Selecting Your Domain Name
"I like to treat a web store just like any other business location" claims Shane Willems, CEO of SignSite.com. SignSite is a leading online design technology company located in Lake City, Florida. "You see, your intention is to get customers into your store." It is easy to overlook this simple business principle when starting up your web store business. The great thing about the internet is it allows you to broaden your horizons considerably. You can now focus on getting people from all over the world to visit your store. They can do this from the comfort of their own home or office, regardless of the time of day. Your store is open 24/7! So where do you start?
Here is where a web store will differ from a local store. Your name is also your address. Again this is very beneficial... How many of your new customers will hear your local store address and just remember it? With a web store that will be one of your top goals when choosing your domain name. Try to make it easy to remember and spell.
Tips for Choosing Your Domain Name
It is not too late to change your domain name. You can always purchase more domain names and point them to your site... However you do need to settle on a domain name and logo that you want to keep before you dump a lot of effort and money into marketing it.
On which marketing approach would you like to focus? If you plan to focus on marketing outside of the standard online practices...(Outside Marketing), then your domain name is more important. It should be easy to spell and easy to remember. It is becoming more difficult to obtain a good domain name, however with effort you can find a good fit.
Let's look at some examples... If you wanted BestSigns.com.-obviously it will not likely be available... What are some different versions of this name? Best-Signs.com? It is common to add a dash to domain names. However people will probably forget to add it when they type in your name. This means your outside marketing will be pointing some customers to your competition. What about BestSign.com? This may be better. However, some may tend to add the "s" when typing. Still a good name, but could be better. I would actually prefer BestSignsOnline.com. It is a bit long, however, it is easy to remember and tough to misspell.
Talk to people. Have them each come up with 5 names that are available.
Focus on:
- Easy to spell
- Easy to remember
- Plural or singular
- Does it say what you want it to?
- If possible buy all versions of your name and point them to your site
(For more tips check out our ten step start up tip series)