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Selecting the Best Domain Name for Your Web Site
- Developing an online brand name
- Understanding those dot.coms, dot.orgs, dot.nets, and all the others
- Registering your domain name with a Web host
- Buying your domain name at auction
- Seeking legal advice about trademarking your domain name
A Venezuelan online casino doled out more than US$1 million to buy Wall Street -- dot com
| "Making a Mint on Wallstreet.com" |
| Wired Digital Inc., April 23, 1999 |
| by Craig Bicknell |
Why would someone pay more than a million dollars for a domain name like Wallstreet.com? How come Compaq computer paid more than three million dollars to buy AltaVista.com? -- this purchase by Compaq was especially interesting, since it already owned the AltaVista Web site through its purchase of Digital Equipment! The simple fact is that these domain names, or dot coms, represent valuable online real estate. If you own a widely recognized domain name, you will get more visitors to your Web site; be able to sell more products and services; and be able charge higher advertising rates.
While domain names are becoming increasingly valuable, there is a distinct difference between simply owning a dot com, and actually owning a brand name. After all, what's in a name like Wallstreet.com or Drugs.com? Today, these are just names, or shells, for proposed online businesses. They are not recognizable brand names, like AltaVista.com or Amazon.com.
A brand name is much more than just a domain name, like www.yourbiz.com, because brands convey products, degrees of quality, and levels of service. When you think of the brand name Amazon.com, you think of something more than simply the domain name Bookstore.com. You think of a wide selection of inventory, an easy to use Web site, and great customer service. You can envision the complete buying experience. It is these characteristics of brand names that make them so valuable, and why they are often registered as trademarks with the U.S. Patent Office.
Before you can develop an online brand name, you will need to register a domain name (www.yourbiz.com), and publish your Web site on the Internet. Even if you already have an offline business, with an established brand name, you will still need to port your products and services to the Web, and create an online brand name. This is much easier said than done. Look at some of the offline retailers like Toy-R-Us and WalMart. Although these companies have established hugely successful brands and businesses in the offline world, neither has become and online sensation.