The great thing about the internet is that it adapts, and fast. Domain camping has been common practice for years and resulted in a lot of desirable website addresses being expensive or unavailable. Most three- to five-letter names followed by .com or .net are out of reach for most organisations.
Trends in business names
It is not exactly a brand-new trend but as Forbes.com pointed out in 2018, misspellings are the new normal. Fiverr, Tumblr and Reddit were pioneers, but the trend continues with names such as unbxd and nwplying. This is partly because they are quirky but mostly because these businesses started online and it made sense to buy affordable domain names.
Another trend involves giving websites or apps human names, such as the parenting app Winnie. This makes faceless bits of software feel approachable and personal. Turning a negative into a positive is also an increasing trend, especially if it plays on a double meaning, such as Slack.
Regardless of trends, the key principle of picking a name for a new business is still the ‘four Cs’ of branding: be clear, concise, compelling and consistent.
Trends in domain names
In 2019, entrepreneur.com found that because of the challenge of getting perfect matches, businesses turned to phrases when it came time to buy domain names, such as GetDropbox or CallRuby. These creative phrases include a call to action in the name of the website, making it a much more dynamic and attention-grabbing offer.
The other big change has been the take-up of new domain suffixes, with endings such as .xyz – attention-grabbing, with a touch of dry humour; .(local) – appealing to customers in your city or area; .guru, .tips, and .store gaining in popularity. They make it easy to get a perfectly tailored domain name for any business or organisation without paying high prices to people who have been holding onto them for years. The range of new suffixes available becomes clear with a quick search of a service such as https://www.names.co.uk/domain-names.
Clever startups combine domain phrases or descriptive names with the new suffixes to make something memorable and personal.
Customisation is a huge trend right now. With a high number of startups created in 2020, getting the right name and the right domain is a key part of standing out from the competition.