The internet has evolved. It’s time for domains to do the same
Why Decision Fatigue Can Lead You Away From The Perfect Domain
According to Psychology Today, we make 35,000 decisions per day. Our brains hate it.
Studies show that over the course of a day the quality of our decisions begins to deteriorate due to mental exhaustion. That applies to everything from choosing gifts for your wedding registry to wartime battle strategy — and important business decisions are no exception. We choose imperfect solutions because they’re familiar, like automatically choosing a .com website domain even though it’s not necessarily the best expression of who we are or what we do.
Social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister coined the term “decision fatigue” to describe how stressful and draining it is to make even the tiniest choices.
Decision fatigue is bad for business, and your brand
This is particularly dire when you’re starting a new business and facing an onslaught of decisions about offerings, naming, brand positioning, fonts, logos, and more. Although choosing your domain name is one of the most important aspects of establishing your online presence, the number of options out there and the established “status-quo” threatens to overwhelm even the most enthusiastic entrepreneur.
Domain extensions like .services, .studio, .life, or .photos are specific, memorable, more authentic to a brand and its purpose, and more attractive for everything from social media to search results — all things that are considered essential to building a strong brand. Yet overwhelmed business owners go for the defaults of good ol’ .com, .net, or .org. Settling for “good enough” is fine for something inconsequential, but it’s a terrible approach to choices that form the foundation of your business. Why settle for the status quo when you can make a name for yourself with a more relevant, more modern, and more unique domain? Why be generic with a long, unwieldy not-quite-right .com domain when you can make a statement, branding your domain name both to the left and the right of the dot?
There’s one decision that’s easy
Fortunately, it’s easier than you think to quickly narrow down your options and find a domain that will strengthen your brand and help your business grow. Browse better domain extension options on TrueName.Domains. Find extensions that are most relevant to your product or service, or are the most complimentary to your brand or business name to the left of the dot. Head to your registrar’s homepage and search your business name adding “.”[TrueName domain extension]. A few will jump out at you as being especially relevant. From there, narrow it down to the one that’s the most accurate for your business.
Tip: Look for the TrueName shield for a domain extension that includes added protection from phishing attacks. You can brainstorm in advance by visiting TrueName.Domains, where you’ll find more than 250 options already sorted into categories.
Rather than deciding between two sub-par .com compromises, or considering “fad” country-code extensions like .co (Colombia), or .io (Indian Ocean), choose a domain that conveys something meaningful, expresses your brand, and sets your business up for the new internet.
Yes, our brains hate making decisions. But don’t let your brain chemistry result in a weak online brand. Getting the right domain might even be faster than cooking that meal kit dinner.
Find and secure a better and more memorable domain with TrueName.
Live Streaming: 10 Numbers You Can’t Afford to Ignore
Long before COVID-19 made Zoom a household name, live streaming was a multi-billion dollar industry. Live streaming encompasses a wide variety of video and audio content broadcast in real time over the Internet. Virtually anything can be live streamed, from weddings on Facebook Live, to video game tournaments and e-sports leagues, fashion tips from Instagram influencers, and weekly live concerts from music legends in quarantine.
Now that the pandemic has forced millions to stay close to home, the appetite for video content is exploding, creating new opportunities for businesses to capitalize on a powerful medium that creates close and profitable connections with new and existing customers.
How Big is Live Streaming?
91
M
people will live stream by 2024
1.1
B
hours live streamed in 2019
Businesses Large and Small are Embracing Live Streaming
82
%
of people are using self-serve video creation platforms.
73
%
of B2B businesses already report positive ROI from live video.
Consumers Prefer Live Streaming Over Other Types of Media
80
%
would rather watch a live video from a brand than read a blog.
82
%
prefer live video from a brand to social posts.
64
%
are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video.
3000
%
increase in click-through rate when video is used in email.
39
%
of executives call a vendor after viewing a video.
59
%
of executives would rather watch a video than read.
How to Start Live Streaming
As consumer preferences shift rapidly to live streaming, how can your company break through and capture more screen time with your customers?
Follow these steps to create high-impact video content:
1. Quality over quantity is what matters, so be sure you’re creating high quality video content that your audience will relate to, enjoy and remember. That doesn’t mean it has to be of the highest “production” quality. Rather, your live streams need to be highly relevant and provide a clear advantage or benefit to the viewer, offer opportunities for your audience to participate via Q&A, and as with any content, make sure there is a clear call-to-action so your audience knows what to do next.
2. Promote and distribute your live video on platforms your customers are already using, so it’s easy for them to find and watch your content. There are many cost-effective solutions that enable you to stream your videos across the most popular platforms including YouTube, Twitch, Facebook Live and Periscope. Leading platforms that cater to startups and SMBs include:
BeLive (www.be.live)
Switchboard (www.switchboard.live)
OneStream (www.onestream.live)
3. Use new top-level domain names to drive traffic specifically to your live streaming content. This can be done in two different ways. First, you can create a URL that drives your customers directly to your live streaming content on a social network such as Facebook. The TrueName™ domain extension .live is a smart choice because it clearly communicates to your audience what they’ll get when they click on the link. Austin City Limits use the domain ACL.live to drive music fans directly to their Lounge music series on Facebook. Or, if you host live streaming content on your own website, use a deep link domain name to drive your viewers directly to the live content on your website. The Prestonwood Baptist Church uses newlife.live to send users who cannot attend services in person directly to the livestream page on their website.
There is no question that live streaming content–whether for education, business or entertainment–will continue to permeate our lives for the foreseeable future. Staying up to date and implementing the latest streaming trends will help ensure that your content gets noticed and your customers are happy.
TrueName™ domains, including .live, are memorable, descriptive, and secure domains used by thousands of small businesses to represent their true online identity.
Find your ideal live streaming domain by searching for your brand name, top keywords or phrase and “.live”.
Data sources: Promo.com, Livestream.com
2020 is Reshaping The Internet and The Way Companies Choose Domain Names
Smart companies advance their positions during periods of industry evolution with strategic agility.
The biggest disruptors haven’t been afraid to discard what’s “tried and true” for the sake of innovation. Remember that Apple killed the iPod with the iPhone and Amazon cannibalized physical book sales with the Kindle e-reader.
We have and are continuing to see a wave of legacy enterprises make moves away from legacy domains to new-world TrueName domain names as a mark of a forward-thinking, cutting-edge, resilient and industry leading company.
Examples include ada.support and mojo.vision who raised over $60 Million, and $159 Million respectively in March 2020.
Futurists have grouped periods of technological advancement into “waves”
Alvin Tophler’s 1980 bestseller The Third Wave was the influential futurist’s take on the potential of society, technology and our culture. In 2016, the book got a modern rewrite from AOL co-founder Steve Case, who wrote from the perspective of someone living in the time that Tophler predicted. In it, Case describes a Third Wave of the internet that will transform the economy and the way we live our lives.
What neither Tophler nor Case would likely have foreseen, however, is 2020’s unprecedented period of rapid technological and cultural recalibration, set into motion by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Forget the “Third Wave,” this is the “Third Wave on Steroids.”
Data confirms accelerated growth and adoption of best-in-class, new-world domain names.
TrueName domains is the world’s largest operator of new-world domain extensions, which are on course to overtake aging .com, .net, and .org extensions. Our data insights are a barometer of online behavior, growth, and industry disruption.
To date 4.3 million of the currently registered domains using new extensions are using TrueName extensions. Most notably, TrueName extensions are used by businesses whose brand positioning is forward-thinking, well funded and agile.
In 2020, TrueName published data showing that a trend of industry disruption in decentralized finance is being closely reflected in the .finance extension, which has seen a 700% increase in monthly registrations since the beginning of 2020. During the same period, the DeFi industry overall saw growth soar by nearly 1,000%.
Modern day futurists and technology pundits speculate we’re experiencing multiple decades of advancement in a matter of months, with various industries set to undergo unrecognizable disruption as we adjust to what is the new normal.
How were the technological waves defined and how does it relate to domains?
As defined by Topher and Case, the First Wave saw the creation of the foundation and infrastructure of the online world. Crucial hardware and software was created. Online pioneers had to convince people the internet was worthwhile and relevant.
This is also where we saw the first websites created and the legacy domain extension, .com, created as an abbreviation for “commercial.”
Cut to the Second Wave at the turn of the 21st century, online marketplaces, social media and mobile devices allowed people to access the internet wherever and whenever they wanted.
The Third Wave sees us integrating the internet into everything we do, also known as the Internet of Things (IoT). Coinciding with this wave is the implementation of hundreds of modern day alternatives to .com, allowing businesses to eliminate unnecessary suffixes to their brand, utilizing the space to the left and right of the dot, in addition to re-democratizing internet real estate after decades of over-saturation and manufactured value in legacy domains due to the lack of availability.
Make your mark and secure domains for the new internet with TrueName domains.
What Business Owners Need to Know to Prosper in the New Normal
Life in COVID lockdown has forced most of us to remain in or near our homes for months. Now, new research shows all that time spent inside has had a profound impact on how we live, work, shop, and entertain ourselves.
McKinsey & Company took a look at how COVID-19 is changing consumer behavior, and what businesses can do right now to prepare for–and prosper in–the “New Normal.”
Here’s a look at a few of those areas and how savvy entrepreneurs are leveraging domain names, particularly new Top Level Domain names to attract customers seeking their products or services.
Life and nesting at home. Online usage at home is surging. Home has been recast as the new restaurant, entertainment center, and coffee shop.
driftaway.coffee
Driftaway Coffee is an online coffee subscription and gift service that lets customers sample single-origin coffees from around the world while supporting small farmers. Coffee even ships in compostable packaging.
simplipress.coffee
Simpli Press offers consumers a modern twist on the venerable French press. Both companies use the .coffee top-level domain extension to connect with coffee connoisseurs looking to replicate the coffee house experience at home.
Communications and information. In-person meetings are in decline, home media replaces real-world engagement.
be.live
Now that small businesses are shifting to online video communication, they need to find ways to efficiently scale their video content. Companies such as BeLive help small businesses stream live and recorded videos across the biggest platforms simultaneously.
limitlesschurch.live
Churches no longer holding on-premise worship services have had to find new ways to inspire their communities.
Limitless Church recently transformed its website to offer streaming services and classes, and use an unmistakably relevant domain name for existing and prospective members.
Play and entertainment. Preference for digital entertainment, channel shift to streaming, additional play time.
online.casino
The founders of Online.Casino recognize that online gaming from home will grow for years to come. Their proprietary algorithm helps people sift through myriad gaming sites to find the one that fits their style and makes them happy.
Learning. Education will be one of the industries with the most significant shifts due to COVID as schools nationwide are in various stages of opening.
elliottrealestate.academy
Millions of children, parents and teachers got a crash course in online learning earlier this year, but the pandemic has also driven many people to switch careers or add new skills to make themselves more marketable by taking classes remotely.
Elliott Real Estate Academy offers online courses and training for people looking to get into real estate.
Health and wellbeing. COVID-19 has led to an increased focus on health, hygiene and fitness--all on demand.
justgetfit.fitness
COVID sparked a massive run on exercise equipment as gyms were forced to close their doors.
The staff at Just Get Fit quickly adjusted to a world where in-person training no longer existed. They developed a virtual training program using FaceTime to maintain clients and keep them in shape.
Shopping and consumption. COVID created a huge surge in e-commerce shopping, but many consumers preferred to order from stores closer to home.
Amazon is clearly the biggest winner of the COVID-19 lockdown, as are big-box stores Like Walmart and Home Depot, but a significant number of small and medium sized businesses moved quickly to distinguish themselves online and find new customers. The fastest-growing TrueName top-level domains from March to June 2020 were .boutique and .delivery, evidence of the shift in preference by consumers to “shop small” and support their local businesses.
If you’re a small business owner looking to weather the COVID storm and prepare for the “Next Normal,” find the right domain name at TrueName™ now.