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What’s In a Domain Name?

Actually for a small business there is quite a lot in a domain name but today I only want to look at the back of the domain name. That little bit to the right of dot may not seem to be so important but it can have a big impact on your business.

Of course the little bit I am referring to is what is known as the top level domain or TLD for short. Everyone knows the usual TLDs, .com, .net, .org, .biz etc. but give a person a domain name without the TLD and they automatically assume that it’s followed by .com.

And even when you tell someone the domain name with the correct TLD they seldom remember and always go looking for the .com name

We found that out with our very first domain name. The domain name we wanted was not available in .com so we elected for the .net TLD and from then on the number of people who went looking for us and used .com just amazed us.

But there is even more to consider when choosing a domain name and TLD and it was mentioned in a comment on a blogger’s blog run by Darren Rowse. Home Office Voice is another small business blog run by a Martin Neumann, a fellow Aussie.

Martin originally started his blog with a .com.au TLD. I’m not surprised that he did because it is the current thinking that all domains owned by Australian businesses should be registered on with the .au identifier.

It is something that I have been telling Australians never to do but then what would I know, I’m just part of a very small business and when the big end of town says something who listens to small business?

Unfortunately for Martin, he found what a few of us have been saying all along. Buying a domain name with a TLD that identifies your country is going to marginalise you. It can be almost as good as putting up a wall between you and the rest of the world.

In Martin’s case here is what he found:

“I blog about Internet Home business. I’m an Aussie blogger. I thought: there’s 800,000+ home-based business owners in Australia - a decent enough market. So I start my blog with an .au site - homeofficevoice.com.au - and my focus is on Australian home business owners. And I can’t get bugger all for months. A huge generalization : Aussies tend to stick to what they know - they get their information from MSM publications such as the daily metro’s and other business mags: BRW, DSB, MyBusiness etc), so to get any head way you have to get publicity in these mags/papers. Getting your blog mentioned in them is hard stuff … nearly impossible - unless you’re Darren and you make your fame and fortune in the US and then you get the mention !!!.

So for two months nothing - and then I finally say “stuff it” I’m going global: dump the .au get a .com and guess what … I haven’t looked back since.”

So take Martin’s lesson to heart and always go for the .com TLD. Anything else will isolate you from the market you are trying to reach.

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