Choose Your Domain Name Wisely, NOW!

In the Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the bad guy decides to choose which cup is the cup of the covenant. When he drinks from a golden chalice covered in jewels, he ages incredibly fast, dies grotesquely, then turns into dust on the floor. The knight says, simply, "He chose poorly." Choosing a domain name (Website address) poorly won't turn you to dust, but some choices do seem grotesque. What's more, choosing well gets more challenging every day, as thousands of domain names get snapped up daily. Here are some tips.

Make It Simple & Easy to Remember. Tom Doucette, President of Doucette Homes, found that the simplest name, www.doucette.com was taken when he decided, at our urging, to buy a domain name. Happily, www.doucettehomes.com was available. A simple test: can the address be easily given out over the phone? Try doing it. If your test subjects ask you to spell it out, that could mean trouble.

Make It Easy to Guess. Many people guess about Website addresses. That is, if they want to find Doucette Homes, they just type that in and expect it to work. Ideally, your domain name will be easy to guess.

Short Is Sweet. Long Website addresses are at greater risk of typographical error. They can also be a headache for the designers of your business cards and marketing materials.

Avoid Odd Abbreviations. Short is sweet, but avoid odd abbreviations. You may think that everyone else will understand that by "tcsn" you mean "Tucson," or that "bldg" stands for "builder," but chances are, most people won't get it.

Check for Trademarks in Use. A Website at www.megacompusa.com has caused CompUSA to send out cease and desist letters regarding trademark infringement. Really. Even if you find a domain name that is available for purchase, you can be guilty of trademark infringement, if you buy it. So the best approach is to research existing trademarks at www.uspto.com as a part of your decision-making process. Trademark lawyers may cringe at this simple statement, but a trademark wins over "I bought the domain name first."

Get Legal Advice. If you turn up some trademark information that concerns you, then consult with an attorney, especially if you're concerned about what it means for your own company name. Together the Web and trademark law are impacting businesses big time. Ten years ago, if your company name was "Smyth Printing" that might have been perfectly okay, even if there were 7 other "Smyth Printing" companies in other states. However, today there can only be one www.smythprinting.com.

Buy the "Net" address, too. Once you find a name, buy the .net version of it as well. On the other hand, if you love a name but you can only get the .net version, keep looking. If you've got the money, time and energy, and your lawyer says you can trademark the name, then buy .net now, get your trademark, and force the other guy to turn over the .com version to you.

Consider a Generic Domain Name. When Doucette Homes was buying www.doucettehomes.com, Doucette discovered that www.tucsonbuilder.com was available, so the company bought it. Generally, it's impossible to trademark a generic name, so no one can ever take one away from you. The value of generic domain names are: 1. They can increase traffic on your Website. 2. They may be easier to say and use than your company name. 3. They may be more memorable.

Get MarCom People Involved. Domain names are at the heart of marketing and communications, so get internal or outside professionals involved. You're likely to get better results, and you'll certainly get valuable input you would not have received otherwise.

To research and buy, go to www.networksolutions.com . Including resellers, there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of places you can search for and buy available domain names. We recommend NetWorkSolutions for three reasons. 1. One unscrupulous domain name seller we came across would buy a domain name you identified if you decide to think about it over night. The next day, this company would sell your name for 40 times its original cost. NetWorkSolutions won't do that to you. 2. NetWorkSolutions' Web domain name research tool offers you possible variations of what you're looking for, which can be helpful. 3. Domain names are so cheap - $35 for the first year - that we don't see any point in saving $10 by going elsewhere.

Do It Now. The longer you wait, the tougher and more expensive it's going to be. You can park the domain name - that means own it but leave it unused - at the Web hosting service of your choice, often for free. So choose wisely, and be wise -- choose now.

This article first appeared as a column written by Dave Tedlock, NetOutcomes' president, for Inside Tucson Business and/or the New Mexico Business Weekly.

Click HERE to return to Articles page

Top | Home