Reserve Your Domain name Now!
by Michel Fortin, Ph.D. The Success
Doctor
In my business development consulting practice,
I teach others about the tremendous importance of communicating
credibility. To a prospect that is receiving your marketing materials
for the first time, your company may have little or no believability
because you may well be totally unknown to your prospect. Along
with the increasing population of new online businesses, the hypercompetitive
nature of the Internet will make credibility an even more important
issue.
One of John Naisbitt's "Megatrends" in his extraordinary
book of the same name is the fact that our society is edging towards
the "hi-tech/hi-touch." In other words, the fact that we are advancing
technologically and the business process is fast becoming almost
entirely automated will parallel the need for a more human approach
in the business process.
Today, we see that need being filled more and
more through niche marketing, personalized services, customer
service, and specialization. And due to the lack of human interaction
on the Internet, building relationships with your prospects will,
as time goes on, become an element of greater importance in the
success of any online business.
IT ALL STARTS WITH IMAGE There are many ways
to build credibility, namely through the use of testimonials and
guarantees. These may be the final steps in getting many stubborn
prospects to commit to your product. But the first step, however,
is sometimes the most obvious -- and that's the image you project,
for it is the first thing that is perceived by your prospects
and the first step in building relationships with them. Although
your goal may be to put your business on auto-pilot, you must
always remember that you are dealing with real people. There are
many fly-by-night businesses and get-rich-quick schemes on the
Internet, so anything "new" to today's skeptical prospect will
likely be questionable in the very least.
| Check
to see if YOUR Domain Name is available by typing it into
the search box directly below (choose from .com, .net, .org,
.info, biz and .us domains). There is no charge to check availability
of domains, but if you decide to purchase your domain name
now, our pricing starts at only $7.95 - The lowest price you'll
find for single year registrations!
Compare
our prices here! or you can Search
the WHOIS database to see who owns any domain! If you
want to transfer to take advantage of our lower prices, transfer
your domain name. |
|
|
Therefore, your marketing strategy must also
include branding your Web site, which is just as important as
branding your company or product. When I started online 3 years
ago, I began with a free host and a free e-mail account. I didn't
see the need to invest in my own domain, having an already profitable
offline business at the time. But little did I know, however,
that the lack of credibility they projected was to a great extent
the reason for many lost sales. Today, as a result of simply branding
my site, http://successdoctor.com
is generating far more unique visitors and sales per capita.
The reason for this is manifold. In today's world,
we are constantly inundated with marketing messages. In his new
book The New Positioning, Jack Trout states that a child in the
UK will have seen over 140,000 TV commercials by the time he or
she reaches 18 years of age -- and the US "is just warming up."
The Internet is surely no different. It's literally filled with
Web sites that range from sheer advertisements to others that
are sponsored by them. Everywhere we turn, it seems, we are faced
with some form of online promotional propaganda.
Our job as consumers has therefore become so
immensely challenging that choosing a business from which to buy
has become a dizzying process. For an online business to survive
and thrive in today's hypercompetitive marketplace, it takes more
than mere advertising to make a Web site successful (the kind
of advertising that says "I'm open for business"). As marketing
guru Dan Kennedy once said, "Institutional marketing is high-risk
marketing," for the message needs to be repeatedly advertised
in order to work -- if it ever does.
BECOME A TRAFFIC MAGNET Although advertising
is the lifeblood of any business, today's marketing message must
therefore stand out among the commercial quagmire. And it must
also do so in such a way that it creates not only traffic but
also a need for its products or services. In other words, a company's
advertising message must go from being "in" business to being
"the" business of choice. Where people used to ask "Why should
I buy this product or service?" today, that question has changed
to "Why should I buy this product or service FROM YOUR SITE?"
Simply put, today's consumer will choose one
company over another because the perceived value in their choice
is greater. However, people are given an increasing multitude
of choices on the Internet. Moreover, they no longer have the
time to sift through all the information that is thrown at them
(let alone the time to shop around for the best product from the
best company at the best price). So, how can a company communicate
that its Web site is "the" site of choice? How can it heigthen
the perceived value in what they have to offer and stand above
the competition?
| Check
to see if YOUR Domain Name is available by typing it into
the search box directly below (choose from .com, .net, .org,
.info, biz and .us domains). There is no charge to check availability
of domains, but if you decide to purchase your domain name
now, our pricing starts at only $7.95 - The lowest price you'll
find for single year registrations!
Compare
our prices here! or you can Search
the WHOIS database to see who owns any domain! If you
want to transfer to take advantage of our lower prices, transfer
your domain name. |
|
|
Ellis Verdi, the once president of the "National
Retail Advertisers Council," coined the term "top-of-mind awareness"
as the most effectively provocative form of marketing now available.
The idea is to create, within the subconscious minds of prospects,
a psychological "anchor" that causes people to choose, when a
need presents itself, a company over another instantaneously.
The goal, therefore, is to market one's site in specific ways
so that it stays at the top of their minds at all times.
In other words, since people no longer have the
time to shop around, when they do have a certain need they will
go to (or search for) the site that happens to be at the top of
their minds at that very moment; the one that sticks out the most,
especially from all the marketing messages that are so desperately
fighting for their attention. Consequently, top-of-mind awareness
on the Internet begins with the most important element of Web
site marketing, which is the domain name itself.
ELEMENTS OF A GOOD DOMAIN NAME First, realize
that a "good" domain name that sticks in the mind requires more
than simply using a fictitious vanity name. However, it is imperative
to note at this point that registered names have the ability to
stick in the mind more effectively. Jack Trout once wrote that
"The mind hates confusion, complexity, and change." Therefore,
simplicity is of colossal importance since long or obscure URLs
can be easily forgotten.
For example, rather than having a name with too
many words, such as http://www.domain.com/subdomain/yourname/~subfolder
or http://names-with-too-many-hyphens.com, you should get
a very simple http://www.yourname.com. In fact, more and
more companies and commercials are dropping the "www" from their
URLs. Most Internet addresses can simply use "yourname.com,"
which is an even better alternative. In essence, the simpler it
is, the better.
The importance of having your own domain name
goes without explanation. It is the same as branding your business
or product. But there are 3 reasons why you need a good, simple,
and memorable domain name. First, there is the mnemonic factor.
Instead of going through the inconvenience of numerous search
engine results to get exactly what they want, most people will
attempt to go to your site directly by guessing your domain name
and typing a plausible URL in their browsers.
| Check
to see if YOUR Domain Name is available by typing it into
the search box directly below (choose from .com, .net, .org,
.info, biz and .us domains). There is no charge to check availability
of domains, but if you decide to purchase your domain name
now, our pricing starts at only $7.95 - The lowest price you'll
find for single year registrations!
Compare
our prices here! or you can Search
the WHOIS database to see who owns any domain! If you
want to transfer to take advantage of our lower prices, transfer
your domain name. |
|
|
Mnemonics are words (or a combination of words)
that are easy to remember. A repeatedly visited Web site is one
whose URL, for example, includes the use of mnemonics. If it sticks
in the mind, even if the URL is bookmarked, the site can be easily
retrieved and will be visited often. "Yahoo!" http://yahoo.com,
"HotBot" http://hotbot.com,
and Time Magazine's "Time" http://time.com
are perfect examples of mnemonics at work.
The second element is the credibility factor.
People often associate long URLs with free Web sites or sites
of lesser quality. People have a natural tendency to make what
I call UPAs (or unconscious paralleled assumptions). In other
words, if people notice that your site is hosted by a free or
cheap provider, they will unconsciously assume that a parallel
exists (i.e., that your product or service is just as cheap).
Your domain name is like the headline of an article, and people
will likely judge and visit your site according to its domain
name.
Always remember that perceived truth is more
powerful than truth itself. And a vanity domain name tends to
heighten the perception of the Web site's value. As such, the
UPA visitors will make with a domain name will often be one in
which they conclude that the quality of the Web site will be as
good as the name implies.
Finally, the third reason is the the actual positioning
process. If your domain name reflects your site's core benefit
and instantly communicates how different you are from others,
your URL will be positioned above the competition in the minds
of your market. Since this element is the most important, let's
deal with it a little further.
BENEFIT-BASED DOMAIN NAMES People usually make
a buying decision based on the kind of information that instantly
communicates a specific benefit; one in which there is an implicit
added value in making the purchase. Therefore, does your domain
name intrinsically reflect the result or benefit of that which
you provide and does so in an instant? It should. I am astounded
to see many domain names that are still called by ordinary or
blatantly unappealing names, such as with hard-to-spell words,
numbers, abbreviations, or acronyms like "www.mgf.com."
Let's take the example of two different Web sites
that promote similar products: Investments. One's address is "wealthwise.com"
while the other "mgf-investments.com." Now, with all things being
equal and when placed side-by-side, which site will be the one
more likely to be chosen first? In essence, your domain name must
be able to drive traffic to your site on its very own. It must
also communicate how different and unique you are when compared
to competitor sites, even before your site is ever visited.
As mentioned previously, people would far more
want to skip the inconvenience of going through numerous search
engine results. But if people do have to resort to an engine,
their search will be greatly simplified and vastly more efficient
if your domain name intrinsically reflects the core benefit if
not the nature of your Web site. Remember that most searches are
conducted by major topics or themes and not by names. Therefore,
if your site's most popular keyword or benefit is within the domain
name itself, that URL has greater chances of being in one of the
top search engine results.
Therefore, play a word association game with
your Web site. Look for the word or words that would instantly
pop up in the minds of people when a need presents itself, a need
your site likely fills. For example, http://free-stuff.com,
http://allergyrelief.com,
http://morebusiness.com,
and http://fastcar.com
are great benefit-based domain names that effectively create more
top-of-mind awareness (and thus more traffic).
| Check
to see if YOUR Domain Name is available by typing it into
the search box directly below (choose from .com, .net, .org,
.info, biz and .us domains). There is no charge to check availability
of domains, but if you decide to purchase your domain name
now, our pricing starts at only $7.95 - The lowest price you'll
find for single year registrations!
Compare
our prices here! or you can Search
the WHOIS database to see who owns any domain! If you
want to transfer to take advantage of our lower prices, transfer
your domain name. |
|
|
DOMAIN NAMES THAT DRIVE TRAFFIC If the name you
want is taken, then you can use your company or product's tagline
(or part of it) as a domain name. A tagline is that small sentence
that follows your business name, such as "You deserve a break
today," "Roaches check in but they don't check out," and "It takes
a licking but keeps on ticking." Great examples are http://www.alwayscocacola.com
(a loyal Coca-Cola® fan site), http://www.cavities.com
(Crest® toothpaste), and, of course, "http://start.com"
from Microsoft®.
You can also use the site's main theme, feature,
or product, even the site's nature or main business activity (i.e.,
what it does). Ultimately, choose a name that people can remember
quickly and effectively so that, when you advertise among a thousand
of your competitors, your URL stands out and sticks in the minds
of the marketplace.
It is also a good practice to register variations
of your name, including different spellings, product names, taglines,
and associated words. One of the reasons for this is to ensure
that these unused domain names don't end up falling into the hands
of competitors. But more important, when people attempt to search
for your site and enter a variation of your domain name they will
still end up with your site as a result.
It all boils down to the fact that your domain
name is a fundamental marketing system in itself. Use it wisely
and you'll see your traffic counter soar.
Michel Fortin, Ph.D. The Success Doctor
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