Main Points
* making assumptions based on a name
* domain names that throw you a curve ball
* making a name brandable
Domain Name: It all starts with a name. In the past, let’s say in the 1700’s, 1800’s, and into the early to mid 1900’s, you could probably tell where a person was from based on their name; particularly their last name. In the 1700’s and 1800’s if a person’s last name was “Smith“, they might have been from a family of blacksmiths, goldsmiths, or something similar. If their last name began with “Mc”, you could probably guess they’re from Ireland or Scotland.
The same goes with a domain name. If you’re visiting a website that contains keywords such as “real estate” or “mortgage”, you can assume that you’re going to visit a site that deals with real estate or mortgages. Now every once in a while, someone (or some domain) will through you a curve ball being named Zillow, Redfin, Roost, or Trulia. You might think, “what’s that person (site) all about” or “what the hell is a Trulia”? Sometimes you’ll come across a site like Kayak.com and expect to find something about rafting down rivers. Instead, you find a website that’s all about discount airfare. A person or a site will have an unusual name and you’ll want to investigate and maybe ask some question.
Domain names from an SEO standpoint are tricky. Every day I see domains where someone was trying a bit too hard. For example, at the time I write this, the domain www.seattlehomescondosrealestate.com is available. Even though this domain is keyword rich, I’m not going to buy it because it looks like I’m trying too hard and it might not appear to be credible or entirely trustworthy. Also, it would probably be hard to develop an effective branding strategy.
Neil Patele over at Quick Sprout had an interesting post asking his readers about naming a baby for success. The point of this post was about choosing a name that could be easily brandable. There are definitely names that are easier to brand than others. The main thing is being able to stand out from a crowd. In Neil’s post, he threw out brands such as Donald Trump, Steve Jobs, Mark Cuban, and Bill Gates. It is a safe bet that these domain names are taken and it would be hard to overcome these brands for anyone else.
The point of this post is when developing the concept of a new website, you might want to take some extra time and put extra thought into how the name of your site could be perceived by a new visitor. Your site’s name could greatly influence the number of visitors. And as Neil says, make sure you pick a domain that can be branded easily and distinguishable from your competition.
