Don't Stop Your Online Sales Before They Even Start
An Indie recently contacted me about joining the Indie Beauty Network. After talking with her, I realized that the business had a few significant problems, starting with their website address: BusinessName.info. Yick.
It's difficult indeed to launch a business with a unique brand name that is also attractive and available as a dot com. I appreciate this. However, when you find out the name you want is not available as a dot com, the next step should be to pick another name. Not add a subprime extension to the name you want and call it a day.
Yes, the other domain extensions are out there, but dot com is still the Ferrari (oooh!) of domain extensions, and probably will be for decades to come. The business owner I spoke with was unwilling to consider changing her business name even though her business had not officially launched. I predict this will cost her thousands of dollars over the course of her business. Here's why.
1. Dot com stands for commerce. That should be enough right there. If you plan to engage in online commerce, use the domain extension that stands for commerce.
2. People expect dot com. If your domain name is .info or .biz, you have to emphasize that in conversation to make sure the person you are talking to understands that your website address is not dot com. If that person forgets what you said and loses your business card too (imagine that …), it may be difficult for them to find you on the Web.
Even if someone recalls your brand name, they are most likely to search for you online using that name with a dot com extension. And if they have to look too hard, they quickly forget all about you. And please, don't operate a for profit business using a dot org domain extension. Everyone thinks of philanthropic giving when they see dot org, and that's as it should be.
3. Search engines favor dot com. Go to any search engine and type in a name, any name. What shows up first? dot com. Even if it's not what you are looking for, dot com appears in search results far more frequently than anything else.
I don't mean to say that other domain extensions are worthless. I do mean to say they are not worth nearly as much as dot com extensions, especially if you are selling products online. If you are launching a business, why handicap yourself with a second rate domain name? I'd rather see you create wealth using a brand name you hate with a dot com extension, than to see you broke using a brand name you love with dot something else.
Well, that’s my rant for the day.
That is such a good question to tackle! I used to think that .net was a horrible extension to have and then, as the years have gone by, .net doesn’t seem so bad anymore. I wonder if .info will eventually start to gain the same acceptance that .net is starting to get?
That is such a good question to tackle! I used to think that .net was a horrible extension to have and then, as the years have gone by, .net doesn’t seem so bad anymore. I wonder if .info will eventually start to gain the same acceptance that .net is starting to get?
A-M:
That’s an interesting question! There was a time when (800) had a huge leg up on (888) when it came to toll free numbers. But now that the pool of available (800) numbers has all but dried up, (888) is appealing by default. But in the case of toll free numbers, you had only 7 digits to choose from. Domain names can have far more characters, making for a far larger pool of available options, at least for now.
As you say, it may be just a matter of time before it won’t matter as much. But at this time, I do believe that start ups should affirmatively decide that no available dot com will satisfy them before moving to any other extension.
Thanks for your input, which is always insightful!
dM
A-M:
That’s an interesting question! There was a time when (800) had a huge leg up on (888) when it came to toll free numbers. But now that the pool of available (800) numbers has all but dried up, (888) is appealing by default. But in the case of toll free numbers, you had only 7 digits to choose from. Domain names can have far more characters, making for a far larger pool of available options, at least for now.
As you say, it may be just a matter of time before it won’t matter as much. But at this time, I do believe that start ups should affirmatively decide that no available dot com will satisfy them before moving to any other extension.
Thanks for your input, which is always insightful!
dM
Great post, dM! When I’m working with e-commerce clients, I always advise them to do whatever it takes to get a .com domain name, unless they have a million-dollar marketing budget.
We — the Internet industry, that is — have essentially trained the American public for the past decade that web site addresses are “www.something.com”. So when people hear your domain name, they only hear and remember the MIDDLE part — not the www, or the ending.
You can overcome this if you have a BIG marketing budget to launch a campaign to help people remember the “.net”, but that doesn’t work for bootstrappers.
On the flip side, if you DO own the .com version of your domain name, go ahead and register the .net version as well (and .info, etc) so that you can protect your brand and prevent others from registering a name that is too similar to your own.
Happy selling!
Jamila
Jamila White
The E-Commerce Diva(tm)
http://www.ecommercediva.com
*as seen in Entrepreneur Magazine*
Great post, dM! When I’m working with e-commerce clients, I always advise them to do whatever it takes to get a .com domain name, unless they have a million-dollar marketing budget.
We — the Internet industry, that is — have essentially trained the American public for the past decade that web site addresses are “www.something.com”. So when people hear your domain name, they only hear and remember the MIDDLE part — not the www, or the ending.
You can overcome this if you have a BIG marketing budget to launch a campaign to help people remember the “.net”, but that doesn’t work for bootstrappers.
On the flip side, if you DO own the .com version of your domain name, go ahead and register the .net version as well (and .info, etc) so that you can protect your brand and prevent others from registering a name that is too similar to your own.
Happy selling!
Jamila
Jamila White
The E-Commerce Diva(tm)
http://www.ecommercediva.com
*as seen in Entrepreneur Magazine*