuming for clients to keep up with the company online.
Assume you own a shoe company named Happy Feet. If you want people to discover your business online quickly, a solid domain name like happyfeet.com, accompanied by similar social media handles, is the best way to go about it. Following Google’s Alphabet Inc. example could ruin you.
It increases the credibility of your company
Getting a solid domain boosts the validity and trustworthiness of your company’s website, which means customers will be more inclined to visit and buy from your site.
Assume customers want to buy a new automobile and require a loan but are unsure who to contact, so they conduct a quick Google search and are presented with thousands of alternatives.
Let’s say they came across sites like credit4carspurchase.tk, quickloanforfree.com, and carloans.com. There’s a strong possibility they’d pick carloans.com since it’s not just meaningfully shorter but also more trustworthy.
When it comes to making exceptional first impressions with consumers, solid domain names provide you authority and credibility over the competition.
It contributes to your company’s SEO
Even when entrepreneurs do not choose a keyword-rich domain name, as we see with mega-corporations like Apple.com and Tesla.com, the EMD names they choose are appealing, brandable, solid domain names that convey their company’s uniqueness, creativity, and excellence.
These types of domain names assist businesses in developing a strong brand identity. And take it from us, brandable domain names are clearly appealing to buyers.
It stops competitors from using it against you
The game of getting the best domain name among entrepreneurs depends on timing. If you’re late, your desired name might already have been claimed and, in some cases, like alphabet.com, wouldn’t want to be handed over no matter the price.
Picture this; LuxTech is already the name of your company. If someone else purchases luxtech.com, even if it is not a rival, clients seeking you online will end up at someone else’s site, depriving your site of prospective customers and limiting growth.
And though the previous instance may appear strange, it is exactly what occurred with Nissan Motor Company and Nissan Electronics. Nissan Motors went to great lengths to get the domain name nissan.com from Nissan Electronics, which happened to be the first business to grab it.
And for more than two decades, the vehicle company has been involved in a legal dispute with Uzi Nissan, the owner of Nissan.com, and Nissan Electronics. Ultimately, Nissan Motors lost the case.
As we see in the feud over nissan.com, it obviously is a solid domain name and superior to that of Nissan Motors. Their online presence has therefore been affected by not having this domain.
Also, don’t undermine your competitors. If you do not purchase a solid domain name for your business, as Tesla did with tesla.com, your competitors will almost certainly do so and use it against you.
It encourages brand expansion
Solid domains, as opposed to bland domain names, will grow with your company. And, just as many businesses change their brand name because it cannot grow with them, most businesses that do not choose a solid domain name early on regularly replace their brand’s weak domain name with a superior one.
Some notable companies that had to go through this upgrade due to their restrictive domain names are ubercab.com and thefacebook.com.
So, while a wonderful name like hotelsolutions.com may sound modern and catchy, it will stagnate your company’s progress in its market as well as in the eyes of your clients since they will associate your brand predominantly with hotel-related services.
If you don’t want to select a domain name that matches your brand name, consider one that depicts your company’s existing goods and services and its future objectives for the greatest results.
How to find an exciting domain name
Here are five trusted methods to help you find a memorable domain name for your company:
- Develop interesting words. Even if they’re abstract words, ensure you come up with words that convey the essence of your brand’s services and identity. Some great examples are Hulu.com and Google.com.
- Use popular words. Books, dictionaries, and thesauruses are great places to look for everyday words that match your brand. Consider domain names like Twitter.com, Target.com, and Tinder.com. These businesses incorporated their own meanings into well-known words.
- Use acronyms. One method for coming up with a distinctive domain name is to shorten difficult words. While Microsoft.com is a great domain name, it really stands for “Microcomputer software,” while Instagram is for “Instant Camera and Telegram.”
- Use a trusted domain name generator. You can use a domain name generator to craft unique and attractive domain name ideas that align with your business.
- Visit reliable domain marketplaces. Domain marketplaces and auction sites are excellent places to find perfect domain or brand names for sale and expired domains with traffic. Using a domain marketplace will save you time and effort when searching for the best domain names for your business.
Сharacteristics to pay attention to when selecting a solid domain name
To choose the best solid domain name for your business and brand, be sure to keep an eye out for the following characteristics.
It is memorable
The first quality to look for in a domain name is simplicity. Is it simple to learn, remember, and spell? Or is it very technical and difficult to spell?
Complex domain names can be challenging for your clients, lowering the value of such a domain name. So, whether you hire a professional business naming agency or construct your own domain name, use a simple and memorable domain name. This will increase your company’s chances of referrals and growth.
It makes no difference if you choose an Exact Match Domain (EMD); if your company name as a domain name is too long or convoluted, you should consider altering it. If that isn’t doable, be sure to secure both the frequent misspelling of the domain name and the correct spelling of the EMD name, as 7-Eleven did by securing 711.com, seven-eleven.com, and 7-eleven.com.
Facebook is another wonderful example. Despite the fact that “FB” is not a typo but an abbreviation of their company name, they purchased the domain name fb.com and redirected it to their main site facebook.com. And yes, Meta paid $8.5 million to purchase fb.com to improve facebook.com’s site accessibility.
Also, if you look up the fashion brand Louis Vuitton online, you’ll notice that they’ve linked common spellings of their names like loisvuitton.com, luisvuitton.com, louisvuitton.com, and probably a few others to their main domain name because they understand how easily their business name can be misspelled.
As seen by these leading companies, every entrepreneur must make it a point to pick a domain name that is short, unique, and easy to remember.
It complements your company
The primary goal of a solid domain name is to boost your company’s online accessibility. And if a brand’s domain name cannot serve this purpose, it is of little value to the company.
A domain name that isn’t aligned with your company’s identity may cause issues that will interfere with the traffic flow that the domain name is intended to direct. For example, the domain name relentless.com redirects to amazon.com. Consider what would happen if Amazon’s website was relentless.com rather than amazon.com. Consider the potential for consumer confusion.
Let’s go back and look at Facebook. In an interview with Y Combinator’s Jessica Livingston, Mark Zuckerberg said that if he could go back in time, one thing he’d do differently is obtaining the appropriate domain name.
If you’re familiar with Facebook’s history, or if you were a user in its early days, you’d be aware that thefacebook.com was its initial domain name when the business was started. And while facebook.com was already being used by another company, AboutFace Corp., if they had pushed for its purchase from the firm in February 2004, they would have received the domain for a considerably lesser amount.
Let’s fast forward to 2005. With around 6 million monthly users, Facebook has already become a well-known brand. Going back to get facebook.com costs them far more than if they had just obtained it sooner.
About Face eventually sold the domain name facebook.com for $200,000 in 2005. Want to guess what the cost would have been if they had waited until, say, 2022?
Any delay in obtaining the best domain name for your business always results in more costs, work, and time.
It is appropriate for your business and its future prospects
The easiest way for solid domain names to distinguish themselves from regular domain names is by accurately representing the identity of their host company.
Because solid domain names can be in the form of keywords or non-keywords, you have a wide variety of options for your domain name.
Although it is worth mentioning that one of the advantages of solid domain names is that they mirror your company’s name, which has various advantages such as improved accessibility and stronger brandability for your company. However, much like how relentless.com, awake.com, and browse.com all point to amazon.com, a keyword-based domain name could be used as an alternative domain name if required.
It includes well-known domain name extensions
Domain extensions are an important aspect of a domain name since they offer credibility to the domain. Unusual domain extensions give your customers more information to remember while decreasing the accessibility and memorability of the domain names.
There are thousands of available extensions, but the most popular and default in customers’ minds when they deal with domain names are .com, .org, .net, .co, and .io. Solid domains always contain these extensions.
A solid domain name must include an extension like .com, .org, .io, .net, or .co. Country code extensions are not widely utilized since the country code extension of your business’s location could limit your firm’s reach, so bear that in mind.
By purchasing a solid domain that includes one of these top-level domain extensions, you can inspire trust and confidence in your website while also simplifying the process for clients to remember and locate you online.
Summing up
Even if it is too expensive on the secondary market, a great domain name is definitely worth the investment, and companies are willing to pay more for them because they help them achieve their financial and branding goals by providing the following advantages:
- They’re easy to recall. When it comes to domain names, shorter is better as it helps customers find these brands more readily online.
- They can be branded. A solid domain name can fit the company’s image perfectly and simplify the process of businesses creating their brand identity around them.
- They use reliable domain extensions. For weaker domain names, domain extensions could be another factor affecting the memorability of the domain name, but a solid domain name makes use of popular and trustworthy extensions like .com, .org, and .net.
- They deliver a clear message. Customers could learn more about your company’s products and services by merely glancing at any solid keyword-based domain names.
- They boost SEO performance. Solid names are SEO-friendly since they often match the exact words that customers are looking for.
These unique characteristics of solid domain names distinguish them from the rest while still serving the basic goal of all domains: helping visitors quickly find the website they’re looking for.
Now that it’s obvious what to search for in a solid domain name, be sure to grab the one you discover as soon as possible, or someone else will claim it.
Also, don’t forget to complement your outstanding domain name with an equally fantastic website design. Ensure that your website has helpful material that will please your visitors and convert them into regular clients.
Finally, make sure you don’t forget to renew your domain name. The last thing your thriving company needs is for someone else to buy your domain name as an expired name and then sell it back to you.
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