Domain Name

Right up there with trademarking your company’s name is giving thought to your domain name. You  want to pick a domain name before beginning the trademark process. It is important that your website name be your domain name, and they all be either your brand name or something that is closely related. People tend to think of the URL and the website name as one in the same.

Whether your domain name should be short or long can be debated. I talked about some of the SEO ramifications in a previous blog. There are many additional items to consider. Hyphenation between words can make it easier for search engines but more challenging for consumers. Consider first picking a .com versus a .net or other.  It is true .com still has more credibility that it is worth paying a little bit more. Again many consumers will assume sites end with .com.

If you are having trouble picking out a domain check out Jacob Gube’s 12 tools for finding a domain name.

So go out and Start BIG today and figure out your domain name.


Little Tips for Starting your own BIG Business

I thought it was time I lived up to my twitter claim! Every time I meet someone who is fleeing corporate America to follow their dream of being an entrepreneur I have the same conversations. This is why I started this blog. When I began blogging I focused on how to come up with your “BIG” idea.

Fleeing Corporate America

Now I realize that most of the time I spend talking with entrepreneurs they already have the idea they are just needing the information in how to follow that idea through to a business. My goal is to share with you all the little things I have learned along the way. I will use plain english. I am not an expert in any one field. I will not talk in abbreviations like SEO SOM etc! I did not major in Business or Finance. I will share with you the good, the bad and ugly of what I have really experienced.  On my  journey I have encountered so many people who are trying to sell you one video or one idea that will help you get rich quick! I am not about that at all! Instead I will share with you what I have learned along the way the good, the bad and the ugly! I will encourage my network of entrepreneurs to also share with you what they have learned. These will be practical tips. There is no magic bullet but to engage with others learn as much as you can and have passion for your product or idea.

My goal is to write a post every day this week and next on what I have done to start my own business.

Tip number one! PICK YOUR NAME CAREFULLY. One lesson I have learned is that it is important to have a unique name. In today’s internet economy this is even more important than when I first started. When I started my consulting company I used the name A-Squared. This name was not unique. I thought it clever because I partnered with another consultant also named Amy. I soon found out we had many other businesses out there with the same name.  I did not know to trademark my name. (that will be tip 2)!

A Unique Name that is searchable is more important now that the internet is essential to business success. It is hard to believe that when I started the internet was not the best marketing tool!

When launching a new business now the internet is key. I have just completed a soft launch for my  e-learning site. It has the name “getyourBIGon”. We have had tremendous success in driving traffic to the site. We are around 79000 in the Alexa rankings in the US and climbing!  Sounds good right? Well I called my SEO advisor and said we are getting buyers and new visitors but we are struggling with google. He almost yelled at me when he said what you do you mean you are struggling? You totally own “getyourbigon”! He was correct. We own the run together getyourbigon but we have yet to own get your big on. It seems that most people who are not SEO gurus..do type the spaces between the words  when looking for us!

He assures me that it is good to have phrase. He also assures me that the phrase is unique. As we build awareness and take all the necessary steps we will be number one for the phrase get your big on! We are working on owning the phrase! I will let you know what we do it get there.

One of my lesson’s learned is have at least one unique term that people will search for your business. Luckily my client base knows me well and searches Amy Diederich! They can find my sites this way.

This week I had lunch with a budding entrepreneur and inventor. I will devote a whole post to her. She is off to a good start. She has Trademarked her product name. If you google this term you will find her Although when talking to her she picked he name much the same way I did based on being clever.

Tip One: If you are starting a new business- do your research pick a unique name. Don’t make the mistake I made with Asquared. Research the impact of the name you pick. Have a phrase to go with your name!

Now go out there and START BIG!  Go get your big on by Starting BIG!