Can you imagine paying $31,180,000 for PrivateJet.com? The top 10 most expensive domain names sell for over 10 million USD each. Businesses that covet these domain names see the name of their website as one of their most important branding assets. They are willing to pay up for these domain names to lock them in.
What is a domain name?
A domain name is your website’s name, used to identify computers on the Internet by mapping to a specific IP address. By having a domain name, your website is uniquely identifiable.
Domain names are snatched up quickly
It doesn’t matter if you are starting a business, you should try to buy domain names that are relevant to your business. For instance, your business may represent a specific brand image. The name of your business can help to convey your brand image. There maybe a lot of companies in the world trying to go for the same type of brand image, but you are the only one who owns this domain name that represents this particular brand image. There are legions of people on the Internet that trade domain names. These people are constantly buying up domain names that other people might want to lock in. So, act quickly before someone else snatches it up.
Businesses with the proper website domain name are perceived to be more trustworthy
Domain names with the same name as the business is a sign of trustworthiness. There’s no confusion whether your brand is your company. They are one of the same. By having a website and an email account with the same business domain gives your business credibility.
Businesses that SEO well are often the ones with relevant domain names.
The trustworthiness of the business is a criterion in SEO rankings. Search engines such as Google will judge the trustworthiness of the website before indexing it in important keywords. One of the ways to gain trust immediately is to have a domain name consistent with the branding of your business. It allows your website to quickly index in relevant terms on search engines.
Better Brand Identity and Fewer Errors
If you are in an industry where you have competition that offers similar services, then distinguishing your company with a strong brand identity is a must. Often, companies try to SEO under similar keywords. When a customer is faced with a list of 10 choices for online print shops, the customer will likely choose one that has the strongest brand identity. Strong brand identity starts with a name (domain name or business name) that’s consistent with the brand. By having a strong brand identity, there’s less room for customers to compare your company with another company’s services.
What is the cost of a domain name?
Owning a domain is not as costly as people think. Typical cost of owning a domain name is $10.00 – $50.00/year. Even for a premium domain, after the initial cost, they renew each year between $10 to $100 per a month. It’s an inexpensive investment that can potentially pay off big in the future.
What domain names should you buy?
Not every domain name is worth buying. For SEO purposes, buying a domain in the .com universe is a good idea. Your customers will search in .com domain first for your services. Local SEO is great when the website targets a specific location. For instance, 360printingnj.com is great if your business is located in New Jersey.
To secure the name of a brand, you may need to buy up all of the common spellings for the domain. For instance, don’t just buy threesixtyprinting.com, buy 3sixtyprinting.com, and three60printing.com, too.
Where to buy your domain name?
Buying your domain from a reputable domain registrar is very important. You want to make sure that no one else has a claim to the domain that you just bought. Namecheap is an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar. It’s one of the best places to buy domains. Alternatively, you can use GoDaddy, Google Domains, and more.
To work out which domain registrar to choose, here are a few suggestions:
- Make sure their primary business is buying and selling domains.
- You should be able to just buy the domain without any other services.
- They should be able to provide WHOIS guard for free. The whois database is one that holds contact information of registrars. The WHOIS guard offered by Namecheap is a privacy protection service for your domain.
When in doubt, Namecheap is a reputable domain registrar.
Should you buy your domain name from web hosting companies?
Web hosting companies like Shopify and Squarespace offcers you the convenience of having domain name through them. We strongly recommend you NOT to buy it through them. Should you want to move away from them, they can choose not to transfer the domain name to you. Furthermore, they can just hold your domain name hostage, locking you in to use their services. This is why it’s important to buy your domain name from a reputable registrar like Namecheap.
Luckily, most web hosting providers allow you to transfer your domain name out to a registrar. While the individuals steps may vary, the overall process is about the same. Here is an example process of transferring the domain name to Namecheap.
- Register a new account.
- Verify that the domain is eligible for transfer.
- Prepare your domain for transfer.
It’s important to remember changing your Nameserver (DNS) provider is NOT the same as transferring a domain name to another registrar.
The Takeaway
Domains are the key to any online business. Once you figure out the name of your business, it’s important to buy the domain that’s associated with this name immediately. When another business snatches up your domain name, not only will you have to pay more to secure the name, you will also have a harder time branding your business online.
PS: We are not affiliated with Namecheap. We just think they have an awesome product!
