You Need the .com of Your Name

If you have a US startup called X and you don’t have x.com, you should probably change your name.

The reason is not just that people can’t find you. For companies with mobile apps, especially, having the right domain name is not as critical as it used to be for getting users. The problem with not having the .com of your name is that it signals weakness. Unless you’re so big that your reputation precedes you, a marginal domain suggests you’re a marginal company.

Source: Paul Graham – Change Your Name

I have so many conversations with clients or potential clients about the need for a good domain name. For a number of reasons, that’s an easier conversation with startups than it is with, say, churches or nonprofits that have existed as an organization for decades.

Regardless of the case, there’s always a way to secure a .com that at least contains your name. Don’t fall for the .churches or .faith or .nonprofit or .startup or .marketing TLD domains that are now being offered. Secure the .com. If you’re a school, nonprofit, church etc, then secure the .org as well.

As an aside, I also have the .com’s of all our family and children (and child-to-be coming this November but is still in stealth mode). You should have that as well. We’ll eventually swing back from a web controlled by social silos to one spread around to sites based on our own identities (again).

 

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