A Letter to Companies Without a Premium Domain 2016-02-08

Dear Company,

It’s time you stepped out of the stone age. It’s 2016, and you are still operating on a sub-par domain name. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to talk down to you, I’m just afraid you do not see the benefits of owning a world class, premium domain name. So as your friend, and someone who loves the domain industry, I am going to tell you why you need to upgrade.

Let’s first go back to the times when the only way to find a company was by word of mouth, the yellow pages, or by stumbling upon their storefront by foot. In those days, the world wide web did not yet exist, and you couldn’t merely just “Google it”.

When it came to advertising in the yellow pages, the companies who got the most customers usually paid a handsome amount to get their ad placed in the bigger ad blocks, right? The companies who made the most sales usually had the highest foot traffic locations in the city, right? What about word of mouth? You had to have a prime retail location fancy enough to be worth talking about, right? So why now, in this incredible digital realm, are you still hesitant to be one of those companies? Think about it, we’ll come back to this later in this letter.

In today’s world (wide web), you need to stand out. You need to be memorable, and you need to deliver extremely high levels of subconscious value into your customers psyches. It all starts with your domain name. Here is why:

If you had a focus group, and you asked them “Which domain name sounds like the biggest, most trustable, honest, and reliable company?”. Which one do you think they would pick?

1. Flowers.com
2. JoeAndDelilahsFlowerStore.com
3. iDeliverRoses.net

I guarantee that 100% of the focus group would say “Flowers.com, duh”. Now, why is that? Because a domain name is more than just a web address you can buy for a few dollars on GoDaddy. It is that big retail store that gets all of the foot traffic. It’s that full page ad in the paper. It’s that company that is so easy to remember that everyone shares it with their friends, and nowadays, it’s also what delivers trust in search engines when someone is looking for your product.

If I google “buy flowers online” and one of the first five search results is from Flowers.com, you can bet your bottom dollar that domain name is going to receive my click.

“But buying a premium domain name is expensive”. To that I say… I know. But you know what is more expensive? Advertising. Let me break the numbers down so you can get a real idea of how much money you are losing by not having a premium domain name.

Say you are in the business of Hotel booking. The word “Hotels” get’s typed into Google search 1,500,000 times per month. Google states that the average Cost Per Click(how much you get charged every time someone clicks your Google ad) for their advertising on the word “Hotels” is $2.72 per click. That equals $48,960,000 per year that your company would have to fork over to Google to get 1,500,000 clicks per month. Guess how much the domain name Hotels.com sold for? Only $11,000,000. One time payment, they own it forever. Guess what ranks #1 in Google now when you search for the word “Hotels”? Hotels.com. Do you think they made the right choice? Obviously. With that many searches per month, they are likely getting thousands and thousands of visitors who just type the domain Hotels.com into their browser. Here is why:

1. It makes sense. That is what I would expect to find on Hotels.com… Hotels.
2. Because it’s incredibly easy to remember. The internet age is lazy; we don’t want to memorize a 30 character domain name, let alone type it in and make sure we spell it right.
3. We get bombarded by nasty emails from awful domain names every day. We see terrible websites on terrible domain names every day. It’s refreshing to see quality, feel quality, and most importantly because it delivers a powerful trust factor. If they own Hotels.com, they must be significant. I mean look at brands like Apple… they are a prime example of a brilliant domain name. Companies like that have paved the subconscious path towards trust and quality. Don’t you want to be as successful as Apple? You may never be, but you can sure deliver the same feel of trust and quality to your customers by owning a premium domain name.

If you are afraid to spend money to essentially save and make more money in the long run, then you should not be in business. Fear is not how you get ahead of the competition. Take a look at the top 500 reported domain name sales of all time. Some significant funds have been transacted between parties for these types of domain names because this is how you become #1 in your niche.

You don’t necessarily need to spend millions of dollars, but you do need to upgrade your domain name. You can get a premium brand name for as little as a few grand if you do enough research. For instance, If you sell cupcakes, and if you take growing your business seriously, you shouldn’t be using a domain name like JennysCupcakeShopPortland.com.. It’s impossible to get ahead with that domain name. Think about upgrading your brand name to something like PortlandCupcakes.com, Sprinkles.com, VelvetCupcakes.com, or if you want to become an online sensation in your niche, Cupcakes.com. The bigger you go, the bigger you’ll grow.

You spend money to buy nice shoes don’t you? Because they’re comfortable, give you better posture, and of course, because they look great. You buy nice cars don’t you? Because they give you a sense of status, they’re smoother on the road, safer, and provide a much more comfortable ride. You buy nice things because they make your life better. Why not buy a nice domain name and make your business better too?

Don’t just take my word for it, do your research. I can pretty much guarantee that the #1 leading company in your niche has a premium domain name. You can let them continue to pummel you, or you can get on their level and give them a run for their money. It’s up to you.

At the end of the day, everything is heading into a digital realm, and if you are not solidifying your presence on the web with a premium brand name, then you are going to be left in the digital dust by those who understand the value of a premium web address.

I hope that you are starting to see more clearly the power of a domain name. This letter comes from a genuine place, because I wish you success in your digital endeavors.

Article by Ali Zandi.

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