I’ve recently been conducting extensive checks on players in target markets I have in mind, who fit my target audience profile, for my freelance writing services.
In the course of doing that, I’ve noticed that certain individuals and organizations engaged in formal business, publish their marketing messages using 3rd party FREE hosting platforms e.g. website URLS like www.theirbusinessname.somefreehost.com, often along with FREE 3rd party email addresses!
Below, I explain 3 key reasons why anyone doing THAT is unnecessarily shooting him/herself in the foot, to save what amounts to pennies per day!
1. You’ll spend literally nothing on your own domain name per day, even as it boosts your name/brand recognition
How much does a domain name cost?
Between $10 to $20 USD should get you the domain name on a TLD you want [TLD = Top Level Domain e.g. .com, net, .biz etc]
Spread that amount over the 365 days that make up a year, and it means you’re spending a measly $0.05 (5 cents) per day!!
Note that I worked with $20 USD. I own 5 domain names, and each one costs me approximately $11 USD to renew. So, the 5 cents per day is a worst case scenario in my opinion, and comes to 25 cents per day for ALL my domains.
Compared to the income I earn from them, that’s nothing. Peanuts!
Now let me ask you. As a business person, do you really think it would be unwise to invest 5 cents a day in a URL that can boost your prestige as a business person, such that you can command the serious attention of potentially profitable clients/buyers?
I certainly hope not.
2. Your own domain name makes it easy for prospects and clients to find you.
The number one asset you need to take ownership of on the web is www.yourbusinessname.com (or whatever TLD you prefer).
Think about this for a moment.
Ideally, the URL you choose should be based on the name of the business you run, or the solution you provide (e.g. Data Recovery Expert Service – www.datarecoveryexpert.com).
A Suggestion: Now, not everyone agrees with this, but I believe it’s an intelligent futuristic strategy to purchase www.yourpersonalname.com (e.g. www.tayosolagbade.com)
Here’s why…
Your business name, if it’s not based on your name (e.g. “Fela Solagbade’s Information Services” is likely to be more easy to recall, and associate with you, than say “Superb Information Services” for instance.
In other words, when you meet people, and tell them your name, there’s a good chance that the first thing they’ll do when they get the chance will be to Google your name, to learn more about you.
If you have purchased your name as a domain URL, that means they are likely to find you easily. What’s more, if you’ve put up the right kind of content on that domain’s web space, it means you’re likely to make an even better impression.
Not having your own domain name, especially one that’s based on your personal name, can deny you the opportunity to capture valuable potential sales leads.
I recommend you think of yourself as an extension whatever number of businesses you run. By this I mean, make it possible for those who search online to find any products or services through you. For instance, www.tayosolagbade.com leads interested persons to the different products and services I offer. So, when anyone Googles my name, their chances of finding any solution they know I offer are greatly enhanced.
Note that I have URLs that lead to each of my key offerings…
1. www.excelheaven.biz [Excel-VB Software Solutions]
2. www.thefarmceo.net [The Farm CEO newspaper]
3. www.tksola.com or www.tayosolagbade.com/tksdiary [Results Focused Writing and Web Marketing Solutions]
4. www.boostyourfarmprofits.biz or www.iff.tayosolagbade.com [Cost-Saving Farm Business Ideas]
However, by setting up my online presence using my personal name as a domain URL, I have created an extra means by which potential clients can find me. This has happened more times than I can count.
Buyers who told me they read my articles and noticed I mentioned one of my products (e.g. the popular Ration Formulator), which they were interested in.
Unable to reach me via the old domain URL in the byline of my Guest Post on the 3rd party website they were on, they simply Googled my name and on arriving at www.tayosolagbade.com, followed the instructions provided to request details of how to order the app.
3. Your own domain name makes it easy for prospects and clients to communicate with you
Which is easier to remember: tayo at tayosolagbade dot com or olufelatks at yahoo dot com?
Ok. Forget that.
Which one sounds more impressive or respectable? The answer is obvious.
One more question: Which one is easier or more logical to recall?
Again, the answer is obvious. Anyone who knows my name can more easily recall that my email address is tayo at tayosolagbade dot com. Burt Dubin’s clients also find it easy to recall they can reach him via burt at burtdubin dot com.
See how it works?
To sell successfully, you want to make it as easy as possible for people to contact you about doing business with you.
A good first step in that direction is to make it easy for them to recall information they can use to do that!
I marvel all the time at how some business owners readily put out their unwieldy gmail, hotmail and yahoo addresses on promotional materials used on and off the web.
To me, it’s the most glaring evidence of the fact that you do NOT take yourself and/or your business seriously.
Nothing screams amateur, and CHEAP, more than use of FREE email services for business.
Don’t get me wrong. I use FREE 3rd party email accounts as well – just NOT on my flagship online presence
I also do not use them in corresponding with potential clients/buyers or prospects.
The only people I readily use my gmail address to communicate with are those who are already doing business with me. That’s because by that time, they would already have been exposed to my formal branded marketing resource and would know that I operate professionally.
The use of my gmail address, for instance, would then only arise if I had to send a file attachment and my domain based webmail was temporarily down.
But to use gmail as my primary mode of business marketing communication would be to shoot myself in the foot.
Final Words: Do you nurse the ambition of GROWING your brand and building your business to the greatest possible heights?
If YES, know that your attitude towards investing in little things that can boost your marketing reach and impact at low to zero cost, will go a long way to determine how well you succeed.
How can you run a business you want potential clients/buyers to believe can help them, when you – the owner – are unwilling to demonstrate faith in it by making the tiny little annual investment of less than $20 USD to maintain a domain name for it??
That attitude will only attract the wrong type of clients to you i.e those with the CHEAP mentality, unwilling to spend what it required to get what they say they need (kind of like YOU, with regard to your domain name)!
To take your business to the next level (and the one after that), if you’ve been thinking of a domain name as a needless expense, CHANGE your mental attitude today!
Go get a URL for your business today, so more of the right kinds of clients begin to take notice of you!
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