Check Your Brand’s Availability as a Domain Name

While the other steps are under way, I recommend you check to see if the brand names you’re considering are available as domain names.

Ideally, your brand should not only be the name of your blog, but also the domain name people type into their web browser to go to your blog. This helps eliminate guesswork on the part of prospective clients who recall your savvy brand…it’s what they will probably try typing first if they’re trying to locate your site without your stationery in front of them.

To see if a domain name is available for purchase , visit a site like GoDaddy or NetworkSolutions. You’ll find a search box where you can experiment.

And while you’re there, check to see if your own name is still available. If it is, I highly recommend you purchase it, even if you never plan to host a website at that domain name. Check variations on your name, too. For instance, if your name is Robert Moore, you may wish to check BobMoore.com or RobMoore.com if you also use those names in business interactions. Domain names are very inexpensive to own (about $7 per year), so it’s a good investment to register as many as relate to your name and your brand.

Owning your own name helps protect your brand identity and you can always choose to forward that domain to your main blog domain. For instance, if you own KimChristy.com, you can set it up so that anyone who tries finding you by using your name and .com is automatically forwarded to your blog at PurrfectHarmony.com.

I recommend that, where possible, you choose a brand name with .com as the available extension, since that’s the most commonly used business extension and the one that most people will think to type first.

If the perfect brand name isn’t available with .com, and you’re really committed to the brand name, it may be acceptable to you to try one of the alternatives, such as .biz or .org. Before buying, though, try to find out what kind of organization owns the .com extension for that brand name you’re considering. First try typing the domain into your web browser. If that yields no clear answer, then visit WhoIs and search on the domain name. You certainly want to avoid confusion between your brand and the brand of an individual or organization whose values turn out to be quite different than your own!

Copyright © 2006 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.