The importance of choosing a good domain name

You’ve spent thousands of dollars, months of your precious time, and many late nights away from your loved ones, developing a well-thought out brand identify for your fantastic new startup company. You’ve had a team developing a whizz-bang website for your business launch, and it looks great. You organise a launch party, invite VIPs and industry professionals from all around the country, and are 5 seconds away from pulling the curtains concealing the 4 metre screen on which your website will be revealed to the masses, who wait in anticipation, champagne in your hand, signifying the launch. 4……3……2……1…..

The curtains drawer. The audience cheer.

And then quickly taper off to silence. Before one snicker is heard from the back corner. Which triggers a giggle. And then another. Suddenly the whole party is in hysterics.

Why? Because your great new Italian Power Generator company, has overlooked one minor issue. Just a minor one…which happens to be the first thing every Google searcher on the planet will see.

www.powergenitalia.com !!!!!!

We all know that the first step when setting up a new company is setting up a good domain name. In fact, in the current age, the availability of domain names is often the key determinant in choosing a name for your business.

Heck, if someone cannot remember your web address, then how will they ever find you online?

I just wanted to take this opportunity to remind you that you must consider how your business name appears when it is transformed into a web address. Remember, once your business is written into the address bar of an internet browser, your business name is simplified to a single string of characters. No more spaces, no more coloured text, no more logos to highlight the beauty of your business name.

Here’s a few examples of poorly chosen domain names and how they can damage abusiness’s reputation. Glance at each of the domain names below for a few seconds and you will get my drift…

1. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where computer programmers can exchange advice and views

www.expertsexchange.com

2. If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always

www.ipanywhere.com

So if you’re starting up a new company and choosing a business name, your first port of call once you have brain-stormed and short-listed a list of potential company names, should be to visit a domain registrar such as www.GoDaddy.com , to see if your domain name is available.

Once you have confirmed an appropriate domain name, that matches or compliments your business name, is available, make sure you show the domain name to a few of your friends and colleagues, to ensure you haven’t overlooked a potentially embarassing branding situation for your business.

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