In today’s world, a prominent online presence is an absolute necessity for any business or enterprise that wants to succeed. This can be either through social media, a well-recognised website, or a mobile application. In an ideal scenario, it would be a combination of all three of these. Regardless of the nature of your business, priority should definitely be put on building a memorable and distinctive website. Factors to consider regarding this include a memorable domain name, an intuitive user interface, and easy availability of the requisite information.

A domain name is the address of your website. It is your personal address on the World Wide Web. Domain names are unique and are sold by a number of companies (called Registrars). These companies take your domain name registration information and reserve your domain from the main Registry. The main Registry is maintained by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a non-profit organisation dedicated to the maintenance of internet domain databases. Registrars vary quite widely in terms of pricing, services, management systems, and ease of use; therefore it’s important to choose your Registrar carefully.

After ICANN’s recent decision to open up more domains, the prices of domain names have dropped drastically. Nowadays, you can purchase a domain name for as little as INR 99. Price is no longer a constraint to creating and owning a formidable web presence. Here are some reasons why it’s important to register a domain name:

Credibility

Having a registered domain name is very important to establish your credibility as a business. People are more likely to consider purchasing your products or services if they can view and access a professional-looking website. Having a unique domain name is the online equivalent of a physical store in a prime location, with the added benefit of the Internet being an equaliser. A unique and distinctive domain name and website can put you on an equal footing with a much larger competitor, and go a long way in promoting your brand.

Professionalism

Consumers are more likely to assume that you’re serious about your business if there is a well-made website that they can easily access. A website with a unique domain name goes far further to establish and promote your brand than a Facebook page or a WordPress blog would. Most established merchants have their own domain names, and websites hosted on WordPress or Blogspot are often seen as hobbies rather than a full-time business. With reference to the same, which of the following seems more professional to you:

ediplis.com or ediplis.blogspot.com

Having a registered domain name is more likely to make customers take you and your business seriously, and the fact that they don’t have to remember to add a “.blogspot.com” or something similar after your brand name makes it easier for your brand to be found which ultimately has an impact for them.

Correspondence

Once you’ve acquired a domain name, you can set up a custom email address for your business. It appears more professional to customers when your contact email address is “[email protected]” rather than having to contact a Gmail or Yahoo address.

SEO Benefits

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is another essential part of building an online presence. Having a registered domain name will help your page rank better in search engine results. This in turn can help improve your user base and result in the growth of your business. A relevant domain name can also give you better standing with webmasters which in turn will help with your outreach to potential customers.

Web Traffic and Ad Revenues

Depending on the type of business you’re trying to run, a relevant domain name can bring a large amount of direct type-in traffic. This refers to users who type in the domain name in the browser address bar directly as opposed to using a search engine. This kind of user often tends to convert to better revenues for your business. Further, a large amount of web traffic can be absolutely critical to generating advertisement revenues from your domain name, which can be a key source of income for your business.

Privacy

One of the downsides of widespread internet access is the spam and unwanted advertisement that it often generates. ICANN mandates that registrars display the information regarding website registration on a publicly accessible database called WHOIS. However, these rules were established before it was possible to easily extract contact data for advertisement purposes. A new trend is to use robots that can scan the WHOIS data, as well as social media sites, to send spam or solicitation emails. Naturally this has become a major headache for business owners. Some registrars offer WHOIS anonymity, which can greatly reduce spam and prevent you from wasting valuable time and energy dealing with such problems.

Branding

A relevant domain name allows you to establish your branding consistently and effectively. It also helps if your domain name is descriptive of the product or service you’re offering, as customers don’t have to spend time thinking about your offering. This can also indirectly reduce your marketing costs. It’s also a great tie-in for physical marketing (like billboards or TV/radio advertisements) if your registered name is memorable and descriptive as it can help drive traffic and further improve your brand recognition. You can also buy similar domain names (for example, if you own the domain name www.twister.co, you can also buy twister.com, twister.net, twister.xyz etc.) and point them at your main site. This can help prevent imposters, as well as consolidate your brand name and ensure that you don’t miss out on traffic due to typographical errors from potential customers.

 

These are just some of the few reasons to register a domain name. In today’s world the correct choice in picking a domain name can go a long way in promoting your brand and establishing your identity in a highly competitive market.