by Eshan Pancholi
The first step towards setting up a new business, especially an online business, is to acquire a domain name. Your domain name will represent your identity on the internet, and it will form the basis of your overall brand image.
In all likelihood, your domain name will be the first touchpoint for customers to form an impression of your business and what they can expect once they land on your website. Which is probably why marketing experts and branding gurus regard domain names as a supremely valuable business asset.
This is also the reason why you should choose a short, meaningful, and memorable domain name that matches your brand name. However, the chances of finding the name of your choice on traditional domains such as .com and .net are bleak given the vast number of websites already using these domains.
The best solution? Choose a relevant new domain extension to denote your business website on the web. For instance, pick a .store for your eCommerce site or choose a .tech domain for your technology business or simply use a .online domain for your online business.
With new domain names, you can easily find the name of your choice on a domain that highlights the nature of your business.
But what do you do once you acquire the domain name of your choice?
How do you leverage it for better marketing and branding?
Well, that’s what we’re going to cover in this article.
1. Build A Credible Website
The most obvious and primary use of your domain name should be to host your website. When it comes to growing your business and promoting it, your website works as a valuable instrument to get people to notice your business and understand what it is that you offer.
Here, a slick and easy-to-remember domain name can work to build your brand and make your business come across as the credible entity it is. A smart domain name such as www.bodytalk.store will do wonders for your eCommerce brand in terms of memorability and uniqueness.
Long, clunky, and complicated alternatives like www.bodytalk-store.com are not only hard to remember but also cumbersome to type. Furthermore, a domain name such as this is hard to build trust and credibility with.
2. Set Up A Professional (Company-Branded) Email Address
For your new business to come across as a professional venture or to be taken seriously, you need a professional email address that has your brand name attached to it. For instance, andy@littlely.tech will surely work better for you as opposed to andylittlelytech@gmail.com.
A company-branded email address has the power to give you and your employees a professional-looking image. And in the competitive landscape of startups and new businesses, it’s imperative to come across as a professional brand.
Not only that, a branded email address works as a great avenue to promote your business. Your email address will be printed on your visiting cards, mentioned on your social media handles, and shared by you to everyone you meet professionally.
For your new business, be sure to register a domain name with a registrar or hosting provider that will help you to set up a cost-friendly professional email address.
3. Create Branded Short Links For Social Media
Did you know your domain name can also work as a great way to share content on social media? Yes, you can use your domain name as a shortened URL to redirect traffic from your Twitter handle to your YouTube channel or from your Facebook handle to other web pages.
Instead of using third party short links such as bit.ly links, why not use your domain name to brand the URLs you share on social media?
For instance, instead of sharing bit.ly or any other generic links to your product pages on social media, you can use a .store domain to creatively brand it.
Here’s an example:
- Original link: https://www.williamhenry.com/materials/view/material/id/1/
- Shortened on bit.ly: https://bit.ly/2Kyn5oM
- Shortened with a branded .store domain: http://williamhenry.store/WH-Damascus
You can also follow this method if you sell primarily on Etsy or any other marketplaces.
There’s a good chance the web address provided to you is long and lacks branding for your business. These URLs are not memorable, and they make it very difficult to market your website to customers.
4. Gain Organic Traffic with Keyword-Rich Domains
For any business, the primary objective should be to win at organic marketing. This involves crafting a winning SEO strategy and investing in content marketing. However, your domain name can also contribute towards building a strong organic marketing strategy.
To win at SEO, your business website needs to include the right keywords and attract backlinks from credible websites. What if we were to tell you that your domain name can help you with that?
If your business website is www.madeinmexico.store and if you consistently get backlinks from reputable websites on the anchor text ‘Made in Mexico’ and ‘Mexico Store’ over and over, it will give the search engines a positive indication regarding the authenticity of your website.
This way your website will attract backlinks on your domain name which double as essential keywords. Similarly, if you use a .online domain there are chances for your business to enjoy a stronger SEO rank.
The reason for this is that most people search for businesses with a suffix ‘online’. However, this is subject to what you name your website.
A domain name such as www.gamers.online will do extremely well to attract backlinks on keywords such as ‘Online Gamers’ or ‘Gamers Online’.
Final Thoughts
In today’s digital world, you need to have a website address that stands out from that of other businesses. Your business is not simply competing within your niche, your business website is competing with over a billion other websites on the internet.
A brandable and meaningful domain name that reflects your core competence and who you are can go a long way in promoting your business and establishing you as a credible authority in your niche.
Eshan is a Senior Content Marketing Specialist at Radix, the registry behind some of the most successful new domain extensions, including .store and .tech. You can connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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