Every small business owner hears advice about domain names. Some of it is good. Some of it sounds smart but leads to lost customers. Below are five common myths, the facts behind them, and what to do instead.
The fact: People have to find your website before they can see it.
A customer might hear your business name from a friend, on the radio, or on the side of a truck. Later, they try to type it from memory. If your domain is hard to remember or hard to spell, they will land somewhere else or give up. A beautiful website does not help if no one gets there.
What to do: Say your domain out loud to three people. Ask them to type it. If anyone gets it wrong, keep looking.
The fact: Most people type the plain .com anyway.
Imagine your business is called Blue Pine Plumbing, but bluepine.com belongs to someone else. You choose blue-pine-plumbing-co.net instead. Your customers will often forget the dash, the extra words, or the ending. Some of your visitors will go to the other site. Worse, some customer emails may go there too.
What to do: Treat the matching .com as part of the name. If you cannot get it, consider changing the name before you print anything.
The fact: Long, descriptive names are hard to remember and hard to grow with.
A name like “bestcheapbikerepairdenver.com” may seem helpful. But it is long, it sounds like spam, and it stops making sense if you start selling scooters or open a shop in Boulder. Short names leave room for your business to change.
What to do: Let your website explain what you do. Let your domain simply be easy to say, easy to spell, and easy to remember. One or two short words is a good goal.
The fact: Many small businesses buy a registered domain, and the process can be simple and safe.
Most short .com names were registered years ago. Many of the owners are willing to sell. Prices vary widely, and a good name is often less expensive than a rebrand, new signs, and lost customers down the road.
The key is to buy safely. Use a seller that offers escrow, so your money is held until the domain is in your account. Check that no one holds a trademark on the name in your industry. Make sure the domain is transferred to an account that you control.
Some sellers make this easier by doing part of the work for you. For example, NameOffice offers premium brandable domains that are reviewed for how well they work as business names. Each one comes with escrow protection and a custom logo, which gives a new business a head start on its brand.
What to do: If your ideal .com is taken, do not assume it is out of reach. Look up whether it is for sale before you settle for a weaker name.
The fact: You can, but it gets harder and more costly every month.
Think about everywhere your web address appears. It is on business cards, invoices, vehicle wraps, email signatures, social media profiles, and online directories. Changing it means updating all of those places. You also need to set up redirects so you do not lose the search rankings you have built. Some old links will break no matter how careful you are.
What to do: Spend a little more time and money at the start. It is far easier to choose the right domain once than to fix the wrong one later.
Before you register or buy a domain, ask yourself these four questions:
If the answer to all four is yes, you have a strong domain. If not, it is worth a little more searching. Your domain name will work for your business every single day, so it deserves careful thought.
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