Domain Names 101: How to Avoid Dot-Com Disasters [INFOGRAPHIC]
The overflow of quick and witty reaction tweets to the new iPad name proves a name is never just a name. This applies for domain names, too. Here are tips to help you avoid these classic dot-com disasters — poolife.com, therapistsfinder.com or IPallover.com.
DomainNameSales.com, a name registration and web hosting company, created an infographic to teach brands domain name 101.
The first tip is to invest in your domain name as you would secure a primary location for a storefront.
“Don’t cut corners with your online identity,” says Frank Schilling, founder of DomainNameSales.com and an Internet entrepreneur. “A better domain name will lower your lifetime marketing costs.”
A great example of this is Diapers.com, which gets an average of 106 million unique visitors. More than half of these visitors found the site by using “diapers” as a search term. It’s the first thing that comes up on Google before a Wikipedia article about diapers, Walmart.com and Amazon.com.
Short, generic, descriptive and memorable adjectives make great website domains. Skip dashes, long names, broken language and made-up terms.
Many businesses make a mistake by quickly choosing to go with a name rather than weighing all the options, Schilling says.
SEE ALSO: Tea Party Domain Name Could Fetch $1 Million
Using a company name such as MagnoliasCupcake.com may be an obvious choice, but not the right one. Shorter, more memorable names like mycupcake.com and ilovecupcakes.com can make a difference.
Schilling said you should ask, “What message does your domain send?” when considering a branded domain or generic domain.
“Cupcakes.com may not be for everyone,” he said. “But owning the bold, generic single word or multi-word phrase that describes your services sends a powerful message to competitors and industry.”
Just as Facebook has secured numerous anti-Facebook or common Facebook.com typos, Schilling said you should do secure domain names for your brand — or someone you love. The domain guru registered a domain name 10 years ago for his 10-year-old nephew.
“The 7 billionth person has just been born on this planet and, in 10 years, he too will want an email address,” he says. “All these people will eventually aspire to own better names. The time to secure those better names is now.”
What crazy domain names have you seen on the Internet? Tell us in the comments.
Thumbnail courtesy of Flickr, liquene
More About: Business, Domain Names, infographic, Search, startup
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