How the Pandemic Has Shown Us The Value of Domain Names

Coronavirus has caused tens of thousands of brick and mortar stores to permanently close their doors. Businesses that have been able to stay alive have done so thanks to the Internet; and more specifically, thanks to their domains. If you can’t bring people to your physical store, you must be able to bring them to your website or you won’t survive. This means buying a website domain that is memorable and brandable. A domain is more important than ever. On the other hand, as a general rule, retail businesses that haven’t been able to cut it are usually more traditional, old-fashioned companies that weren’t set up for the digital transformation required in the age of coronavirus when most people are staying home and ordering products online. That being said, making the transition to the Internet has put many businesses at the mercy of Google and other search engines.

We Are at the Mercy of Google, Unless…

Most businesses keep a sharp eye on their Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as search engines garner many clicks and site visits. However, we should remember that SEO isn’t the end-all, be-all for garnering web traffic. With a short, memorable name, your customers will bypass Google and go straight to you, which is the ideal situation after all. If you rely too heavily upon search engines, your potential customers will always see your competition when trying to find you, even if you’re near the top of the list. In other words, a short, memorable name does a lot of work for you to garner clicks outside of relying on Google. Additionally, there are many factors outside of your domain name alone that can affect SEO. These include security, load speeds, the quality of your content, your backlinks, whether your site is mobile-friendly, the domain age, etc. And these are things that you will have to work on no matter what your domain name happens to be. So you might as well have the best possible domain name.

“But I have an Instagram for my business – isn’t that enough?”

The short answer to this question is a simple no. The longer answer is that, while social media is great for supplementing your online presence, it doesn’t replace a website. Social media has its uses and benefits, and we as a company have accounts across most social media applications (including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube). We find that it’s great for marketing and outreach for specific audiences. But past that, social media’s drawback is that you lose out to huge swaths of potential customers if you rely on it as your sole online presence. A memorable, brandable, premium domain, used in tandem with an effective social media presence will allow you to cast the widest net possible to reach as many potential customers as you can.

Make Yourself Easy to Find

With a short, memorable name next to a .COM extension, your customers will have no trouble finding you and will never have to Google your name. Without a .COM, your customers will have to remember both sides of the dot in your website name. In other words, they’ll have to remember TWICE as much to find you. Although alternate extensions such as .shop or .store have been gaining some traction over the years, .COM is still king. When people think to go to a website, they still by habit put .COM at the end of the domain name in the URL. (A lot of companies that use alternate extensions actually go out and buy the .COM version anyway as a re-direct and as a defensive registration!) And as .COM is the go-to by habit, using a .COM is the best bet for reaching your customers. Buy a domain that fits your brand, is memorable and has the .COM extension. The bottom line is that, as a business, you should make it as easy as possible for customers to find you (so that you can eventually sell your goods or services). This holds true for any industry throughout the history of the free market. For example, before the Internet, companies battled for prime real estate that had a lot of foot traffic. Why? Because their storefront on Main Street would get access to as many potential customers as possible. An easy-to-remember .COM is the new-age version of having a prime plot of land right smack dab in the center of Main Street. However, this time buying website domains gives you access to Internet traffic. We hold this advice so dear, that we’ve followed it ourselves. Saw.com is short, easy to remember, and ends in .COM. Our theory is that the next time you come to visit our domain broker service, you’ll remember our name and come straight to us.

Where to Buy Domain Names?

If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of owning a premium .COM, and do not know where to begin please do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation: Contact