Domain Name Strategies and Best Practices to Advertise and Grow Your Business.
Happy New Year, readers! 🥳🎉
It’s been a long time (uh, 2020!) since I left you without some domain reading to read too. Read too, read too, read too. Read too, read too, read too.
I’m dating myself as I hum the late Aaliyah’s song Try Again from the film and album soundtrack Romeo Must Die.
Now that I have your head bobbing to the beat let’s get down to business about the perils of leaving your brand’s fence gate wide open.
March 15, 2020, seems like it was last year when, in fact, it was only 90 days ago.
As I type this very sentence, I realize that it’s been even longer, 6 months exactly to this day, since I last posted on this blog. WOW!
Nevertheless, we, the global population, were once as free as could be, to a certain extent, some 90+ days ago.
It’s that time of year when the green on trees limits the nutrients in anticipation of Jack Frost and Winter.
Although I dare say winter, Texas rarely experiences prolonged periods of Winter, unlike residents of the North and Northeast regions.
Nevertheless, I’ll take our 6-8 weeks of 40 to 50-degree differential weather of 50 to 70-degree days.
I can always tell “Texas Fall and Winter” is approaching here based on the number of Fall Fests and Pumpkin Patches popping up around the Austin area.
It’s been nearly 10 years since my wife and I had the opportunity to venture east, visiting the scenic natural beauty of them thar hills and mountains of West Virginia.
Ten years ago, we excitedly watched our friends take the plunge into marriage. Fast forward a decade later, 6 kids in between our families, and a timely football game between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Longhorns of the University of Texas at Austin.
Each month I’m amazed to discover a small but growing number of Austin-based companies branding domains using new top-level extensions — the good, bad, and ugly.
Rummaging through the last 6 editions of the Community Impact Newsletter (CIN )for Northwest Austin, I’ve discovered breweries, pet shops, fitness brands, summer camps, and entertainment venues among the early adopters.
With almost 400 million domains registered worldwide, there is no shortage of decent domain name registrations, especially with 1400+ new domain extensions to choose from and speculation of more to hit the market beyond 2020.
There are approximately 145 million .com domains (~35%) registered worldwide. Most people will likely guess .net and .org to be respectively 2nd and 3rd in line behind .com, accounting for 5-10% of .com registrations. But believe it or not, both extensions are, respectively, 5th and 7th.
The general internet population, especially within the United States, is likely to be amazed that most domains registered worldwide are ccTLD domains — country code top-level domains.
In a recent podcast episode, I explored a number of arguments for and against non-profit organizations investing in domain names.
While a growing number of religious and charitable foundations exist, churches are uniquely positioned, in my humble opinion, to make the most of new domain extensions.
Now before you get all in your feelings about .com versus new domain extensions, give me a moment to explain objectively.
While the 100+ degree temperatures here in Texas say otherwise, summer is nearing an end as kids head back to school.
The House of Brown certainly had a jam-packed summer of trips to Typhoon Texas, Fort Worth Zoo, Disney World in Florida, and Asheville, North Carolina.
Between all the fun and memories made, I managed to capture a few interesting domain names being used, especially those used by churches.
While driving to a wedding and admiring the beautiful and scenic views of the Texas Hill Country not far from the hustle and bustle of Interstate 35, an unusual billboard promoting a .live domain caught my eye.
I often encounter dozens of billboards traveling, whether for personal or business, throughout central Texas.
However, the billboard I encountered this day caught my eye because of how low it was to the ground, right at eye level, made of wood and not the normal big-box steel used by the bigger outdoor advertising firms.
It’s that time of year where “Summer Fever” is beginning to set in as we transition from Spring.
At the same time, April showers have brought May flowers as well as NBA Playoff games.
Just the other night, I happened to have the TV on as background noise as the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks Game 2 was nearing the end.
As I happened to glance up from solving a challenging coding issue, I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I noticed what looked to be a new domain extension being advertising on the Bucks hardwood floor. Could it be true?