There are now more than 1,000 top-level domains (TLDs), but which is best for branding yourself or your business? With search engines, does it even make a difference? What does it matter which TLD you chose as long as you rank high enough on Google?

That is what many would have you believe, but there is one power greater than any search engine.

The Public

At one time, my brother and I owned Rate.com. We leased it to a mortgage broker in Laguna Beach, who used it to generate leads. It was nothing more than the name and a landing page, but it produced about fifty solid leads a week with no advertising or promotion. One day she called, all excited, to say that Rate.com had generated almost a hundred leads in the last 24 hours.

I was stumped.

I’ve been developing and monetizing names since 1997 and know that one of the great things about popular generic names like Rate.com is that they always have wind in their sales that’s easy to monetize, but I’d never seen anything like this. I sat down to have dinner, turned on the TV, and ten minutes later, a commercial for Rate.net.

When Remembering Your Brand the Public Will Default to dotCOM

I have long believed this, but the Rate.com vs Rate.net episode made it glaringly obvious. “Rate” is a popular generic word to remember, and one would believe that any TLD promoted after it would be a cinch to recall.

But that’s not what the public decided.

The Key to Brand Success Is Instant Memorability

Instant and accurate memorability is the ultimate key to your brand’s success. With so many worshiping at the altar of the almighty search engines, many have forgotten this golden rule, but it’s simply Marketing 101.

Yes, search engines are important, very important, but the public’s ability to accurately remember your internet address on the first pass supersedes all.

Ironically, most entrepreneurs understand this because they know that instantaneously imprinting their brand on the public’s consciousness is usually the difference between success or failure. Still, I’ve had far too many conversations where they tell me their webmaster or tech department chose their domain name.

And ten minutes later I’ll ask the question that is always the kiss of death.

“What is your domain name, again?”