Domain Name Branding

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Names are an important key to what a society values. Anthropologists recognize naming as 'one of the chief methods for imposing order on perception.' What is not named in a culture very likely goes unnoticed by the majority of its people. The converse is also true: people pay greater attention to things that been given names.
- David S. Slawson

In the Secrets of Successful Websites tutorial I compared a web site to a tree. This week we'll name that tree.

Often we can't see the forest for the trees. Amazingly consumers on the Internet can't see the trees for the forest. When people think of trees, they don't think of the various species such as red oak, blackjack oak or white oak unless they work with trees or lumber. Unfortunately, the average person doesn't work in the fields of horticulture or conservation.

So, when we compare web sites we have several thousand or more selling the same products or services. Essentially, they are all oaks. So, what makes one think of a red oak versus a white oak?

The short and simple answer to this question is domain name branding.

When a new business owner starts a business the business owner is like a parent with a new child that needs a name. While some parents carry on names of themselves or ancestors, some give names never before used in their families. Business owners face the same choices of either using their name or a different name. The unifying factor is realized when we look at the real reason for the names; that real reason is whether the names can be easily remembered.

Fortunately, the Internet does not allow two businesses to have the same domain name. Therefore, a business owner must choose a domain name that is easily remembered by the masses and target clients. For years people have thought that the dot com extension was best and in some regards it is still the best. It is the best only for the single reason that if you type 'google' (without the quotes) into the address or location bar of your browser and hits enter the site returned would be google.com.

Before domain names are purchased many web designers attempt to guide their clients to keyword filled domain names. Some say that keyword domain names are useless to search engines, however if one looks at the URLs in Google's results one may find specific words highlighted in the domain name. When domain names are purchased they should meet one of two requirements.

Specifically, the domain name should be easily brandable and memorable. Let's look at a few companies and domain names.

Examples of easily brandable domain names that carry the name of the business would be Bluenile.com, Buy.com, Amazon.com, Overture.com, Yahoo.com and Google.com. These businesses are online businesses only. There are many businesses that have moved online which can be exemplified by Sony, Microsoft, Apple, HP, IBM and many others. Yet, each has either used an easily brandable name or one which has had years of branding behind it.

When you begin to start a web site, it is highly advisable that you choose a domain name that can be remembered very easily. Choosing domain names that may be hard to remember can lead to potential clients moving to a competitor through simple confusion. Don't let the confusion domain names can create take your clients away.

Contact us today at 405-329-8500 or use our contact form to schedule a demo and learn if Merchant Metrix is right for your business.

articles » online marketing tutorial