Choosing the Right Domain Name

One of the trickiest aspects of starting your business can be choosing the right domain name. If you thought coming up with the company name was the hard part, you may be surprised how much time you may need to spend on the domain name.

In the United States, the vast majority of domain names end with .com. But, you do have alternatives such as .net or .org. For our foreign friends in Canada, the domain names usually end in .CA. How do you choose which is right for your business? And is there an advantage of one over the other? These are must ask questions to your Brand Manager in your Circle of Trust Advisors.

Choosing a domain name requires research, like any important aspect of your business. If you google domain name lookup you will find several options to input the name or names you are considering. And does the name matter? Depending on the industry it may be more important than others. I personally have found it confusing when I am looking up a retail establishment, say a hotel, and I cannot find its domain where one would think it would be, under the name of the business. Hotels will often be under a parent corporation, whose name you may or may not know. Local small business retail shops may be under their names or a derivative thereof as the exact domain was already taken. It may just behoove you to check their Social Media and use the direct link there to access their website.

For non-retail businesses, you may see a variety of domain names. Some may describe the product or service or be under a catch phrase that fits the business or its products and services. For my own business, since I chose a common word in “Illuminate”, I had to add on since that name domain was already taken. I shortened Business Consulting to BC after Illuminate but in retrospect, I believe I should have just spelled out the entire name. This will alleviate any confusion with other businesses with my similar name. The good news is if you choose to “transfer” your domain name, a good website developer will be able to work with your domain provider, such as GoDaddy in my case, and limit the difficulties such a switch can create.

The concept of purchasing like named domains is something you will also need to contend with at the time you register yours. Do you want to buy up similar names, perhaps the .net and .org version of your name, and you want to make sure that your competition does not even have a remotely similar name. After all, the point is to drive traffic to your website, not any one else’s, let alone a competitor’s. You may also consider whether or not to copyright your business name. And, if so, which countries to copyright it in. The risk of other’s using a similar name is real and you should take caution in choosing the domain name. Consult with your Brand Manager and your Attorney, if need be. Most common words, by their very definition, cannot be copyrighted. So, in my case, although there are many firms in various types of industries, “illuminate” is a common word so I did not have to worry about impinging upon someone else’s copyright by using that word.

If you work with your trusted advisors on the creation and do your research, hopefully you will be able to create a domain name which supports your brand, advertises your brand, is easy for customers or clients to locate, and is one you can easily remember! Do not take for granted that this is a simple process. It should be treated with the same respect you treated your business name with as this will minimize any reputation risk you might suffer from using a domain name that is not suited to your business or is associated with another company.

Popular in the dog world is the “Oodle”; any number of breeds mixed with a Poodle. At this juncture, there are so many with catchy names, one can barely keep up. If you do it right, your domain names easily reflects or relates to your business name. And just bring home a Poodle not the “oodle”; you will know what to expect with the breed standard as a well bred Poodle is as predictable as a well thought out domain name.

Be well.

Previous
Previous

Your Mirror Image

Next
Next

Climb above the Routine