Think Outside the Logo! Branding Your Domain Name

It’s Not About the Logo

There is a huge difference between designing a header or title for a website and designing a logo. For example: headers and titles need to be visually appealing on the page. That’s it. Sometimes that is all you need when you develop your domain. However, a logo sends a clear, rememberable message to its target audience. It is a symbol for that particular company (or website).

It’s Not About the Domain Name

Examples: DomainGang.com, ChefPatrick.com. The words “Domain” and “Gang” are an awkward fit and are meaningless next to each other. ChefPatrick.com is not about cooking. The point is: when you apply proper branding it does not matter if the domain is ComputerParts.com or NewEgg.com. When you want to discuss type-ins or parking, etc the domain name matters. But, we are talking about domain branding.

It’s Not About the Marketing

Stop thinking “domainer” when you market your domains. There are many ways to promote and market anything besides Google Adsense, blog advertisers, blog comment spamming, forum signature stuffing and endless link directory freebies. When it comes to marketing and promotion: work smarter, not harder. Exhaust all the viral ways to promote your website before you ever spend a dime on advertising. “Buzzmarketing by Mark Hughes” goes into depth about this type of philosophy that I highly encourage you to read.

It is All of the Above

Great content, design, marketing, etc all play a role in how well your domain is branded. It doesn’t stop there. For instance, while writing for Domain Gang under “Giovanni ‘Crazee’ Mossolini“, I spoke ‘in character’ even in my article comment replies. Another example of using characters to brand a domain is Fark.com and Cracked.com; two popular websites that use sarcastic overtones in all their headlines.

Not all domains need to be branded but when they do: it is a total head to toe makeover. Pay special attention to those small details (content author voice) and create an overall theme your users will get excited about.