Staying competitive in any market these days means creating a strong online presence. Great businesses usually start with one great idea – a service that people need or want, a product that makes life easier, or an innovation that delivers a balance of both. As a budding entrepreneur, new startup, or small business, it’s important to have a functional, informative site to help materialize your ideas.
With twenty two different generic top level domain extensions (source: ICANN) currently available including .COM, .ORG, and .INFO, choosing the right domain extension for your site can be a challenge. Here are three useful pointers to help you decide how a domain extension can help serve your purpose as well as explain to users what your site is all about:
Look to Your Network
The problem with choosing a memorable name for your business is that when it’s time to get online, the .COM is usually taken. So, how do you start the search for a name that’s going to work both on and offline? During the initial stages of testing, recruit your family, friends, and extended network to find out what they would Google search if they wanted to use your product or service without knowing the exact name. For example, if you plan to create an e-commerce site to sell women’s clothing, your list would consist of popular Google search terms based around types of clothing items on the site. Your network might think of keywords or ideas for your product or service in a way you might not have. Test these words with available domain extensions (check out our list of extensions) until something fits nicely. Adding a personal touch, such as your name, and moving away from .COM as your only extension option, opens a world of possibility for your idea.
Facebook and Google Consumer Surveys
Go straight to the source; your site’s ideal users. Using a small budget, run ads with the available names you’ve chosen along with the description of the site and see which names receive the highest CTR or click-through-rate. Facebook Ads are a great way to do this on a tighter budget. Create a page for your product or service and run ads using keywords, target audience, etc. Facebook gives a wide range of pricing options and shows you the range of audience each option reaches. For initial testing, a reasonable suggested budget could be $5-$20 per day to attract an initial wave of users to your page. This is a simple, great way to gain traction on your free Facebook page, while still giving you the creative freedom to test your brand’s social media voice.
Google Consumer Surveys also help when choosing the best name for your website. Market researchers can either create general surveys or targeted surveys depending on the type of results needed. These surveys allow you to ask the questions needed to the demographic of your choice, as well as provide you the analytics behind the answers. According to Google, you begin to see results within 24 hours of posting a survey. Pricing is calculated through cost per engagement or response and ranges between 10 cents and 50 cents. These surveys can go a long way in decision-making when it comes to market segmentation, getting a clearer picture of your potential users, and most importantly, naming your product and/or service.
PageRank and Affiliate Programs
Google’s PageRank, an algorithm used by Google’s web search engine to rank websites in their search engine results also makes choosing a domain more difficult. If your service or product focuses on a widespread market, the search results might produce thousands of web pages related to keywords your user enters in the search bar. According to Google, “the underlying assumption is that more important websites are likely to receive more links from other websites” (How Google Search Works). If this is the case, website owners can consider using affiliate programs to have other well-known websites that fall into the same industry category link to their website. By setting up a referral system, your website stays relevant and has a better chance of getting click-thrus. Domain.com’s affiliate program is a great place to start! More info here: http://www.domain.com/affiliate/gettingstarted.bml
Your name should fit your product or service in a way that users find relatable, interesting, and useful. Utilize Facebook and Google Surveys to research the CTR of common, focused words that fit your market. PageRank makes finding your website more difficult, but joining relevant affiliate programs will help boost click-thrus to your site.
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