Secrets to Selecting the Ideal Domain Name

Brett Johnson [: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Circle Sessions featuring the Circle of Experts. The Circle of Experts are Yasmine Robles from Robles Designs, Tonnisha English Amamoo of TJE Communications, and Don The Idea Guy. I'm Brett Johnson from Circle 270 Media Podcast Consultants. Each week, 1 of the Circle of Experts joins me to talk about some critical aspects of growing your podcast. We focus on marketing, social media, monetization, and website design to help you implement all of these together. In this episode, we have Yasmine Robles again from Robles Sessions. Thanks for joining me again.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:00:31

Yeah. Thanks for you keep inviting me. I keep coming back.

Brett Johnson [: 00:00:34

Well, for every every episode, I'm learning something, so I I you know, and that's not you know, the bar is not that high for this, but at the same time, it's like I I walk away going, oh, I love that. That's so cool. But, today too, mastering domain selection, you know, tips on and tricks of choosing that perfect domain name, and that's becoming more and more difficult because some domain names are not available anymore. So, you know, let's talk about why domain names are so important for businesses.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:01:05

Yeah. And so I completely agree. It's it's starting to get harder and harder. And clients, you know, you might have a business name, but you can't get that domain name or it's taken and Don not even being used. Right? It could be for sale for $10,000. And I don't know about you, but I don't plan Don, you know, $10,000 is not something I plan on spending for a domain name. Right. But but they are important for a business, and it is something that we almost like the name of the business, it's something that we get to think about because it's something that will be promoted, for a long time, and it's hard to change.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:01:39

So hard to change in terms of branding it and people recognizing it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:01:43

Yeah. Exactly.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:01:44

Yeah. So your domain name is really your online identity. I would say it's although you have a business name, your domain name is almost like the nickname of your business. It's the first thing that people will see when they go to your website, you know, right up at the top of the address bar, and it really plays a significant role in shaping the perception of your brand. You want it to be memorable, to be relevant, and that's going to help establish trust and credibility with your audience, while really making it easier for them to find you and and and remember your website.

Brett Johnson [: 00:02:17

Right. So let's think about some key considerations that businesses should keep in mind when choosing that domain name.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:02:25

Yeah. So there's a couple of different factors to consider. 1st and foremost, relevance is key. Your domain name should really reflect your brand and the products and services that you offer. It should also be memorable and easy to spell. I suggest avoiding hyphens or numbers. They they can make it a little difficult to remember, and, of course, it's important to choose 1 or a domain extension that really aligns with your business goals and the target audience. So, for example, you don't want if I my domain name was, let's say, Yasmine Robles Design Studio usa.co, you would not be able to remember that versus RoblesDesigns dotcom.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:03:10

And even then, you know, I have to spell out my last name because when I created it, when I found that domain name, I thought it was Don be a solopreneur, and that was it. If I would have known where I am today, I probably would have tried to pick a cool spunky domain name. But now everybody remembers it, so I've kept it. I don't feel like rebranding. So just keep that in mind when you're choosing 1.

Brett Johnson [: 00:03:33

Well, you know what? You make a good point. So rather than changing things, you can also change the branding of maybe just a very cool look of of Mhmm. Like you've done in regards to just let's say written a video we're doing right now, the background you've Guy, you know, you have that feel around what you've Don, so you're making yourself unique outside of the dotcom may not be where you want it to be, but you're doing the branding of the visual behind it, which is eye catching and memorable as well too. So there may be some ways to dance around it as well too. So yeah. So what are some practical tips for that domain name selection? I mean, how can businesses go about brainstorming? That may be the biggest thing, you know, and then generating domain name ideas. I mean, you can have a whiteboard completely empty, meaning you don't even know where to start, but it's like, how can we get through this process?

Yasmine Robles [: 00:04:26

Yeah. So one approach that we take is to really start break brainstorming keywords and phrases that are relevant to your business. If you're a law firm, we, let's say personal injury lawyer, we start kind of brainstorming around that. And then we can use the domain name generators or keyword research tools to really generate even more ideas based on those keywords. So it's also a good idea to check the availability of the domain name, because you could fall in love with 1, and then find out that there's either a trademark conflict, it's been taken already, and you Don to make sure you know all of that before you make your final decision and fall in love with 1. Now, I will explain that the reason that I say keywords first Don not what sounds cool is because it does it's not a big role, but I would say it does play a role in being found in just SEO. And website design so for example, if I have in my name, roblissdesigns.com, the design is in there. Again, if I would have been a little and thought about it a little bit more, it probably would be just also a cool, some kind of cool design agency name.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:05:39

I don't know what that would be, some like hyping cool thing, but I would also possibly add marketing to the domain name, and again, Guy to make sure that it's somewhat shortened, maybe like your marketing department.com or whatever it might be. Right? So that way, it has some kind of keyword in there. Now, if you're a local business, it doesn't hurt to, again, it depends on the length, it doesn't hurt to have Columbus in there. Just kind of think about those keywords that belong to your business, and then you could also use AI to generate a few ideas it won't know whether it's taken or not so again don't fall in love with 1 just yet you just you're just generating ideas and then check those trademarks to make sure nothing that nothing scary would come up.

Brett Johnson [: 00:06:26

Yeah. I've gone through that with some podcasters, that they you know, they there's there's quote unquote stuck with the podcast name, and the podcast name is actually a dotcom, you know, so that they can use that dotcom, but adding show to the end, or, you know, podcast or something like that. I mean, the variables there Yeah. You're not quite in love with it, but it gets the job Don. But, yeah, it's one of those you fall in love with it. You fell in love with the podcast name. It's like, oh, didn't realize it was a dotcom, you know, a long time ago. So maybe there's some variable from it that that's where a thing.

Brett Johnson [: 00:06:57

Can you share some examples of businesses that have mastered Don name selection and how benefited them?

Yasmine Robles [: 00:07:03

Yeah. I have a couple. So, if you take for example, the company FreshBooks, they're a competitor to QuickBooks, but both of them have their domain name. For example, FreshBooks is freshbooks.com. QuickBooks is the same. It's really simple. It's memorable. It really reflects what services they offer, such as online invoicing, accounting, and all that stuff.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:07:28

This straightforward approach has helped them really establish a stronger presence online. Obviously, they do marketing and things like that, but it can help make it a little bit easier for people to choose them. Again, FreshBooks and QuickBooks are obviously competitors, but then there's also things like ClickUp, right? So that sounds like you're click up, you're clicking. It's basically task management, right? I would say that one is a little better than Asana. If, you know, I have no idea what Asana means. I actually am a I paid for Asana, and I know it's asana.com and all that stuff, but I still think ClickUp sounds more like a task management tool than Asana. And then if you take the example of Canva, everybody uses Canva now. Their domain name is canva.com, which basically kind of like Canvas, right? They started off as this graphic design platform that really empowered their users to create cool graphics without having the need to purchase expensive photoshop programs.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:08:30

Again, canva.com, it's simple, memorable, it's a domain name that really plays a significant role in establishing their business as a household name. So those are just a few of the examples.

Brett Johnson [: 00:08:42

Yeah. If you've caught any shows on Hulu, you've signed you've seen the Canva commercial, and they've done they've done a great job with it. It it it actually works perfectly, and they then I don't think they're necessarily rebranding themselves, but they are certainly tweaking it for the business world. That it's not just a playground, it's that, yeah, you can actually use Canva to make some money. And Yep. I think it's great. Now it it's a well done commercial. Mhmm.

Brett Johnson [: 00:09:05

Now before we wrap up, are there any common mistakes that businesses should avoid when choosing a domain name? I one comes to mind, but I don't think you can avoid it, is like dropping vowels, but you sometimes you can't. You know what I mean? I just say it's so weird to see things spelled weird, but maybe you have to.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:09:22

Yeah. Yeah, and the vowels thing is hard. I would say, for vowels, if it's in so for example, if you're Don to spell marketing department, but you're going to make it shorter, so is it going to be and it depends is it going to be MKGM KTG? You gotta make that decision, but know that when you do when it's something like marketing, and depending on who's abbreviating it, you need to probably spell it out versus department. You can say, oh, it's department abbreviated. Usually, it's DEPT. But again, who knows? So if you're abbreviating something or getting rid of letters, just know that you might have to end up spelling it out. Another common mistake is choosing a domain way too long. So if you're trying to shorten it and you take out letters, you might have to spell it, or it might end up being way, way too long.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:10:10

When I first started out, Robles' design wasn't available, and so I ended up with yasminroblissdesigns.com, and my email was literally and you should think about this as well when it comes to getting email, my email was yasmin@yasminroblisdesigns.com, and that was very, very confusing. So then once I set up an alert and once RoblesDesigns dotcom became available, then that is when I was able to purchase it, and now it's just Robles Sessions. Yeah. So if you Don to you you basically want to make it as easier as possible for people to type it and to remember the domain name. It's also important to steer clear of any any trademark things. Like, you if you find out that walmart.co is available, I'm not sure that your ecommerce site should should be using that, to just avoid any legal issues. And just do your research when it comes to that, and check the availability of the domain name, and just if the domain name that you love isn't available, keep checking it every so often, like roblissdesigns.com. They eventually lapse in their payment, and I was able to snag that before they they Circle back to it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:22

Yeah. Maybe we could do a future episode. What what popped to mind was maybe like a redirect of, you know, if you find something you really do like, but you don't want to we could go with the pros and cons of that. I'm sure there are pros and cons, but that might be a topic for a future episode. We probably spend another 10 minutes on that, but a bit but it is an option too, you know, of of if you find something you really do love, but you don't but you just, I just wanna own it. I don't need to really build on it because I've got this other.com. It can go to it too. So yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:51

We'll we'll save it for a future. We'll we'll tease it out, but but it's one of those that I'm sure could come out to a full blown with some other intricacies with that, how to do it well and such too. So

Yasmine Robles [: 00:12:01

Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:12:01

Yeah. I

Yasmine Robles [: 00:12:02

would say one more bonus before I forget. It would be the dotcom. So people, you know, you can do a Don design now.com, all of those. Think about your target audience. So if you are, for example, if you are a SAS company, so you're selling some kind of software, I can see that you would be Don io, maybe. If you are a design agency, maybe, or some kind of tech, you could do Don design. But if your target audience, let's say you're a senior living home and your target market is probably probably the kids of the folks who might be going into senior living, you probably Don to go with dotcom. That age group, you just, again, research your age group.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:12:43

They are depending on their age, they might be more prone to dotcom. That's what they were just what they grew up with maybe, or what they are just used to. They might not be used to dotusor.netor.design. So really think about your business, what you're offering, and then your target market in order to ensure that those that there isn't any anything too weird. And if you are stuck, you say, you know what? Rolosdesigns.com isn't available. I want to shorten it, but only the Don is available. I might purchase the dotus, but I would also look at other variations that end in dotcom just because it's I want to avoid any issues with for example, if you're talking to someone and you have to keep saying, it's not dotcom. It's Don us.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:13:28

It's just gonna Guy confusing.

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:30

Yes. It will. It's a little inside baseball information here, but when they, released the dot FM, was it called vanity.coms, whatever? I forget what time span of time that the, you know, the businesses, entertainment was jumping on dotfms, but at one time there were more podcasters jumping up, and something in the podcast niche is jumping on dotfms than radio stations. Unbelievable. Yeah. It's just so odd. But again, you know, dotpod was not a really, you know, hotbed.fm podcasters are jumping Don, and radio stations just didn't. And it's like

Yasmine Robles [: 00:14:08

And now now I wonder if the kids these days even know what FM is.

Brett Johnson [: 00:14:12

I know. That's the thing. You know, it's just the coolness of the it's just odd that that that happened in that short of when it first released, and the the the percentages may have changed by now, but it just I saw that a while back going, really? You would think the FMs would least buy it for the redirect of it, you know, if you've got the FM listeners. But anyway, it's neither here nor there, but just a little bit of trivia for what it's worth. So, if if a listener was is interested in this domain topic, they're, you know, it's like they've been wracking their brain, Some new product, new business they're doing. There's some something that's tangential to what they're doing. How can they get a hold of you to kinda do some brainstorming, kinda figure this out?

Yasmine Robles [: 00:14:51

Yeah. Feel free to I'm mostly on LinkedIn, so feel free to find me there. You can send me a message, and we can chat about any questions that you might have. You can also find us at RoblesDesigns.com, roblesdesigns dot com. You can download a free checklist if you'd like. It is roblesdesigns.com/checklist. And, yeah, just message me. We can get together, and I can answer a lot of your questions.

Brett Johnson [: 00:15:18

Super. And if it has anything to do with podcasting, you can get a hold of me. Get to my calendar website, mypodcastguy.com, and, let's let's set up a time. And if it has something to do with some domain search, that sort of thing will bring Yasmine in. Yeah. That's for sure. So, that's why we have the Circle Sessions with with all the, Circle of Experts here to touch upon what is needed. And if it has anything to do with the website that you have or going to have for your podcast, we'll we'll bring Yasmine in as well too.

Brett Johnson [: 00:15:45

But go to mypodcastguy.com and set up a time. Thanks for joining me, Yasmine.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:15:50

Thank you so much.