In the United States, at least 25,000 brick and mortar businesses will close in 2020 due to the Coronavirus (source: Coresight). I believe this will only be the tip of the iceberg. The businesses that fight to stay alive will become 100% dependent on the Internet to generate their revenue. No longer able to rely on foot traffic to their old brick and mortars, the popularity and brand-ability of their websites will solely dictate their ability to survive in the coming years.

Domain Names Take Center Stage

Since the beginning of the Internet, a domain name has been the online address of a business—nothing more, nothing less. Before the Coronavirus, most brick and mortar businesses kept a wary eye on their SEO, but search engines were only one slice of the pie of their revenue generation. Now, they will be totally at the mercy of Google and, to a lesser extent, Yahoo and Bing.

The Difference Between Success Or Failure

An instantly memorable domain name will be the only protection these businesses will have against their search engine rankings. If your business has to live or die strictly by your search engine rankings, you will die. If a client has to search for your business every time to remember your brand, your company will become 100% search engine dependent. In other words, your domain name, your brand, will feed your competition.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

It’s Marketing 101, but, in the Age of the Internet, many have forgotten that it’s not the first time a customer visits your site that’s important, but how many times they come back. Of course, your product or service has to be stellar, but they also have to remember your online brand name, your domain name, the instant they read it or hear it without having to search for it. Your domain name will become your most important asset.

More Than Ever, The Name Matters

Buy the best, most memorable and unforgettable domain name you can possibly afford. And, please, make it dotCOM. Don’t make your clients have to remember both sides of the dot. It’s marketing suicide because it will make your brand twice as hard to remember.