I heard a radio advertisement recently for the financial advisory firm Raymond James. The advertisement directed listeners to visit LifeWellPlanned.com. What a great domain name! Enter that address in your browser, and you’ll jump straight to RaymondJames.com. Why does the company bother with the second domain? Because the alternative domain trumpets key selling points (we’ll help you plan for a good life), and it’s easy to remember.
After hearing the ad, I purchased a second domain for my interactive marketing company, MarketVolt. Enter the new domain, InteractiveMarketingSells.com, and you’ll jump straight to our site at MarketVolt.com. I like our company’s name, but when I say “MarketVolt,” some people hear “Bolt,” not “Volt.” So when I share our domain with someone who doesn’t know our company, I say, “That’s with a V, as in “Victor-O-L-T.”
Now I can still use my company name in the conversation, but when I direct new leads to the website, I can say, “Go to InteractiveMarketingSells.com.”
The best domain names are easy to spell and audibly unambiguous. Is your domain easy to spell, audibly unambiguous and promotional for your business? If not, you can buy an alternative domain for under $10 per year and easily point it to your website.
This article, by Tom Ruwitch, first appeared in St. Louis Small Business Monthly
