Matching Company name and domain name

[ladymuck]

I own a domain name that matches my company because I like to have [email protected] for my emails.

I agree a website is pretty pointless unless you have something worth showcasing (e.g if you're a creative rather than BoS contractor).

I had a Friday night brainstorm about company names and then checked which ones were available as domain names.

[billybiro]

Web sites are pretty useless for contractors. Very few of us have them so I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. If you have aspirations above and beyond then I guess it might be an issue.

Some large companies have different Web addresses to their names. Charles thywitt is one I noticed today so not an issue really.

you're thinking is very 1990s

Nobody cares about domain names unless they're multinationals. And they just make names up (Google, Amazon, Ebay).
Almost everybody who emails is replying to an email or using a contact they've inputted so memorability isn't a concern.

And you're just a one man band. Plenty of contractors just use a gmail account.

I use a domain name that matches and has email, website, etc. but I work in infrastructure/cloud/security/messaging so use all the enterprise tools that are available as that's my trade. If you're a dev/PM/BA then don't bother.

And we wonder why HMRC wants to treat us like the disguised permies so many of us clearly are and not bona fide independent businesses.

Get a domain name at least (you don't necessarily need a website behind it, but it's trivial to get at least a single page website that at least mentions your company name, logo, what you do and contact details) so you at least look like a professional rather than some chancer / no-different-from-the-average-joe / local-plumber-who-still-claims-benefits etc with an @gmail, @outlook, @genericconsumeremailhost domain name.

[Lance]

And we wonder why HMRC wants to treat us like the disguised permies so many of us clearly are and not bona fide independent businesses.

Get a domain name at least (you don't necessarily need a website behind it, but it's trivial to get at least a single page website that at least mentions your company name, logo, what you do and contact details) so you at least look like a professional rather than some chancer / no-different-from-the-average-joe / local-plumber-who-still-claims-benefits etc with an @gmail, @outlook, @genericconsumeremailhost domain name.

bulltulip

I had a website due to reasoning like this. I don't have one now as I didn't have a single visitor. Not one. And that's with it on my business cards.

On what basis does a website make you "bona fide"? Social networking is the new marketing space and I have LinkedIn and Twitter presence.

[Glencky]

Interested to read this thread and all the replies.

Right from the start I only wanted to go for a name where the domain name was also free. Happily the first name I came up with, the domain names for .com and .co.uk WERE free.

I don't use a website at all for MyCo - I really can't see that it's likely to help me, although I know there are different schools of thought on this. However I like to future proof things where I can (never know what opportunities I may get or what direction I may head in future) and I have the domain names for:

MyCo.com
MyCo.co.uk
MyName.com
MyName.co.uk

… all registered. For the total price of less than £50 a year I know a) nobody else can register them annoyingly and b) if ever I want to do something with them, I can - you never know what's going to happen.

I was lucky in that I have a relatively unusual name that nobody had registered because it was only about 6 years ago I registered my name ones.

For me, it's worthwhile doing this just to preserve future options. I'd actually be less concerned if somebody already had one of the sites registered as a functioning site, e.g. if my name was, say, David Lloyd (you have no idea how long it took me to think of an appropriate example, ridiculous...) than if the page was available and hence open to have something dodgy put on it in the future.

So to the OP, personally the decision would partly rest on what's on the website for YourCo.com (as opposed to YourCoIT.com)

[fidot]

The point about .Ltd.uk domains is that they are reserved for the UK company of that name so thete is no question of it being not available

[sal]

And we wonder why HMRC wants to treat us like the disguised permies so many of us clearly are and not bona fide independent businesses.

Get a domain name at least (you don't necessarily need a website behind it, but it's trivial to get at least a single page website that at least mentions your company name, logo, what you do and contact details) so you at least look like a professional rather than some chancer / no-different-from-the-average-joe / local-plumber-who-still-claims-benefits etc with an @gmail, @outlook, @genericconsumeremailhost domain name.

Nonsense, having a website doesn't make you a "bona fide independent business", nor lacking one is making you a permie.

Private domain e-mail for sure, as this is the primary method of communication in this day and age. And using @gmail.com etc. is rather unprofessional, but if your business doesn't need a website, having one is absolutely pointless. If anything a "token" single page website is worse than not having one at all.

@OP I would suggest omitting industry in the YourCo name, although nothing is stopping you from using the company name for future business endeavours, if they are not IT related the Co name will be confusing. For domain name just append something neutral to the YourCo or use non .com domain.

[sir k]

Wow, quite a varied response... and there was me thinking having a domain was a given!

Thanks to all for giving me something(s) to think about. I was quite sure I'd use the domain for email but wasn't sure about an actual site. I just thought everyone naturally bought the domain after registering the company (for whatever reason) but I'm aware now that that's not necessarily the case.

I'll definitely get the domain to match the company name, without worrying too much about it being .co.uk vs .com, and then settle on the usages after.

Thanks again!

[WTFH]

The extension is pretty irrelevant - .co.uk, .com, .eu, .it, whatever. If you want a domain make sure the domain name matches the company.

One of the big advantages (in my opinion) of having your own domain(s) is that you can use multiple email addresses. Agents get one (that’s the one on the CV/LinkedIn/etc), end clients get a different one (and are told that the other one is frequently spammed). When signing up to mailing lists, etc, have another address, and finally have one for personal stuff - friends and family.
Then when one of them starts to get spammed, you can start to work out where they are getting it from.

[Spoiler]

The extension is pretty irrelevant - .co.uk, .com, .eu, .it, whatever. If you want a domain make sure the domain name matches the company.

One of the big advantages (in my opinion) of having your own domain(s) is that you can use multiple email addresses. Agents get one (that’s the one on the CV/LinkedIn/etc), end clients get a different one (and are told that the other one is frequently spammed). When signing up to mailing lists, etc, have another address, and finally have one for personal stuff - friends and family.
Then when one of them starts to get spammed, you can start to work out where they are getting it from.

^ This.

[password]

Yeh, I don't think it matters a whole pile any more to be honest.

The web is awash with all sorts of extensions these days anyway.

FWIW I went with .net because the .com was taken, meh!

The only one I am inclined to really avoid is .co because some novice business people might confuse it with .com and not even notice the subtle difference.