I think the answer to this question is yes but I want to check with the many experts out there. Can your business name and domain name be different if they're very similar.

I'm searching my preferred business name and .com is taken but .net is available. I read somewhere that .net refers to I/Tish companies so I wasn't sure if it was appropriate for a virtual assistant.

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Sandy
www.eliteadminforyou.com

I don't know what the correct response to this is, but I have a .net account as that was all that is available for my business name.

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Serita Diana, the List 2 Close Assistant
REVA Academy

By the way I mean I/T (ish) above not I/Tish (tish) sorry if this was not clear. Thanks for your response Serita.

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Sandy
www.eliteadminforyou.com

My legal name and domain name are identical. I TRIED to get just the initials (TVOG.com), but it was taken. I ended up buying both TheVirtualOfficeGoddess.com and VirtualOfficeGoddess.com 'just in case' and THE forwards to the other one. I have feelers out so that if TVOG.com ever becomes available I will buy it.

Have you thought about getting a .biz extension?

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

Hi Sandy
Your domain name and business name don't have to be identical they can be similar. But having them both the same lessens confusion. As Lily suggested you can try .biz, and .net would work well too.

Good luck on your choice.

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Althea
Virtually Yours PA

I have thought of .biz but don't see it very often so I wasn't sure how common it was. Thanks and I will probably go with the .net or a .biz at this point. I really want to secure the name before it gets taken! Thanks for the feedback and more is always welcome.

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Sandy
www.eliteadminforyou.com

To be thought of as truly professional I feel you have to have a .com and the name and website should match. Just my two penny worth.

Lynne

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The Wordpro Wizard
www.wordprowizard.com

I have to agree, .com is the common standard, and having the domain match your business is important. I have both RedheadVA.com and RedheadBusinessManagement.com I also buy other domains when I have a business idea and think that maybe it might be something I pursue. It's a pretty inexpensive expense if I only end up holding on the domain and not do anything with it. Usually, I'll hold on to it for a year and if I haven't done anything with it I let it go.

Some of the other domains I've purchased are ChangeAGirl.org (a non-profit I'd like to start)

InnerRedhead.com - my other blog

and I just purchased RedheadAuthorAssistant.com as that is a niche I'd like to also pursue.

Domains are hot (but cheap) commodities, so if you initially have to go with one other than a .com I'd suggest the .net as it's more common than .biz and then monitor your domain to see if you can grab it when and if it expires.

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Renee, WordPress Video Training Use coupon VAForum25 to save 25%

Renee I agree. Matching is important, but you can't always have that. I personally couldn't get mine the same, so I settled, but so far so good.

I also have several domain names in case I get inspirational.

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Deena M. Strine
Coastal Biz Solutions

Thanks for the information all. I did go to google and search domain names. I love how it tells you what's available and not. I may go with a few domain names and keep an eye on others as suggested.

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Sandy
www.eliteadminforyou.com

Originally Posted by reneeshupe

I have to agree, .com is the common standard, and having the domain match your business is important. I have both RedheadVA.com and RedheadBusinessManagement.com I also buy other domains when I have a business idea and think that maybe it might be something I pursue. It's a pretty inexpensive expense if I only end up holding on the domain and not do anything with it. Usually, I'll hold on to it for a year and if I haven't done anything with it I let it go. Some of the other domains I've purchased are ChangeAGirl.org (a non-profit I'd like to start) InnerRedhead.com - my other blog and I just purchased RedheadAuthorAssistant.com as that is a niche I'd like to also pursue. Domains are hot (but cheap) commodities, so if you initially have to go with one other than a .com I'd suggest the .net as it's more common than .biz and then monitor your domain to see if you can grab it when and if it expires.

Thanks for the suggestions. I was wondering about this too. I've checked for the domain name I want and .com is not available but .net was. Your tips are good to know.

I, too, agree that the .com is the way to go. Even if you have .net or .biz on your card, so many people just automatically type .com. There is a windows shortcut to automatically add the .com after you've typed a name.

You don't want to send people to someone else's business site. You want them to come to YOURS!! I tried several business/website names before I found one that had a .com.

Just as a suggestion, check to see if the .com that isn't available is owned by a company that seems like they're going to keep it. Contact them or someone to see if there might be the possiblity of their not renewing the domain. Just a quick thought I had.

Donna

I like the idea that your domain matches your name. I am also a believer in having your email address match your domain. That was the problem with my first domain name. Using advantageadminsitrativesolutio ns.com was already REALLY long and then you add my name and it took up a lot of space. So then I shortened it (it is still long but not as bad) by taking few letters of each advadminsol.com. It is still recognizable for my business even though it is not a exact match.

If your domain is not an exact match to your business name, just make sure your business shows up high on Google and make sure you put your web address on everything to get it higher on Google.

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Erika Glem
www.advadminsol.com Let my administrative solutions be to your advantage.

Hi Sandy,
Your domain name represents your business. If they are different it can make past clients have a harder time finding you again and create confusions as people often look at domain names as business names. A false but popular habit.

.net verses .com also has draw backs as people automatically type .com (then they get the wrong business) so I'd be interested to know if the .com is also a VA services? If so you are then driving business to them.

If my business name were not available in a .com I'd either go with myname.com or something completely unique and put a powered by, sponsored by, in partnership with... type comment in clear but not distracting view. Then make sure that the unique/myname.com is stated on your business cards and welcome materials as well.

You are also hurting your rankings as your domain name won't be repeated anywhere on the site, but your business name will be. Domain names are a big help in SEO, often more so then most people realize. Which means searches for your business will pull a domain up that doesn't match and that 'other' company with your .com domain name, which means you may loose business that way too.

I think the best suggestion I can give would be to do a business-name.com as the dash will NOT hurt rankings, in fact it helps google see the word seperation! Don't use underscores though as underscores hurt google rankings (but don't effect yahoo). For example my business domain of campaignpromotions.com has been bought by someone for resale so I use campaign-promotions.com instead.

P.S. Your domain name is your online business card. It is more important then your paper business card as you work virtually.