By Stephanie Nichols, Customer Service Associate<o:p></o:p>
Much like a logo or slogan identifies a brand or business, domain names also provide an online identity for any business. A domain name is the virtual street address that your customers will go to when they are looking for your company’s resources. If you do not have a discernible home for your company on the Internet, it is likely your customers will quickly find one of your competitors instead.
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According to a recent survey by 1&1 Internet Inc., U.S. small businesses are hastily choosing their web addresses. Forty-two percent (42%) of the 1,074 American businesses surveyed admitted they invested under an hour of thought into a domain name, and less than 12 hours choosing the main domain name to represent their business. More than half said they did not consider alternate domain extensions such as .biz, .net, or .org. Further, thirty-seven percent (37%) of those surveyed also believed that their sales would directly increase if they had chosen a better web address, with 1 in 4 of the businesses surveyed admitting that they had ‘concerns’ about their current web addresses’ effectiveness. With this in mind, it is important for businesses to utilize the domain aftermarket in order to invest in quality domains.
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Choosing a domain name that represents your brand is essential, and using domain names to unify a marketing strategy can boost exposure and sales. For brand consistency and online presence, you may also want to grab a domain name that matches your current marketing slogan, product, or campaign theme. It is possible for customers to remember a slogan or phrase before they even realize what company it relates to. Check out the list below for examples of how some major corporations took related domain names and used to them to expand their brand: Thinkdifferent.com, ipod.com and itunes.com, among others, all redirect to Apple’s website.
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*Nike owns the domain name for their brand slogan, justdoit.com (http://www.justdoit.com). <o:p></o:p>
*Orbit gum grabbed the domain for their popular marketing slogan, goodcleanfeeling.com (http://www.goodcleanfeeling.com). <o:p></o:p>
*Thinkoutsidethebun.com (http://www.thinkoutsidethebun.com) belongs to Taco Bell<o:p></o:p>
*Haveityourway.com (http://www.haveityourway.com) is taken by Burger King <o:p></o:p>
* Hellomoto.com (http://www.hellomoto.com) brings you to Motorola<o:p></o:p>
*Thepowerofdreams.com (http://www.thepowerofdreams.com) will point you to Honda’s website <o:p></o:p>
*Touchingisgood.com (http://www.touchingisgood.com) is owned by Nintendo DS
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It is also not uncommon for larger companies to register domains that have keywords or phrases that represent their brand, product, or services. Sleep.com brings users to 1800Mattress.com, and peanutbutter.com redirects to Skippy’s website. This is an especially great strategy for any business trying to reach out to new customers and become the market leader. By owning a generic domain name, you become the hub for all people who have not yet decided on their favorite brand. This is not only a great way to get natural traffic, but it is also an affective way to get customers who may have otherwise gone to a competitor.
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Additionally, when choosing the right domain name remember to keep the following factors in mind:
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1. Choosing your Top Level Domain (TLD): Of course, you will have to decide on what you want your domain name TLDs to be. While a .com is certainly the most popular and recognizable, when that option is unavailable other TLDs such as .net, .org, .us, or .biz may be worth considering. If your business operates overseas, it may also be critical to claim the popular country code TLDs (ccTLD) like .co.uk, .eu, and/or .de of your domain name.
2.The length of you domain name: You do not necessarily have to settle for short or abbreviated domain names. However, a short domain name that is easy to spell and easy to remember has a greater likelihood of being directly typed into a browser (also known as an organic search or direct navigation). You want to choose domain name that is also easy to exchange through word of mouth; something memorable that also reflects your products and services. You may also want to avoid using long hyphenated URLs, though they may be search engine friendly, they are not particularly type-in friendly or easy to remember. <o:p></o:p>
3.The importance of owning common misspellings of your domain name(s): investing in the misspellings of your business not only prevents competitors from getting their hands the domain and your customers, but it also provides valuable traffic that could be redirected to your main business site.
With the use of the Internet growing worldwide, whatever your business may represent, securing your online presence now can only be beneficial to you in the future. The utilization of the domain name aftermarket is almost unavoidable.
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If you are looking to get started check out Sedo’s marketplace for more tips and over 10.5 million domains for you to choose from!<o:p></o:p>
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