Brand & Domain Name Difference

 

 

Brand Name Vs. Domain Name. Many people are confused between a domain name and a brand name, and most of the time, people tend to interchange their meanings, assuming that they are the same. If you go to a particular place and ask random people about the difference between the two, chances are you are not getting the right answer.

 

If you are in the process of starting a new business, or maybe you are new to the industry at all, there are some key technical differences between these entities. This article will tell you the difference between a domain name and a brand name.

 

Brand Name

 

A brand name is usually known as the trade name given by a manufacturer, organization, or business owner to a particular product or service. There’s a lot of examples of brand names that you can see everywhere. Some of these are Nike, Coca-Cola, H&M, Walmart, eBay, FedEx, Apple… and a lot more! These days, brand names are strategically thought-out marketing tools aimed to establish brand awareness and customer loyalty.

 

“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business.” This statement from Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine, is one of the many reasons why the right brand name is essential in every business.

 

After choosing the kind of business that you want to pursue, giving it the right brand name will create the most colorful rainbows and unicorns in the industry. Technically, a brand name is chosen first as it will define your business identity’s legal stature. A brand name helps your potential customers to identify your products and services from the pool of similar businesses.

 

In layman’s explanation, a brand name is who you are to your customers. It encompasses your brand characteristics, structures, types, mood, quality, and values that you want people to see from your business.

 

Domain Name

 

“A domain name is your address on the internet.” – Bob Parson, Founder of GoDaddy Companies.

 

According to Bob Parson, he believes that there will come a time when everyone must get an address on the Internet. But what is this domain name, and why it becomes an address on the Internet?

 

A domain name is a label or name identifying the network domain from where the internet users can access your website. It configures the term “address on the internet” since it details where people can virtually find you or your business.

 

Domain names are used to find computers on the Internet, wherein these computers use IP addresses. The series of numbers known as IP addresses, are technically challenging for the human mind to remember. Thus, domain names were developed and are now widely used to identify entities on the Internet. They can be in a combination of letters and numbers and are used in various domain name extensions, such as .com, .net, .edu, .gov, and more.

 

Registering a domain name is a must before using it online to ensure that every domain name is unique. If someone types your domain name on the search bar, say, for example, www.bigdad.com, it will go to your website and not on anybody else’s.

 

What is the link between Brand Name and Domain Name?

 

Although Brand name and Domain name are technically different from one another, there is still a linkage between them. It is possible to tie them together. One best example is the Apple Brand and its domain name https://www.apple.com/. In this case, their brand name and their domain name are the same.

 

But it doesn’t mean that the domain name should be the same as your brand name. You can mix and match names or slightly change your domain name from your original brand name. Many brands are now earning success even though they don’t have the same brand name and domain name.

 

Let’s take, for example, the airline WiFi provider GoGo with their domain gogoair.com. Companie can survive without a perfect agreement between their brand and domain name as long as their website’s Search Engine Optimization is top-notch.

 

Are Brand Name and Domain Name the Same?

 

Technically they are different from one another. 

 

Brand name as referring to your product and services gives your business a label to be identified from the market. It is what you are going to build through your customer’s perception and loyalty. 

 

Examples of well-known brands are:

 

• Nike
• FedEx
• Apple
• Google
• Yahoo
• Yelp
• Coca-Cola
• Disney
• Toyota
• McDonald’s
• Microsoft

 

A domain name is your address on the Internet. It can be a combination of letters or numbers with a top-level domain (TLDs) such as .com, .gov, .edu, and a thousand more types at the end. Domain names are used to find you or your business on the Internet without worrying that internet users go to different sites.

 

Examples of domain names are:

 

• Nike.com
• FedEx.com
• Google.com
• Yahoo.com
• Yelp.com
• Coca-cola.com
• Disney.com

 

Every business, especially a startup, should think of the most appropriate name for their brand. If you are still in doubt if you find the best name for your business, you can check 5 Things To Consider in Choosing a Brand Name from our blog.