What's in a (domain) name?

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, they asked "What's in a name?" asserting that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But on the Internet, your name is everything because, on the web, your name -- your domain -- is your brand.

Sure, it sounds easy – just pick a name and get your web business going! It’s not that simple. Choosing your domain name isn’t simple and it’s one of the most important dynamics in a web-based business. Your domain name choice is

Before you sit down in front of your PC and start checking out names, here’s a few things to consider:

(a) A brand is more than words. A brand is an image of who you are and what you offer represented by words. Like any communication task, pick the wrong words and you establish the wrong image. Often it’s more important that your brand be clear than it is that your brand be clever. A domain name choice of “wesellcows.com” might not be more clever than “bovineboutique.com” but it’s very clear what the company does. Generally a brand should also address a “benefit” that is provided. In this vein, a domain name choice of “qualitycowsmarketplace.com” might be much better than “hefnersheiffers.com”.

(b) The idea of a brand is to be memorable – to get “mindshare.” To that end, it makes no real difference whether your name is long or short – both can be memorable. But it probably suggests that you do not add articles such as “the” or “a” to the name and that you do not include hypens in the name unless that is accepted common usage for the terms you choose. If in doubt, take a poll of prospective customers and ask them about the memory “stickiness” of your proposed name.

(c) Lastly, everybody wants the dot-com extension but don’t discount extensions such as “.net” and “.us” -- they may make good sense also. Just make sure that when you include the extension as part of your “brand” that it works all-together.

Just remember that your domain name choice is your brand choice. You’re eager to get your presence established on the web, but take your time and find the name that will add-value to your marketing presence rather than confuse it.