GREAT ADAPTATIONS

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(And nine effective actions to take instead)

For all those folks out there pondering a new blog or business name, here are nine tips to keep your creative brain headed in the right direction.

1. DON’T name your business before you purchase the domain name.

The available domain name options will determine what follows.

ACTION POINT: Brainstorm your domain name first. Avoid typing your potential name into a domain-seller site until you are absolutely ready to buy. Once you’re committed to it, find it, buy it, and only then proceed with your business details.

2. DON’T get hung up on dot com.

How critical is the dot com? It is not always an option. Sure it’s very cool, but it is not the holy grail. You can have a fine website that gets plenty of search juice even if it is not a dot com.

So your “dot com” is taken. What next? “Dot info?”

No. Dot info should only be used for certain businesses, in which case it is absolutely perfect. It must be relevant.

Country domains, such as dot UK, will make it look like your business is focused on Great Britain.

To read more opinions about this issue, do a Google search along the lines of “why is a dot com important.” There’s an ongoing debate about it which can be quite informative.

ACTION POINT: If you do have something other than a dot com, you’ll want to include the suffix in every mention of your domain name. Think of dot net, for example, as part of the actual sound and memorability of your domain name.

I wanted a dot com for Great Adaptations, but it was taken. I chose the dot org, and in a very short period of time, my blog was ranking high in Google searches. This is because I post actively and appropriately on my blog. Search engines love fresh content.

3. DON’T use plural words.

People can’t remember that final “s”, even when they are typing straight from your business card.

Exception: If you can capitalize on the “SS,” using graphics or fonts to make it stick out in your reader’s mind, you could work it to your advantage.

4. DON’T be careless with double letters.

If your word string has double letters, one of them is likely to be left out when being typed. For example, “Purple People Eater” is a juicy name, but in the URL it is going to be purplepeopleeater, and that double “e” is risky for human error.

ACTION NOTE: Write your ideas out in the form they’ll take as a URL. All lower case, and no spaces. How many ways can it be misconstrued?

5. DON’T get caught off guard when you have to explain your domain name to potential customers. You may have to articulate it more than once. Learn to do that in a friendly, clear way, with a smile.

ACTION POINT: Try short sentences instead of tricky words. As short names get gobbled up, we’re seeing a lot of creativity with longer names. An actual short sentence can be extremely effective and easy for the customer to remember.

A site that sells rain gear, for example, could be called dontgetwet.net. Hear the rhythm in that? Don’t get wet dot net. In this case, even the suffix is memorable.

6. Don’t create a two-part sentence or hook concepts together. It’s too much to remember. You’ve got to keep it punchy and poetic.

ACTION POINT: Try out adjectives to go with your name. If you want to call your candy company Sweet Treat, and find every option taken, think about Neat Sweet Treat. Complete Sweet Treat. Watch for relevance, and keep testing it by writing it out, no spaces. neatsweettreats. See that? We’ve got a double letter problem here. Keep brainstorming.

7. DON’T make your domain name into a license plate.

If you want to create a site for actors to find practice partners, and you’re thinking it could be called “The Actor’s Cave,” don’t use aktorzKv. Did you know that squirrels hide nuts everywhere but without a system to find them? That’s what happens with quirky spellings. Search engines can’t make sense of them either.

ACTION POINT: Remember that you will be speaking your domain name to people. What will they think first? What’s the spelling they are most likely to visualize when you say the name? Say the name out loud. To friends. Listen to it. How perfectly clear is it to the ear? Does it make you smile – or cringe?

8. DON’T use hyphens or underlines. With rare exception, hyphens only make a name harder to type. If you have a powerful name in mind that is already taken, you are not doing yourself a service by creating it with hyphens. Searches for your name are not going to carry the hyphen, and your search juice is not going to be the better for it. Underlines look like code. That’s not what you want.

ACTION POINT: Play with a short verb before your main words. See what happens when you add “Use” or “Try” or “Get” to your collection. When you research domain names, the site that sells the domains will also make lots of suggestions for you.

9. DON’T follow all these instructions.

You might miss your most visionary moment! These are guidelines, not laws.

ACTION POINT: Use the dictionary, use Google searches, give yourself lots of food for thought. Write down your options, move them around, find different ways to say what your business really means.

Bonus Point: If you’re getting frustrated by the process of discovering a great domain name, you’re probably close to the right one. Take a creativity break: Go bowling, eat chocolate, stay up late, laugh with friends. Come back to it tomorrow.

Let your creative self loose, and gallop along beside it. Go out and romp in the fields – and for vision’s sake, take a recorder!

Happy domain searching,

Suzanna Stinnett

Brain-Friendly Guides(c) to online communication