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How To Make It Hard For People To Find Your Startup Online

June 8th, 2008

Ok, it’s late (2:07 a.m. here in Boston), so please forgive my
snarkiness.

I’m going to presume that most startups would like to be found
online by people (you know, like potential users or -gasp- customers) .
People try really hard to get their internet marketing “right” so as to increase
their chances of being found by the right people online. There’s a whole
industry based on this need. I should know, I’m in the business of helping
businesses get found.

That’s why this particular example really struck a chord with me.

Lets start at the beginning.

I was catching up on some of my reading when I came across an article on the
Under The Radar Blog. The article made reference to an
upcoming conference they’re holding where a series of startup companies present
and a panel of judges…um…judge. One of the companies on the list is Aviary
described as a startup that has a “suite of web applications for people that
create content”. Fair enough. The article even provided a link to the company
website: http:/aviary.com.

Just one problem. Aviary.com doesn’t go to the startup’s website. It goes
to Avalon Aviary which is (drumroll), an aviary in Loveland, Colorado.
Ok, me thinks, they got the website wrong. No big deal. It’s probably
something like AviarySoftware.com or AviarySomethingElse.com. Nope, no
luck.

Given that I’m an obsessive kind of guy, I start doing Google searches. I
know the company exists. I start using search terms that I think might
work. Things like “aviary software” don’t deliver the company’s website. Tried
“aviary web suite” too. No go. I’ll spare you the gory details. Ultimately, I
found the website.

Here’s where it is: http://a.viary.com

Ah, clever. But, I never would have thought of it. Sure, del.icio.us (now,
delicious.com works too) pulled this off. But, why would you
intentionally do this and make life hard on yourselves. In any case,
I’m not a big fan of clever domain names. I like easy domain
names. Ones that are easy for people to pass around and distinctive.

Now, this story would have ended here. Fine, sub-optimal domain name, no big
deal. But, there’s more.

The Aviary website has a high Google PageRank (PR7). This means its
got some decent authority. So, why didn’t the site turn up for all the searches
I did? I was trying to find them. Reason? Their page title is
“Aviary - Creation On The Fly”. Somehow, I don’t think that people are going to
search for “creation on the fly” unless they become so big and popular that
people actually remember the tag-line.

Quick Tips On Being Found Online:

1. Try to use a domain name that’s not too clever and is easy
to convey.

2. Get your page title right. Google cares about page
titles. By “right”, I mean something that actually contains terms that people
searching for you might use.

By the way, Aviary does have some really, really slick tools. I just wish I
didn’t have to try so hard to find their website.

End rant.

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