Is it time for your blog to get a domain name upgrade? Does your online brand need a reboot? Are your navigational signposts pointing the wrong way? If so, then it might be time to upgrade your web address.
Corporations have been rebranding for years. Why? Because it works. Market conditions change – products evolve, technology advances, internationalization expands, competition increases and brands simply become outdated. What was once a thriving market for your wonderful words of wisdom and daily doses of feel-good anecdotes has become stalled and crowded. The one-time steady tsunami of loyal followers is nothing more than a sustainable tide of ebbs and flows that might fuel your ad network today but without any future assurances.
Products Evolve – Many bloggers have diversified their content. As they have grown so has the breadth of the content they post. So much so that their web address is no longer intuitive or meaningful. ‘Whattopackforlunch’ might have started as a parent site for feeding young kids, but along the way has evolved into a gourmet recipe blog for dinners, holiday feasts, and entertaining guests.
Technology Advances – Not that long ago selecting a domain name was reduced to lengthy and sometimes hyphenated words with unnecessary qualifiers and misspellings. This was a result of lack of choice. These long and unrelatable online identities are a thing of the past. Now there are over 1000 new domain extensions to choose from, including .blog, with search engines (like Google and Bing) that treat them exactly like a .com. Remember, all else being equal, ‘skatingtips.blog’ is more likely to rank better than ‘thebesttipsforskating.com’.
Internationalization Expands – Many blogs fail to grow simply due to lack of reach, focusing on the same geographic area. Internet usage is expanding worldwide. Your web address might be holding you back from capitalizing on this growth and tapping into a new market. You need an identity that is not only short and memorable but one that transcends many languages and cultures. ‘Gift’ means ‘poison’ in German. See where I am going?
Competition Increases – Remember when you were one of a handful of people posting about finding the perfect baby bottle? Now there are tens of thousands of bloggers writing about the same things, fighting for the same audience. Isn’t it time to standout, above the crowd, with a better web address than ‘mommy-sometimes-knows-best-4u’?
Brands Become Outdated – Sometimes brands just become outdated and a refresh with a new address is ideal for a reboot and marketing push. Using a nickname in your domain like the ‘italianstallionsaysso’ probably isn’t going to cut it if you want to grow beyond the 223 followers you currently have.
Don Ruiz 