Step 1 of 25 to Building a Micro-ISV: Register a Domain
It's time to kick off the details of the 25 steps to building a micro-isv. Due to the forthcoming birth of a child, these articles are going to be briefer than I originally intended. But hopefully they will be useful. I know that my experience is limited, and I hope to gain useful feedback from you on every one of these points. A lot of ideas will be expressed only in point form for now, as I don't have time to write them out in full, yet I don't want to leave them out entirely. Now, on with it...
Registering a Domain
This is a milestone all by itself. I'd guess that ninety percent of good product ideas never get this far.
Here's my basic tips:
- until you've secured a domain name, don't commit to a product name
- don't expect to secure the perfect name
- register the product name, not the company name (that can come much later)
until you've secured a domain name, don't commit to a product name
At some point in the distant past, perhaps one thousand years ago, there was the time of the cyber squatters.
I don't know who these mythical people were, but I know that they are generally blamed for the following sad fact:
Twenty Four out of Every Twenty Five domain names you can think of have already been taken.
All sorts of dumb names have been taken, probably including that hot little product name you had your eyes on all this time. If you're an idiot you can waste your energy chasing that domain name; sending emails to the people who've taken in, you can try to talk them into selling it to you, you can send lawyers after it, you can really get nasty about the whole thing. Or worse still, you can stick with your product name, but choose a different domain name.
But if you're sensible, you'll start making a big lst of ugly useless names. Use a thesaurus. Name-storming is fun. Turn off the inner-critic.
- Make a big list of names. Twenty five or more is good.
- Sort them from most desired to least desired.
- For each name:
- Google it:
- Already used in prior-art? Discard it.
- Turns up as a swear word in spanish? Discard it.
- Anything else funny turns up on the web? Discard it.
- Perform a 'WhoIs' search. (use the "internic", "whois.net", "godaddy", whoever you want). The name is taken? Discard it.
- If it's available then buy it.
- Stop there. Throw away the rest of the list.
Now, you've got to fall in love with the name you ended up with. You've got no choice. You're stuck with it now, so you'd better treat it with respect.
And you're done. Easy wasn't it.
What? You're still there? You think I've got more strongly-felt opinions on this topic? You bet I do.
Buying is a minefield...
I use goDaddy for purchasing websites, because they're very very cheap. And I like an essay written by Bob Parsons, the go daddy himself. However.
These guys are masters at up selling. As you make your way to the checkout, they try to push dozens of other products into your shopping cart. All of which are totally overpriced crap. So make sure you buy only what you want -- a domain name for a year (maybe two) just for the domain you're after. Nothing else.
You can get a 10% discount (or more) if you find a discount voucher for Go Daddy. Google for 'godaddy voucher'. Didn't work for me, but ymmv.
Dot Com is All That Matters
Go for ".com". Don't mess around with ".net", ".biz" or any others. And don't waste your time on ones that relate to your country of origin, e.g. ".com.au", ".co.uk" unless your product will only ever be sold in that country. These cost more, involve more hoops, and are less memorable. The Coca-colonisation of the world is a big force, and I'm not going to try and slow it ;-)
Accept that there are no perfect product names.
Names can be cute, glib, memorable, descriptive, inspiring -- all kinds of things, but they can't be all of these things at once. It's very easy to over-constrain the name you want. The less rules you impose on the name, the better chance you have of coming up with a useable name.
Impose too many rules on the name results in an impossible equation. For example, say you have these two rules:
x + 1 = 2
x - 1 = 2
What is x?
In this case, x is unsolvable: there's simple no value for x that will satisfy both constraints. The only thing to do is to have less constraints. The same applies with choosing a name. You need less constraints: so few constraints that you'll be able to find the required twenty-five possible values, before you go searching the internet for availability.
Actually, Product Names Hardly Matter At All
Take Ebay, Google and Amazon as examples. These are well recognised brand names, that evoke the right reaction from millions of customers. But that recognition has been hard won by the companies and the products -- not by the choice of name. There's nothing great about any of these names. They tell you nothing about what the product does, nor what differentiates them from their competitors. But they're undeniably successful names.
Don't Be Too Specific
Okay -- even though 'Product Names Hardly Matter At All' there are still some terrible names out there, and perhaps even a few good ones.
Obviously, avoid offensive names. I went to uni with a guy who gave his engineering-thesis the acronym "S.H.I.T.S." I sh*t you not. This meant that everyone who reviewed his work had a negative perception before they'd even read the precis. Avoid causing offense, even mild offense.
Personally, I think it's bad to have an overly 'specific' name. An example of a specific name is a local company I know of who call themselves "Just Stumps". The idea is that they are focused on stump grinding. I've seen there name in a local newspaper and it's always bugged me. I rang them up one day and asked them, "Hey, i've got a tree that needs to be cut down. Do you do that?" Guess what! They do! "Oh, and I've got a concrete slab that needs to be removed, can you help with that?" Of course they can. Similarly "Just Jeans" don't just sell Jeans. "Roses Only" don't just sell roses, and in fact, every 'specific' name is a just a big lie. So don't turn yourself into a liar: avoid 'specific' names.
Did you run out of names before you found a good one?
An old trick is to mis-spell a word, creating a clever juxtaposition of two ideas. 'Beatles' for example. The advantage to this trick is that it creates new words (thus no prior art), that are short and will (eventually) be memorable.
On the topic of names... Got any suggestions for a baby name?
My good wife and I are open to possible names for our baby who we're expecting any day now. Unknown gender, so the field is wide open at this stage. We do have some names in mind already, but for a great suggestion -- who knows!
'Magnus Mendelyev' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:22:48 GMT, sez: Baby names.... mmmm...I like the idea of meshing your names...
Leshaz is my pick... although that sounds a bit French, what's wrong with that air of pretention that naturally comes with all things French!
MM.
'lb' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:24:32 GMT, sez: tanx MM. we used to have a webpage called 'shazoleon' in which the logo was a blended image combining both of our faces. my beard, her eyes and hair. it weren't pretty.
'lb' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 01:30:26 GMT, sez: Okay, addendum --
Regarding "register the product name, not the company name (that can come much later)"
Here's a company that got it wrong:
"ScooterSoftware" make a great utility called Beyond Compare.
It seems to be their only product. To Get "Beyond Compare" you have to go to www.ScooterSoftware.com because BeyondCompare.com is taken by a "domain name parking" service. Evil people!
When you go to www.ScooterSoftware.com it says "Home of Beyond Compare" -- that's an uneccessary indirection.
Scooter Software should've changed their product name to one that was available and used *that* as their homepage.
A great product like theirs would still be great, even if the name was different.
'anonymous for this one' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 01:54:59 GMT, sez: but does every Professional product need a domain? Surely it's not always best.
I want to have my product for sale from my current website. Then people can read the website, take part in forums, browse around and get my product or products if they're interested, when they become available.
In this case I don't need a domain, just the blog I already have.
'lb' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 02:06:42 GMT, sez: >have my product for sale from
>my current website
i don't think that's a good idea for a professional product -- great for a hobby project (that's exactly what i do with my own hobby projects)
but your product is supposed to be a product that stands on its own and is helpful even to complete strangers. It's not supposed to be a life style choice -- only used by people who agree with the rest of your philosophy and blog.
advertising it on your blog is fine though -- i do that basically because i saw the joelonsoftware did that, and he's the master of combining blog with product. Notice that even he keeps them separate though, and has domains to separate work from blog.
(btw. i just checked -- he owns the domain for FogBugz.com -- and redirects it to http://www.fogcreek.com/FogBugz/)
lb
'John Rusk' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 02:32:42 GMT, sez: A naming idea, which has worked for both of my domains, is to use two-word names. Why? Because virtually all the real one-word names are taken, and so are lots of "made up" one-word names. I found it much easier to get unique names once I decided to make them by combinations of words.
'lb' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 02:54:11 GMT, sez: +1 for that idea John. Couldn't agree more.
In ten years time, maybe people will need three word names?
I can imagine in futurama they'd need fifty word long domain names. ;-)
'Andrew' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 05:59:36 GMT, sez: Another option for getting the domain name you want: if your domain name is taken, but it's due to expire within the next year (say) then I recommend trying a service like SnapNames to try and secure the domain if the current owner doesn't renew the domain and it expires.
I've gotten several nice (I think) domain names this way. Snapnames get preferential treatment over Joe Public, so even if someone else wants to register the domain through the normal domain registration route when it expires, if you've already bid on it at SnapNames then you'll get the domain, not them.
Of course, if the name is so good that other people are also bidding on SnapNames (or similar) for the domain, you'll find yourself in an eBay-style auction.
If other people are interested, then either be prepared to pay more for the domain or forget about it. That said, I've picked up three or four decent domains for the minimum bid of $60. Not too bad, I reckon.
ps. don't bother back-ordering domains on places like GoDaddy - waste of money - it never works for any remotely decent domains.
'Matthew Lang' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 06:09:11 GMT, sez: There are no perfect names for a product, only what the product can do for your potential customers.
I have been trying to name a product and finally got a name, but I did try to avoid the whole "Web 2.0" thing like, Flickr or Del.icio.us.
Leon, here's a link to a website that should help with baby names.
http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html
It shows how popular names were over the last few years. My wife and I had a baby boy in September and we named him Ethan.
We also had Joshua, Jessica, Grace, and Gabriel on the cards, but Ethan was the favourite for a boy.
'Mike Woodhouse' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:02:02 GMT, sez: I'm expecting this series to take a loooong time. Unless you're already on GKT (Got Kids Time) then you have no idea what's in store. Fortunately you'll be so tired you won't realise how awful it is. But you start to come out of it about 7 or 8 years later. At least, I think you do: mine are 8 & 6 in April.
I suggest trying to stay away from hyper-popular names, because it can be boring to be one of several in a class. I doubt there were fewer than four Michaels in my various classes throughout my school career.
My kids? Martha & John(ny). Both relatively scarce in the UK at the time, although the former is, I think, staging a little comeback.
'Kent Larsson' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:05:01 GMT, sez: I start with two word and work my way to an original and beutiful name.
(algorithm, humanity) ===> [Creating a "compound" name] ==> ahlumgaorniitthym ==> [Removing letters until its pronounceable] ==>
ahlumarnitym
So I guess you should name your baby Ahlumarnitym. And it works for both genders!
'http://' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:38:33 GMT, sez: I just went through the exercise of finding a domain name for a product and a corporate website. I took a similar approach, but did add one step before the brainstorming: I came up with some initial thoughts around product placement and image to help guide my brainstorming. Then, as you suggest, I hit the thesaurus and started checking names that were in line with my product idea.
On the baby name front, I just went through that one too. I have a son Gavin (this is way too popular now) and a daughter Ainsley. I have a friend who purposely misspelled his kids' names so they would be unique - I think all he's doing is subjecting them to a life of mispronounced and misspelled names...
'Mike in Montreal' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:05:10 GMT, sez: On the suggestion of doing a 'whois' search when looking for available domains...
I've heard anecdotes about site names being snatched up soon after you do a search. Whether it was coincidence or there's some kind of snooping going on at the major domain providers, I'm not sure. I don't think I would trust a big domain provider (e.g., Go Daddy) on that.
I always just enter the domain I'm considering into my browser address bar, and see what comes up. If it's unable to find a matching address, I figure it's free. I don't search for it on any domain provider until the moment I buy it.
'lb' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:09:11 GMT, sez: >I've heard anecdotes about site names
>being snatched up soon after you do a
>search
personally, i'd treat this as a modern myth. It plays perfectly on the fears of people who are taking their first tentative steps into the world of entrepreneurialism.
searching from the address bar is still a decent first step -- and in any case i advocate zero time between searching whois and placing an order. Why wait?
Begin Trans
--search for domain name
--available? purchase it
Commit Trans
Transactions should always be as short as possible.
'lb' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:15:50 GMT, sez: >I'm expecting this series to take a
>loooong time.
ah yes, mike. But i reserve the right to reduce entries to just point form if needed.
I've already got enough material in point form to achieve this. So the articles should all come out in time. It's only the level of detail that will suffer.
'Charlie Williams' on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 23:36:56 GMT, sez: You can also use a site like pcnames.com to see if your chosen name is taken. It's full of AJAX-y goodness and it makes for quicker searches than going doing a whois directly. domainsbot.com is somewhat similar.
nameboy.com can also help with the brainstorming aspect.
'Joseph Cooney' on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:19:54 GMT, sez: Names (girls):
Ada
Perl
Lua
Names (boys):
Blaise
Bjarne
Anders
Pascal
Leon Bambrick v2.0
'Joseph Cooney' on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 03:06:00 GMT, sez: >>I've heard anecdotes about site names
>>being snatched up soon after you do a
>>search
>personally, i'd treat this as a modern myth. >It plays perfectly on the fears of people who >are taking their first tentative steps into >the world of entrepreneurialism.
I searched for and found a great ".com" domain name for my ISV product (via godaddy). A few weeks later when I went to register it I found out it was now owned and "parked free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com"! I'll be very wary of using them for domain name searches in future.
'lb' on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 03:32:43 GMT, sez: Full on, hey Jo!
I'll stand by this part then:
Begin Trans
--search for domain name
--available? purchase it
Commit Trans
Transactions should always be as short as possible.
'Eric Matson' on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 11:33:19 GMT, sez: A tip for using godaddy.
Buy the shortest term for the domain that you can to start. When you get to the checkout page upgrade it then as the discounts presented there seem to be much higher then if you were to do it to start with.
'http://' on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 11:57:03 GMT, sez: Maya for a girl..
'Chris Hoffman' on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:31:55 GMT, sez: Baby Names:
Leon 2.0
'cometbill' on Wed, 31 Jan 2007 05:05:17 GMT, sez: Pick a list of 25 names (for both sexes)
Sort them in order of desirability (best first)
Google them
Discard any that are swearwords in any language
Discard any that are funny
Discard any that famous people already have
WHOIS for the <name>.name URL, discard any thare aren't available
If it's available, buy it
Stop there, throw away the list, and love the name you've picked.
Oh, if you want a voucher for GoDaddy, listen to any podshow podcast (www.podshow.com) for example The Math Grad podcase, which I think is http://www.mathgrad.com/ and listen for their promotional code. Adam Curry's daily source code have a few such as DSC1, DSC2 and DSC3, all for different discounts / promotions.
'Ed' on Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:31:26 GMT, sez: Seven!
http://www.stanthecaddy.com/seven-costanza.html
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