Domain Naming Strategies

Your domain name is your businesses' brand identity and location on the Internet. Do you have a good name using the right domain? Will your domain work for your web site right now and for the future? Whether you have a web site established yet or not, changes are happening that will alter the dynamics of domain names and the Internet.

The World Wide Web started with .org domains for non-profit organizations, .net domains for informational purposes and .com for businesses. Through pervasive marketing and advertising, many people now think of the Internet is a collection of .com?s and think of .net and .org domains secondarily. Four year educational institutions (.edu), governmental (.gov), military (.mil) and country specific domains (such as .au for Australia, .cn for China, etc.) rate even lower on the public?s perception.

Advances in browser technology reinforce the popularity of the .com as new generations of browsers allow users to simply enter a domain name without the extension, which is pre-supposed to be .com. Therefore even many non-profit organizations or non-commercial Internet ventures have decided to utilize the .com extension in order to promote name recognition.

The popularity of .com's has created a scarcity, so many merchants have adopted .net extensions in order to extend their brand names onto the Internet. Unfortunately this tactic can prove counterproductive. "If I had a .com domain, I would not even buy the .net or .org extensions. I would let someone else utilize them and provide me with free advertising and traffic," said Louis Sanchez of Jenlo-Link, (www.jenlo-link.com) a Little Ferry e-commerce application service provider (ASP).

The scarcity of .com extensions led to interesting developments in the world of domain names. Speculators horded .com domain names to sell them back at inflated prices, some ranging well into six-figures.

Trademark law has been extended to stand up in cyberspace, although it's not always easily enforced internationally. Now, the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (visit ICANN at www.icann.org) is hoping that new domains will help alleviate the problem.

New Top Levels
Expected to on sale second quarter 2001, seven new top level domains should be available for reservations. These are .biz for businesses, .pro for accountants, lawyers, and physicians, .aero for the air-transport industry, .coop for non-profit cooperatives, .museum for (what else?) museums, name for individuals, and .info which is for unrestricted use.

While it is time to start planning which domain to reserve and what name to choose, as we go to press it is not yet time to make reservations. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued a warning mid-November, noting that the ICANN has not selected authorized registrars for the new domains. So for now, read the fine print on all the commercial offers to reserve a new top level domain carefully until the authorized registrars are named.

For the immediate near future, commercials have really positioned .com as the domain of choice because it is branded on consumers. Will the .biz domain register in the psyche of Internet users? Marketing will be critical, but taking advantage of .biz extensions may make sense to extend existing brand identity.

Fortunately the risk of reserving a new domain that doesn't fly is still relatively inexpensive. Competition among the many firms certified to register the existing domains has caused prices to drop considerably lower than the previously established $35 per year.

Visit www.internic.net for a list of links to accredited registrars. Remember to use the .net extension as www.internic.com was reserved by an Australian firm that sells registration software at an inflated price, the best known example of a .com taking advantage of the renown of a popular .net domain name. A lengthy legal dispute shut the domain down, but only after many paid inflated prices to register domains.

Capitalizing On Your Domain
A domain name can reflect simply an extension of a small business onto the Internet, or it can indicate a foray into new national or global markets.

Imagine a local pet store capitalizing on the popularity of a hit kids movie and offering a wide selection of toys for the owners of Dalmatians as well as Dalmatian stuffed puppets. The products are selling well in the store and the owner decides to launch a web site to introduce this niche product across the Internet. In this case, the domain name should relate to the product, rather than a company name.

For search engine placement, name recognition and utility, a domain name such as www.dalmationtoys.com (it's actually available, my gift to you) might make more sense than www.hanksdogemporium.com even if that is the store?s name. Search engines and directories will more easily categorize the dog specific domain name. And it?s easier for a visitor to remember, which will help promote return traffic.

The Internet presents small businesses the opportunity to either provide a personalized glimpse into the inner workings of their business or to present a larger than life persona. Sometimes both tactics may be appropriate as entrepreneurs extend their brand onto the Internet using their business name as a .com while also targeting specific products with second and third domains.

Multiple domains can be used for marketing purposes while pointing to the same home page or specific product categories within a larger web site. In this manner, one web site can accommodate multiple domain names and gain the best exposure for specific product lines while still providing an extension of the businesses? brand name.

Stumped to come up with a "killer" domain name? Various online sources help the creatively challenged develop marketable domains through use of key words. Try the Domain Name Wizard at www.domainnotes.com, which is also a valuable resource for articles, news and domain name information.

One final note about your domain name. Please make use of an e-mail address associated with your own domain name (yourname@yourdomain.com). Fully configured e-mail boxes are part of most web site hosting packages and can be implemented with little technical know-how.

Among the many aspects of coordinating marketing for your domain, using your domain in your e-mail address should be a no-brainer. AOL, Yahoo!, and your Internet service provider (ISP) have their own brand identities. Promote your own domain with each piece of e-mail you send out by using your own domain specific e-mail address.

Nat Bender
E-Business Services Director