Practical Sales Training™ > How to connect with your buyer > The Simplified URL Effect
The Simplified URL Effect
What Is It
The Simplified URL Effect is all about using a different, “better” domain name to help buyers find your website. I wrote a more in depth LinkedIn article on domain names, which you can find here.
Most businesses keep their exact company name as their domain, even when that name is hard to spell or explain out loud.
A simpler, separate domain can quietly remove that barrier without touching your actual brand name at all.
Why Does It Work
It works because it makes it easier for buyers to find you online. Having a domain name that’s easy to read, write, speak and spell, as well as one that’s engaging or intriguing, helps buyers engage with you.
If your business, product, or service has an abstract name, or one spelt in a non traditional way, it can prove a barrier in communication. So having a “better” or simpler domain name helps make it easier.
Every extra second someone spends trying to spell or remember your web address is a second where they might just give up entirely.
How Can You Use It
Depending on your offering, think about how you could have a more explanatory or easy to remember domain name. There are three easy ways you can do it. Buying a domain name to redirect is simple enough, and they can be as low as £1 to £10 per year. You simply buy the domain and “point” it at your current website, no need to be more technical than that.
1. Action + your offering
Use a verb, a “doing” word, and your offering. How do people use or interact with what you do?
2. Adjective + your offering
Using a positive adjective, a descriptive word, plus your offering. How would you describe your product, service, or result?
3. Common parlance or phrase
What’s the common term for what you do or offer? It’s always worth checking, since owning “the” domain name in your space is a powerful tool, think www.diy.com or www.toys.com.
When It Works Best
This works best when your actual business name is genuinely hard to spell, say, or remember, since that’s exactly the friction a simpler domain removes.
It also works best when the simplified domain still clearly relates to what you do, so buyers instantly understand the connection to your brand.
When It Becomes Dangerous
It backfires if the simplified domain feels disconnected from your actual brand, confusing buyers about whether they’ve landed somewhere genuine.
It also becomes risky if you let the redirect lapse or expire, since losing a well known simplified domain can quietly cost you traffic you never notice disappearing.
Choosing a domain too generic or hard to trademark causes its own problem too, since a common phrase can be difficult to defend later.
Common Mistakes
Picking a domain unrelated to your actual offering
A catchy but disconnected domain confuses buyers rather than helping them. Keep the connection to what you actually do obvious.
Forgetting to renew the redirect domain
A simplified domain that quietly expires sends buyers to a dead page instead of your site. Keep renewals on a reliable schedule.
Overcomplicating the redirect setup
Pointing a domain at your website is genuinely simple. Don’t overthink the technical side, most registrars make it a quick, guided process.
The Simplified URL Effect – An Example
A Personal Training Business
A personal trainer runs their business under a name that’s memorable in person, but awkward to spell out over the phone or on a leaflet. Rather than rebrand entirely, they buy GetFit.com for a few pounds a year and point it straight at their existing website.
Now, instead of spelling out an unusual business name, they can simply say “just go to GetFit dot com,” and clients find them instantly, no spelling required.
Simplifying Touch Points
Making it easy for people to interact with you and buy from you is a crucial factor, but so easy to miss. Here are 9 ways you can make it easier for people to contact you:
- Catchall email – Never miss an email by ensuring that [email protected] gets delivered.
- Memorable phone number – If you want people to call you, make it easy for them to remember your number.
- Simple Email Address – Make it easy for people to email you by having “obvious” email addresses.
- Freephone / Freepost – If you want people to call or write to you, then making it free ensures there are no barriers.
- Simplified URL – Using a domain that’s easy to read, write, speak, spell and remember makes life easier for your buyer.
- Start here domain – Make it easy for new buyers and clients to know how to interact with you.
- Misspelt domain – If there is a common misspelling of your name, then it makes sense to own the .com domain.
- DM Word – Make it easy for people to direct message (DM) you by giving them a keyword to use.
- QR Codes – Make it easy for people in the real world to find you online.
