Building a business on a premium, one-word dotcom domain can mean that in terms of digital branding, your company is more visible and definitely on the move!
For a new organisation, a start-up, owning a premium one-word dotcom domain name from day one is really beneficial to establish an early trust with the audience/customer. When people see a strong name, I believe it immediately gives them a fair degree of authenticity from the brand.
Branding is extremely important, and I believe a long continuous process there is nothing more important for a first impression than the name of the organisation, business or even blog. Further, owning the domain name from day one means that the company will never have to rebrand into another name, which is not only and awesome feeling but a tremendous platform to build on.
This domain naming innovation, according to one branding expert, can put businesses at the top of the list when it comes to being memorable with prospective customers and clients. Meaningful names, by nature of being unique and descriptive, are much easier for a potential client or customer to remember. These days, your domain name is your digital calling card, and you only have one chance to make an impression.
Google also happens to be a proponent of not-com domain options, having gone on the record saying that businesses and brands needn’t worry about these new domains being treated any differently than dot-com (.com) and dot-org (.org) and the likes. In fact, a keyword-rich domain name that describes who you are and what you do may increase your chances of being found.
Owning the dotcom [.com] domain name is vital – especially in the context of premium names. Remember that on the Internet, most people almost instinctively suffer from the same disorder. They unwittingly replace a domain name extension with .com in writing or speaking. Dotcom is synonymous with the Internet.
Not having a .com suffix is like having a hole in the boat. A company [or a not-for-profit organisation] that builds a business on a non .com extension will always be leaking traffic to the .com extension because visitors will visit the .com suffix out of habit and mistake.
Advertising the Brand – and the domain name extension!
If you run your business [especially one using the new medium or entirely on it] on a non-dotcom domain name you will need to include the extension in all your advertising. The extension in effect becomes an integral part of the brand – often unwanted! Imagine your brand plus .xyz, .io or .co linked forever! In the absence of identifying the extension visitors will default to the dot com.
Now, after thirty-five years, it could be argued that owning the dotcom domain name has become more important than a trademark! The dotcom domain name is the trademark!
Trademarks ruled the business world until domain names came along. Domain Names disrupted the trademark system. Common trademarks, the same word or mark - but only one dotcom!
Does the term in your logo match your domain name exactly but with the dotcom at the end? If not, think about it because that is a problem. In the context of an online business, brand building, security and trust – easy navigation to you is vital!