Picking the right domain name for your business website is critical, because changing your domain name (especially when it is also the name of your business) creates a ripple effect that’s hard to predict. We have done two major domain/business name changes recently (one for ourselves, and one for a client). Here are just some of the things you may have to deal with if you decide to change your domain name:
- Domain purchase (from the registrar or owner) and possibly a domain transfer (if you purchase from an individual you’ll need to transfer that domain to your own registrar account)
- A new corporate filing (i.e.: LLC filing) with the new name. Don’t forget the state, county, and federal filings that go along with this process.
- Coming soon web page: let your regular visitors know what’s coming by featuring an announcement on your old website – explaining that they can expect a new “identity” soon.
- Identity re-design: this could mean anything from a logo re-design to an entire website re-design, depending on how much the identity is changing. You may consider creating an interim “co-branded” logo for your website for a while – one that reflects the old brand’s transition to the new brand.
- E-mail setup: in our case, we had to open a new Hosted Exchange e-mail account with the new domain, and forward the old domain’s e-mail to this new account. For the long term, set up your old email addresses as ‘aliases’ (you can do this with Hosted Exchange), to ensure that you always receive mail to those old addresses.
- Mail client setup: whether you use Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, or Lotus Notes, each user’s e-mail client has to be re-configured to use the new e-mail address. Don’t forget to change the e-mail signatures!
- Smart Phone setup: same as above, users who have Blackberrys or other smart phones wil need to add the new e-mail account.
- Courtesy Notices: employees, clients, vendors, and other contacts all have to be notified of the new name, website, and e-mail addresses, and encouraged to update their address books
- Bank Account Changes: if your business name changes with your domain name, then you’ll need to update your bank accounts (including merchant accounts) to reflect the new name.
- Migrate the Website: move the old website to the new domain
- Copy Changes: check all the content on your website and update all copy that needs to be changed to properly represent the new brand.
- Search Engine Optimization: if your old domain name has been around for any length of time…if it has any search engine credibility at all, you’ll want to do your best to carry that over to your new domain. Important considerations include 301 re-directs: be sure to have your web master permanently re-direct pages from your old domain to the corresponding pages of your new domain. This is critical if you want to retain search engine rankings.
Each case will have its own unique challenges. And the the age of the old domain name will factor heavily into how many effects there will be. But it’s almost guaranteed to be a major project. If there are any key items you think I left out, please feel free to add a comment below.
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