What to Do When Your Domain Name Isn’t Available
For companies with incredibly unique names, it’s often simple to register a desirable domain name. However, with more than 850 million active websites on the internet, some brands find it challenging to secure the domain they want. Don’t fret, though; there are plenty of ways to work around this and find a domain and extension that works for your business.
The Importance of a Great Domain Name
Trying to identify the value of a domain name is complicated and challenging. It’s different for every business, industry, and customer. As an independent variable, it really doesn’t have much value. But, when combined with things like web design, marketing campaigns, advertising, SEO, and content marketing, it can be the perfect tool for attracting and converting customers. Here are three ways a great domain name adds value to a brand:
Jayson DeMers is the founder & CEO of AudienceBloom, a Seattle-based content marketing & social media agency. You can contact him on LinkedIn, Google+, or Twitter.
There’s lots more to Domains.
But I’ll try to focus solely on “if 1st choice is gone” 😀
Have you already generated a list of potential names?
Have you looked at Company Name, Tag/Slogan, Location inclusion etc.?
Have you tested the Domains with a focus group?
Have you checked for possible mis-reads (experts exchange vs expert sex change) etc.?
Chances are, no. So get to it.
If you have – I’m impressed 😀
Now, the one you really, Really wanted is gone.
Do you really want to go and get a .net version? Is the .com owner a competitor? Could they potentially get your traffic due to the same name but a different (and often default) TLD?
It may be worth looking at a completely different name.
Adding words can work – so long as you don’t add too much to the complexity of the Domain Name, and it’s still memorable.
Other base alternatives are to include a location (either country or region or county – if you are that type of business).
You could look at naming the site after the purpose/function/style instead of the company name (so you could have “tilespecialists” instead of “bobstiles” because the other Bob bought the domain a week before you tried to).
Then there is the usage of your tag line or slogan (if you have one). Bob has the tag line of “A tile with style”, which is somewhat catchy, so maybe atilewithstyle.com would work for him.
As I said at the start – there is a lot to Domains.
You should really be looking at more than a single TLD.
You should be looking at things like multiple TLDs, at least 1 GeoTLD (for the country you are in), any plurals (or singular) variants, spelling variants (British English and American English, if targeting both countries) etc.
A note about “The Other TLDs”.
There is a problem here.
The “self fulfilling .com prophecy” has been around for a Very long time.
Basically, at the start of it all, a bunch of people pointed out that people trusted .com, and distrusted other TLDs. This has been repeated ad-nauseam for over a decade. The end result is that lots of people Still trust a .com more than any other TLD, and due to lack of exposure to other TLDs, it’s not going to go away.
So, you have to choose – are you brave enough to opt for an alternative TLD, and push the boundaries – or – will you cave in and further the prophecy?
Expiring Domains can be a waste.
For starters, you have to wait (sometimes for a long time (well, it will seem like it).
Then the reality is – you may not get it.
If you sit and wait, someone else may grab it.
You could go for a “buy when available” option, such as backordering – But – you may find they renew it (the current holder gets first dibs!) – and you get nothing for your time.
Personally, either you throw a ton of cash at it and purchase it from the owner *beware domain-sharks – is the domain really worth that much?), or pick an alternative.
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