One of the earliest decisions when planning your startup is finding the very best domain name. After all, the domain name is pivotal to just about everything else related to the brand identity, marketing, and PR.
After choosing a name for your startup, your choice of the domain name to deploy is the 2nd most important decision. The domain name is necessary for your website address, emails, and general branding strategy.
Choose widely
There’s a wide category of domains that are beyond the .com, .net, and .org you are most familiar with. They are usually referred to as new top-level domains or nTLDs. There are over 1,000 new domain types that cut across about 20 categories which are listed below, as well as respective examples:
- Business: .ltd, .group, .partners, .services
- Education: .academy, .college, .education, .mba, .school
- Entertainment: .casino, .dating, .events, .studio, .video
- Financial: .capital, .cash, .credit, .money, .tax
- Fun: .cool, .exposed, .ninja, .life
- Healthcare: .care, .clinic, .dental, .dentist, .doctor, .vet, .vision
- Home & Construction: .repair, .tools, .builders, .works, .supply
- Legal: .legal, .attorney, .lawyer
- News & Information: .chat, .fyi, .tips, .news, .media
- Photography: .camera, .gallery, .graphics, .photos, .pictures
- Political & Military: .democrat, .republican, .army, .airforce, .navy
- Real Estate: .apartments, .camp, .farm, .house, .land
- Sports & Fitness: .bike, .coach, .football, .expert, .fan
- Style & Fashion: .boutique, .clothing, .florist, .gold, .style
- Technology: .tech, .computer, .engineer, .solar, .software
- Travel & Geography: .travel, .city, .guide, .holiday, .cab, .world
- Shopping & Retail: .bargains, .cheap, .sale, .market, .auction
- Food & Beverage: .cafe, .kitchen, .pizza, .wine, .fish, .pub
- Marketing & Communications: .agency, .digital, .marketing, .media, .social, .studio
In essence, there’s no real reason for you to be stuck on complicated domains when you can register much simpler ones that are most relevant to your startup. With a very creative mind, you can come up with very impressionable domains for your startup.
Another proof of concept is the fact that over 27 million such domains are currently registered as of November 2021.
Short is sweet
A brand name doesn’t have much value if no one can remember it. Thus, it is very important to find a domain name that is simple, easy to pronounce, and evocative. It is ideal to keep things short and simple and make sure that whatever name you choose can be easily spelled and searched for online.
The wide range of new top-level domains makes it easy to find the most suitable domain name for your startup or business while keeping it short and simple.
Short domains are usually a single word together with the domain ending.
Some random examples of startups that use short new types of domains and the amounts they raised in 2021 are:
- Torus Biosystems (uses torus.bio) raised $25 million
- Poparazzi (uses poparazzi.xyz) raised $20 million
- Ramon.Space (uses ramon.space) raised $17.5 million
- Orbit (orbit.love) raised $15 million
- Origin (uses origin.bio) raised $15 million
- Oliver Space (uses oliver.space) raised $13 million
- Rikkei Finance (uses rikkei.finance) raised $5.6 million
- Vev (uses vev.design) raised $5 million
- Pandora Finance (uses pandora.finance) raised $2.4 million
- babbar (uses babbar.tech) raised $2.1 million
The examples above only show what is possible with short new domains and do not necessarily imply that these domains helped with fundraising for the respective startups.
Premium is good
In addition to registering new domains, there is also the possibility of buying existing domains for your startup, where there is a compelling reason to do so.
Premium domains are in two broad categories: unregistered nTLDs and registered domains in the aftermarket. The latter is much more common.
Some of the highest-priced and publicly reported domain sales are listed below:
- CarInsurance.com — $49.7 million
- Insurance.com — $35.6 million
- VacationRentals.com — $35 million
- PrivateJet.com — $30.18 million
- Voice.com — $30 million
- Internet.com — $18 million
- 360.com — $17 million
- Insure.com — $16 million
- Fund.com — £9.99 million
- Sex.com — $14 million
The importance of the right domain name can never be overlooked in the process of choosing the best domain name for your business. You can find the very best domains possible from Web4Africa.
Established in 2002, Web4Africa is an ICANN Accredited Domain Name Registrar offering over 300 types of domains (among other web services) to clients worldwide.
