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vangogh
05-04-2009, 12:33 AM
One of the questions many people have when starting a business is what to name the company. One criteria for choosing a name is the availability of domain names.

I found a post at Smashing Magazine, Effective Strategy for Choosing the Right Domain Names (http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/05/02/the-effective-strategy-for-choosing-right-domain-names/), which offers ideas for, you guessed it, coming up with a domain name.

The general advice to make your domain

Short
Catchy and memorable,
Easy to pronounce,
Easy to spell,
Not too similar to competing domain names,
Not a violation of someone else’s trademark.

is good, but somewhat vague.

The posts breaks down two main ideas in choosing a domain. Will your domain be discoverable or brandable



Disoverable: a name that can be found by someone who doesn’t know about your website but is doing web searches on keywords and phrases related to a specific topic, or by typing those words and phrases directly into the navigation bar of the browser. Discoverable names are generically descriptive.



Brandable: name establishes a distinct identity and communicates indirectly to evoke interesting ideas and feelings.

The post then offers tips for both types of domains as well as mentioning tools you can use to see what domains are available.

If you've ever felt unsure about how to choose a domain (and even if you haven't) I'd recommend giving the post a read. It has some great ideas and should help choosing your next domain a little easier.

Dan Furman
05-04-2009, 12:50 AM
Interesting article.

I'm not sure the "discoverable" is of any real use, though. Do people randomly type into the address bar to search? I would think they'd go to google and click a link.

One strategy I have advocated is using a fun / descriptive phrase that's easy to remember and type in. You kidded around before, VG, about the house of design or whatever it was, but that wasn't too far off the mark. A florida exterminator with the URL www.wekillfloridabugs.com has a pretty darn good URL (looks like it's available, too)

I also think people get too hung up on the "company name" as a URL. They can be different - it's not a big deal at all.

vangogh
05-04-2009, 03:19 AM
Believe it or not they do. But even if they don't search engines tend to give preference to exact match domains to a query. If you type 'cars' in to Google for example the #1 result is cars.com. Granted they likely have a lot of links pointing to them using the word 'cars' in the anchor text and there are all sorts of reasons why the site ranks first. One of the reasons is their domain.

Try it with most words or phrases. Often one of the top 2 or 3 results is an exact match domain.

I agree with you that the company name and URL can be different, but then you do have to do more work branding. Take your wekillbugs.com example. If the company name is Bob's Extermination and that's what's painted on the side of the truck people looking for Bob online will type bobsextermination.com first. Bob would need to make sure the URL is then on every piece of marketing he does and make sure it stands out enough so people notice.

Not impossible, but more work to get people to remember your domain. (assuming they know you by company name first).

I think people get hung up on a lot of things when it comes to business. Very little is an absolute. It's really about pros and cons and balancing things. One domain might mean more branding, but it also might mean a lot more search traffic to balance things out.

Business Attorney
05-04-2009, 10:30 AM
Of course, if Bob wants to cover all his bases, besides branding his wekillfloridabugs.com website, he can also buy bobsextermination.com and redirect it to his branded site (or vice versa).

Dan Furman
05-04-2009, 11:08 AM
Of course, if Bob wants to cover all his bases, besides branding his wekillfloridabugs.com website, he can also buy bobsextermination.com and redirect it to his branded site (or vice versa).

Agreed. For some reason, many people buy one domain, and leave it at that.

Heck, I wake up in the middle of the night with business ideas and go buy the domain for it.

rezzy
05-04-2009, 11:39 AM
Heck, I wake up in the middle of the night with business ideas and go buy the domain for it.

Good idea, especially since domains are so cheap. Since we are on the domain talk, is there any real benefit in buiyng the .com/.net/.org/ ...... domains? Or is it enough to get the .com and maybe the .net?

vangogh
05-04-2009, 12:38 PM
Of course, if Bob wants to cover all his bases, besides branding his wekillfloridabugs.com website, he can also buy bobsextermination.com and redirect it to his branded site (or vice versa).

True, though in that case I'd probably use bobsextermination.com as the primary domain. Nothing wrong with multiple domains. I've often pointed a variety at my main site. Some I've kept over the years and others I've let drop.

KristineS
05-04-2009, 12:43 PM
Rezzy, there is a benefit to buying the .com, .net, .org etc. in that it keeps other people from using them. There are domains where one company has the .com and another company or organization has the .net and it can get confusing. If you buy up all the versions of your preferred domain name than you won't have that sort of confusion.

rezzy
05-04-2009, 02:53 PM
Thats what I thought. I havent done that with my main site.... but some others I have.

Not sure, if Ill even do it now. Just a nice thought, if I became a household brand like Dell. I dont think the return is there for a someone to steal it from me and since I have the .com, I feel fairly safe.

Harold Mansfield
05-04-2009, 03:33 PM
Agreed. For some reason, many people buy one domain, and leave it at that.

Heck, I wake up in the middle of the night with business ideas and go buy the domain for it.

Yeah, I do the same thing, all the time. It's common for me to have 2 or 3 domains for one site.


Rezzy, there is a benefit to buying the .com, .net, .org etc. in that it keeps other people from using them. There are domains where one company has the .com and another company or organization has the .net and it can get confusing. If you buy up all the versions of your preferred domain name than you won't have that sort of confusion.

That also works in reverse. There are a lot of good .com domains that people are sitting on hoping for resale, yet the other extensions are available. I'll get those in a heartbeat and set up shop while the .com owner is waiting for a sale, and get a good head start in case anyone does buy it from him. Sometimes, you can throw a monkey wrench in the whole program, by registering the .net, .org, and maybe another one, and throw up a site and a couple of landing pages or redirects and make the .com worth less money and really piss the guy off who is just holding the .com :)

I saw a while back some kid had registered 128 bpms.com and started a Dance Music blog on it. I would have never registered it anyway, but I was amazed that he would do that since I was already established with 124bpms.com.

If I wasn't sitting on the .net, and the .org, the kid probably would have registered one and tried to steal my thunder and I would have had to hunt him down and waffle stomp him (just kidding):p

nighthawk
05-05-2009, 05:55 PM
Believe it or not they do. But even if they don't search engines tend to give preference to exact match domains to a query. If you type 'cars' in to Google for example the #1 result is cars.com. Granted they likely have a lot of links pointing to them using the word 'cars' in the anchor text and there are all sorts of reasons why the site ranks first. One of the reasons is their domain.

Additionally, I have often found that the number one keyword used to find my sites through google is "domainname.com" or "domain name".




I agree with you that the company name and URL can be different, but then you do have to do more work branding. Take your wekillbugs.com example. If the company name is Bob's Extermination and that's what's painted on the side of the truck people looking for Bob online will type bobsextermination.com first.

I would be VERY careful with a URL like that example, it could easily be misread. Take the classic case of "expertsexchange.com" - after launching the site it was pointed out to them that it could easily be misread giving a whole new meaning to the site! They quickly dropped the domain and inserted a hyphen into the name to avoid confusion and embarrassment.

Which brings me on to my main point - for me easy to pronounce and easy to spell are the key points form that article. I have mentioned it on these forums before, but make sure there is no confusion in how your URL is spoken / written - avoid hyphens and numbers where possible. If you speak to a client and tell them your website "123-domain.com" do they type in "onetwothreedomain", "1two3-domain" etc etc. Avoid the confusion, avoid numbers and hyphens.

Also I think it is well worth considering regionalised domains - especially where the .com is taken. If you only plan to operate in the local market, then there is no need to go for the .com. By taking a regionalised domain it stops your business from looking like a large international chain, and gives a more local and personal feel to the business.

vangogh
05-05-2009, 07:51 PM
Yeah not the best domain example. Funny though.

I agree about it being most important to remember and spell. I think that's Dan's idea with not worrying so much if the domain matches the company name. It's better to grab something easy to say, spell, and remember. I still like being able to own the domain that matches my company name even if it's just so someone else can't get it. Why do all the work to brand and build up Company Name Inc and then let someone else piggy back off your work with companyname.com. You might as well get it.

If you haven't yet named your company I'd look to see what domains are available. If you can find one that is easy to say, spell, and remember you're probably better off having the domain and company name match. They don't have to though.

What I liked about the article is how it broke down the choice based on the discoverable/brandable idea. Will you need people to discover your domain without knowing your company? Then it will help to choose a domain that makes use of keywords and helps with search engines. If you're looking for something brandable then the keyword part of the domain isn't so important.

nighthawk
05-06-2009, 04:24 PM
I agree about it being most important to remember and spell. I think that's Dan's idea with not worrying so much if the domain matches the company name. It's better to grab something easy to say, spell, and remember. I still like being able to own the domain that matches my company name even if it's just so someone else can't get it. Why do all the work to brand and build up Company Name Inc and then let someone else piggy back off your work with companyname.com. You might as well get it.


I dont think that was quite Dans point - why one or the other - buy both.



What I liked about the article is how it broke down the choice based on the discoverable/brandable idea. Will you need people to discover your domain without knowing your company? Then it will help to choose a domain that makes use of keywords and helps with search engines. If you're looking for something brandable then the keyword part of the domain isn't so important.

I agree about the branding / discoverable thing, ive said similar in the forums here. If you expect a lot of people to find you through search engines, then you need a domain that contains what you do, and will help you rank well. If you plan to market through other means, then you need a memorable name, preferably the name of the business.

vangogh
05-06-2009, 04:36 PM
Sorry if I made it sound like you should only get one domain. I'd suggest getting as many as you think will be useful. At $10 it's not exactly a huge investment. What I was trying to say was now that you own more than one what should you so with them?

I think if you have the domain that matches your company that's the one the others should point to.

So have easytoremember.com redirecting to companyname.com and not the other way around. I think that ends up being the best of both worlds. Your company name is branded, but you also get that discoverable domain name that leads to your site.