Domain Name Strategies and Best Practices to Advertise and Grow Your Business.
It’s been nearly 10 years since my wife and I had the opportunity to venture east, visting 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 West Virginia Mountaineers and the Longhorns of 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.
In a recent podcast episode, I explored a number of arguments for and against non-profit organizations investing in domain names.
While there are a growing number of religious and charitable foundations in existence, 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 objectively explain.
In 2010, a growing list of well-known brands began to speculate on the future of the internet and its hopeful acceptance of new domain extensions.
While .com and other legacy domain extensions have long been accepted, many of the brands couldn’t turn a blind eye to the possibility of .brand domains becoming the next big thing to hit the tech world since the internet itself.
Five years after global fanfare, and not many new domain extensions could be considered a profitable success, if successful at all.
There is no shortage of companies and persons shouting to the mountain top that all the good .com domains are taken. While there is a kernel of truth about a decent percentage of .com domains no longer available, this isn’t the complete truth or story.
Two weekends ago we were in route north to celebrate the life of my cousin whose life come to an end after a short, yet extraordinarily impactful life lived well.
Although he leaves behind a wife and 5 girls ranging in age from 10 to 20 years old, his legacy of attentively serving and encouraging others will live on for the foreseeable future.
But as my family and I traveled from Austin to Dallas, I spotted a few interesting domains being advertised on big rigs and billboards — especially new top-level domain extensions (new TLDs).
While meeting a friend for a long overdue lunch at good ole’ Rudy’s BBQ here in Austin, Texas, I stumbled upon an interesting advertisement.
As most of you know, emoji have nearly hit every corner of the earth as one of the hottest forms of communication, especially amongst Gen-Xers, millennials and younger.
In fact, emoji have not only found their way into email marketing for businesses, but are even making a splash as domains. Yes, emoji domains are real!
But as for this particular ad, it appears that “Talkin’ Texan Just Ain’t Gonna Be The Same” with the latest release of Texas Emoji Stickers app (released February 22, 2018).
I have a rather short 3-minute commute from my home to my office here in Northwest Austin, occasionally encountering a variety of domain names in my short travel time.
Most of the domains encountered are the same ole’ ones due to the number of small business or professional office strips along Pond Springs Rd.
Nevertheless, I was headed home this evening when I stopped to get gas at the corner of Hunters Chase and Pond Springs.
It’s heating up in Texas, and things are getting quite active around Volente Beach.
As I work the days away, I often see party buses to and fro with intense beach laughter and frolicking.
There’s a bit more loud music playing throughout the day than the norm, and the marina island is always packed with a party barge or two in full effect.
Truth be told, it’s quite a refreshing view to experience new ownership spicing things up around the sleepy village of Volente.