Entrepreneur Resources Your source for small business information
In 3 Tips to Position Your New Business for Success, I shared the importance of choosing the right business name. It should be something that’s catchy, easy to remember and has a meaning. This extends to your website’s domain name, too. With so many dot-com names already taken, it can be difficult to find one that fits your brand without needing to add hyphens, numbers or creative spellings to make it work. Choosing a not-com instead could give you a better option. Here’s how the adult sleepaway camp entrepreneurs of Soul Camp found a business and domain name perfectly suited to them.
Find the Name You Want
Soul Camp launched in 2014 with soulcamp2014.com as their main website. After realizing they wanted to continue the camp year after year, owners Ali Leipzig and Michelle Goldblum realized it wasn’t practical to buy a new domain name every year. They’d end up with soulcamp2015.com, soulcamp2016.com and so on. That would be expensive to maintain over time and could be confusing for those trying to look them up online.
The owners knew they needed to find just one website that could stick with them through the duration of their business. They looked into soulcamp.com, but it wasn’t available for purchase. Then their camp director mentioned in passing, “You know, they just launched a ‘dot-camp’ [.camp] domain …” Soul.camp was purchased and has been their site ever since.
I completely identify with the notion of wanting a certain name but being unable to get it. That’s what happened to me when I launched my first company back in 2003. I brainstormed for weeks to come up with the perfect domain name for my web design firm. I was so excited when it came to me…until I went to purchase it and saw the .com version was taken. I settled for .net at the time. Because these not-com choices are new, your name or a close variation of it is probably still available to be registered.
Not-Coms Give You the Opportunity to Be Unique
Ann Marie, owner of That Girl Organizes, knew she needed more than a traditional domain name. On naming her website, Ann Marie says her husband was a big help. After coming up with a list of potential domain names, he said, “Guru is super-cool.” Her response, “A guru is someone who can’t stop doing what they love; they know so much about it it’s crazy; and they just are incessant about doing it. That’s me! I’m a ‘dot-guru’ [.guru]! I’m not a ‘dot-com’ [.com].”
As you look to stand out from your competition by being unique with your business and domain name, think about what you want it to represent. Are you a .guru, too? Perhaps you’re a .coach or a .fitness enthusiast. Figure out what it is about your business that makes it special and go from there.
If you want to see how even more entrepreneurs are leveraging creativity and innovation in their businesses, check out the “I am…” video series. Ready to get cooking with Name.Kitchen now? Claim your name. There are hundreds of not-com domain extensions still available.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Name.Kitchen.
