Why Your Business needs an Internet Domain.. now!
Most businesses have some sort of online presence but is yours one of the remaining holdouts? If so, there's no need to panic. After all, your business may not be ready to make an all out jump to the online world. However, there are a few things your business should be doing in the meantime that will make the entire process go much more smoothly even if your plans for serious Internet marketing are a few years away.
There are several small yet vital steps involved, but it's nowhere near as complicated as one would think. It's actually a fairly straightforward process once you understand it. With a little help, it's possible not only to go from nothing to a functional online presence in a couple hours but it's actually quite routine.
Short-Term: Domain Availability
If your business does nothing else in the way of creating an online presence, register a domain name right away. This is the most time-sensitive element of online marketing as they are harder to procure. Not that there is only a small number of them available but rather that short domain names with the most desired TLDs (top-level domains) like .com and .com.au are getting scarce. There are a number of reasons why this is so critical.
Branding — You may already have your business name and trademark's registered, but that doesn't cover YourBusiness.com.au. To defend not only your intellectual property but your very identity, it's essential to act quickly.
Availability — There are plenty of domain names available but the problem is size. There will always be some domain name available as long as you don't mind adding extra words or characters, but it's important to keep that domain name short. The longer a domain name, the tougher it will be to type in manually and the more likely there will be a mistake resulting in a potential client going to the wrong site or you never getting an important email message.
TLDs — Registrars — the people that sell or facilitate the sale of domain names offer many approved TLDs and encourage you to buy many. However, virtually ever business has a professional TLD such as .com or .com.au. At an absolute minimum, businesses should register domains for each of those TLDs so that customers don't have to think to hard to remember your domain name.
Medium Term: Getting Noticed
In the wired world we now live in, the way people obtain information is changing rapidly. With broadband connections so proliferated, your business's potential customers are more and more likely to look up numbers via search engines than going to all the "trouble" of using the yellow pages. Beyond that, the simplicity of the Web has let to increasing numbers of consumers who loath the very thought of picking up the phone for information or to place an order.
Even if your business isn't ready for full-blown ecommerce, at the very least a simple "business card" web site for your domain can provide customers with the ways to make contact. Such sites can be deployed in mere minutes by most web hosts and will help to spread your business's name, telephone number, and email address across all the major search engines.
Long Term: Portability and Professionalism
One of the most important long-term reasons for a domain name is portability. By utilizing your own domain, you are essentially making your web and email provider transparent to customers. That means if your current web host goes bankrupt or your Internet service provider gets bought out and changes server and brand names that you can easily move your business's domain to greener pastures; your domain will always be YourBusiness.com.au no matter where you take it!
Along the same lines, customized domain names are more professional. There was a time when email addresses such as YourBusiness@YourISP.com.au were the norm but today it's only slightly more professional in appearance than YourBusiness@Hotmail.com. Customers who see a professional domain name are going to assume your business is stable, established, and well-managed. Nothing says, "here today, gone tomorrow" like a business without it's own branded domain name.
Conclusion
Your business may not have the need or the staff for major online marketing right now and that's okay. There's no need for unnecessary hassles. That said, if there is any chance of such an expansion in the future, it's important to snag that domain name right away and put it to some minimal use.
Remember the old saying about the three keys to business success being "location, location, and location?" Your business's domain name is the online equivalent to real estate, and in more ways than you might think. Just like real estate, domain names can be bought, sold, traded, and even foreclosed. Even more importantly, there are only so many great lots available.
