I read this article today about an online casino targeting problem gamblers. Reminded me of back when we were looking at CRM solution to manage our workflow, I heard of Close. I couldn’t remember the domain extension they used at the time so I just put “close crm” in Google. And of course, their competitors’ results came above their own site. Why? Because nothing stops anyone from bidding for those keywords. Here is another very timely article on the topic.
Makes it a real struggle not to giggle when I hear business owners say “oh the domain doesn’t matter, people just type our name in Google”. So hold on, you are ok with paying Google to get people to your website? People who could’ve just gone directly to your website if you had made it easy for them? You’re ok with all your marketing efforts being at the mercy of algorithm changes? Bidding for your own brand name to appear on top of your competitors? Sure, makes sense. Not.
So back to the story, we went off looking over options, and options, and options comparing features, prices, reliability of the company and support, etc. Somewhere around that time Close upgraded to the .com exact brand match domain, so that made them much easier to remember and access. And with so many CRM solutions popping all over the place and one of our main concerns being not just getting a good tool, but getting something that we won’t have to ditch in a few months or even years (moving all the data, re-educating staff on how to use a new system, etc. just pain all over), that domain upgrade was not just an upgrade. It was a statement “we are here to stay”. And I would lie if I say that didn’t influence our choice. We got a yearly subscription and are so far very happy with our choice.
“ We are just starting out“.
“ Maybe we’ll change our name, we are not sure“.
“ You can just google us if you can’t remember our domain name“.
“ Our marketing budget is $200“.
“ We’ll just go with what’s available“.
“ You’ve been sending emails to the wrong web address? Not my problem“.
“ Our brand name is just a typo“.
“ Our brand name is not even a real word, it’s really not worth that“.
Can you hear yourself saying any of that to existing and potential clients, investors, colleagues? If you are absolutely convinced those statements are ok, shouldn’t be an issue, right? If not, then you do need to be a bit more honest with yourself about your brand.
Whether it is a dictionary word or a made-up word, two words or numbers, or whatever it is. Is this your brand name? Is this going to be your brand name tomorrow, 5 years, 10 years from now? Are you going to put your cash and time, for years to come, into this brand name, so that you have loyal clients, partners, and investors recognizing it, trusting it, loving it? If that’s your name, you need to go and get the matching domain for it. Or change it. Anything in-between is a time bomb and cash in the bin.
I hope this will be of use to you in the process of getting your perfect domain name. If you have any questions, need any help, or just want to chat with someone about the process, book a free consultation at MarkUpgrade.
P.s. This post is not sponsored by anyone, just sharing my thoughts.
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