When you’re starting out, a free domain can be a blessing. Being able to direct customers to your new online home at example.rezgo.com is great! But even better is being able to direct customers to your own custom domain, like example.com — and it’s a lot easier than you might think.
Here are six reasons your tour and activities company needs its own custom domain:
1. Professionalism
Free domains are a wonderful way to start out, but relying on a custom domain after your company is established can leave your customers with the wrong impression. Because it’s so inexpensive and easy to secure a custom domain, a free domain leaves customers with questions. They’ll wonder whether your company can afford to have its own domain, whether you’re really committed to providing a long-term service.
A custom domain gives customers confidence that you’re legitimate, and that they’re booking with a trustworthy, established company. It may seem like a minor difference, but for someone deciding where to book their vacation activities, anything that increases trust is a good thing.
2. Company email addresses
Just as custom domain looks more professional than a free domain, a custom email address looks more professional than a Gmail address. Customers concerned about being phished are going to be a lot more suspicious of contact from a free email address than they will be when you contact them from your custom email address.
Custom email addresses can be a bit tricker to set up and administrate than custom domains, but securing your custom domain is the first step.
3. Portability
Many tour companies start out using white label booking software like Rezgo as their company websites, but sooner or later, you’ll probably want to move to a website built just for your company (with bookings powered by Rezgo’s white label or WordPress plugin, of course). Once you get that fancy, custom website set up, you’ll want your customers to move over, too.
If you’re already directing them to a custom domain, that’s as easy as changing a couple settings at your domain registrar. Your customers will visit the same address they always have, but they’ll be brought to your new website. No matter what you do with your website in the future as you grow, your customers will know how to find you.
4. Brand security
Today, securing a custom domain is often one of the first steps people take when starting a new business. In part, that’s because owning a domain gives you control of your branding.
If you put time and effort into building a known brand, you don’t want another company to swoop in and claim it out from under you. Until you buy your domain, another company can do just that. When would-be customers search for you under Awesome Tour Company, you don’t want them winding up at your competitor at AwesomeTourCompany.com, right?
5. Search Engine Optimization
Domains are just one of the many factors that go into your search engine rankings, but they do have an impact. Your site should come up when people search for your company name or related keywords, and using the right custom domain can help that happen.
6. Value
Think of everything you spend to make your business well-known, well-regarded and trustworthy. If you could spend $10 or $20 to make your business more professional, legitimate and secure, would you?
If so, a custom domain should absolutely be your next business expense. Unless you’re bidding on an especially high-profile domain, most are quite affordable — it’s rare that anyone ever spends more than $100 annually on a single domain.
Time is money, too, so you’ll be happy to know that buying and setting up a custom domain doesn’t need to take more than a few minutes. You don’t need to build a brand-new website or mess around with servers or databases. Once you register your domain, pointing it at your Rezgo website takes just a few clicks. Your domain name registrar can help, and so can we.
Ready to commit to your own custom domain? We’ve got you covered with our tips on choosing the right custom domain.
Written By | Nissa Campbell
