The difference between a brand name and a domain name

This is less of a "let me tell you" article than an article where I would appreciate it very much if you could tell me how / what you feel.Here's a very simple, straightforward example: microsoft is a brand name, and microsoft.com is a domain name. MSN.com and Live.com are also domain names. When searching for "ebay", people expect to find a domain named "ebay" (e.g. ebay.com or ebay.de etc.). Therefore any/all search engines will first / foremost match domain names -- it's a rather "common sense" approach, and the laws of supply & demand will lead to high-quality information moving towards the keyword domain names related to the type of information that users need. So it makes perfect sense that weather.com , weather.net , weather.org , etc. to all have information about weather (in the long run, the different "top level domains" [TLDs] will mean different types of information -- and/but it's still too early to nail down what people generally consider each TLD "actually" refers to [for example: "net" might refer to a computer network, or it might refer to a social network).The important thing for a small business to realize is that naming the business is probably quite different from that business being found. If you own a shoe store, then being listed on shoes.com or shoes.net or shoes.org will be very valuable -- indeed, it is far more valuable than simply perhaps being listed on a general search engine. Nevertheless: In either case,  the good domain name for a small business will be the name that actually motivates the potential customer to click -- this is what I would refer to as a good brand name.Note, also, that many businesses have several brand names -- for example: Google uses the brand names "Google", "Youtube", "Gmail", "Adwords" as well as many others. It is actually ironic that Google maintains that people do not "search" for information by typing in the domain name -- because Google has each of these brands registered as domain names (as well as many other domains, too). Google quite often applies somewhat of a "double standard" this way, either allowing different "rules" to apply to it's own online properties -- and in many cases it even outright does self-promotion (rather than returning "plain" algorithmic results).The smart business owner will think through the "problem" of "being found" by customers in 2 steps:1. When a potential customer should find my business, what will they type into a computer? (e.g. "shoes" or "sneakers")2. When the potential cutomer sees a list of responses, what might motivate them to click? (e.g. "sweet-feet" or "fast-track" [or maybe "fastrack"?])You may actually find that registering several domains -- one for each of the various products / services you offer (and/or perhaps even one for each type of customer you wish to reach) -- may be the most efficient (both effective and cheap) approach to acquiring new cutomers.What do you think?ps: note that many names are protected / registered trademarks (this article does not cover anything related to tradmark law -- if you are thinking of finding a "doing business as" name that could be trademarked, I highly recommend having the name researched first -- in order to prevent any "legal hassle" from registering such a domain name) 2008-04-17T14:20:00Z

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the-difference-between-a-brand-name-and-a-domain-name

2008-04-17T17:03:26Z

Want your business to be found? If / When your business is found, what message do you want to get across to the potential customer -- that might motivate them to take the leap to become an actual cutomer?

The difference between a brand name and a domain name

2009-02-24T09:43:59Z