How To Name Your Startup Right?

What came first - the chicken or the egg? Or, in the world of startups - the name of the company or the domain name? Ask any startup founder worth their salt and you will have your answer. An online presence can be crucial to the success of a startup, or for that matter, any business. Today, most consumers search online for local products and services. If you don't have a domain name and a website for your business, that means people are searching for - and not finding - your business online. In simple words, your startup's domain name is your online identity. And, as a founder you wouldn't want to compromise on your startup's identity. This makes the task of naming a startup even more daunting.

Imagine picking the name "Destination Books" for your online bookstore, spending time and money registering the domain name, and then discovering that the domain name you want for your website- like destinationbooks.com - isn't available. Maybe it's already taken or it's a premium domain with a hefty price tag. So what do you do? You might either settle for a possibly less marketable domain name which might be cheaper, hoping to later acquire a domain name better targeted to your small business once you have gained traction in your business. Or you might choose to spend a lot of money to purchase a premium domain name, a move that Housing.com made.

So what are some of the tenets of choosing an attractive, marketable and searchable domain name?

Keep it short
The shorter and easier your domain name is to spell and remember, the more likely your customers will remember and will be able to type it in, time and time again (and that's good for your business). Destinationbookstheonlinestore.com is a mouthful and tougher to remember than destinationbooks.com. A domain name which is too descriptive or long, runs the risk of customers forgetting what the URL is.

Protect your brand
.com is and remains the most coveted extension for businesses and brands around the world. Its ubiquity and affinity with the Internet itself, familiarity in people's minds when they type in a web address. In addition to securing a website address of your choice ending in generic extensions such as .com , you should protect your online brand by registering your brand name in other popular extensions such as .IN, .ORG, .NET, etc.

There are a whole slew of new extensions called generic top-level domains (gTLDs) that are now available. New gTLDs, such as .photography, .guru and .club, give you the ability to create a name that defines your website, brand, business, group or organization. It will help set your business apart from other similar websites.

As an example, want to give Destinationbooks.com the feel of an exclusive members-only group? You can pick destinationbooks.club. Shipping only in India? Destinationbooks.in can be a good choice. If you are thinking about going international, you could also nab destinationbooks.global. The opportunities are endless and with a bit of creativity, you can register a domain name of your choice. You can even snag secondary names that can help protect your brand by simply re-directing them to your main website. For example, if destinationbooks.com is available, it is still advisable to buy the .in, .club and some of the other addresses relevant to the business. That way, no matter how your customers type your website address, they will still land on your website.

Spell it right..or maybe wrong
"I before E, except after C." Sounds familiar? Probably you know the grammar rules all too well. But not everybody does. If you know that your domain name might be misspelt on a daily basis, you might want to buy it both ways. It won't hurt you if someone misspells your domain name or website address, as they will still come to your site, but it could hurt you if they can't find you online if they can't spell. In some cases, a wrongly spelled word can make your startup stand out. Think Quickr, which brings us to our next tip.

It doesn't always have to make sense
It started in the 1990s with Google and Yahoo. Next came Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr and Zomato. And now we're meeting Spotify, Grofers, Zotezo and others with strange sounding names that often don't have a meaning, let alone much to do with the product or service the company sells. The reason behind the love for quirky names among startups is not just the need to stand out in the already cluttered cyberspace, but also to avoid paying a hefty price for a concise, no-nonsense .com URL. Not to forget that some of these can be easy to spell, remember and drop in conversation.

Think long term
While all of the above might help you avoid paying a hefty price for a premium domain name, maybe a premium domain is the way to go for your business. You're probably not in a position to throw down US$500,000 for a domain name, like housing.com did, but even if you're just starting out, you might benefit from spending a little more on the perfect name to represent your small business. If the domain name for your business is available for sale and you have brand recognition - you have to decide if it's worth it.

And when you do spend that money, don't risk losing it by forgetting to renew it. Buying the domain name for the full term saves you from worrying about housekeeping chores like renewing your domain name. Plus it saves you money. Prices go up over time, so it's a smart idea to lock in the registration price when you purchase your domain name.

To sum it up, naming your startup and then building a home for it on the Internet deserves a lot of attention. Having the right name and the corresponding URL can make a world of difference for your business. With a little forward-thinking and creativity, you're sure to snag a website address that will work for you 24/7 for a long time as you expand and grow your small business - as opposed to destinationbookstheonlinebookstore.com!