To most outside the domain industry, domain names are dull. They’re necessary for creating an online presence, but the general population doesn’t care much after that.
I’m hoping this will help me gain a professional advantage.
Away from the domain name industry, I am a retoucher. I don’t work as much in that field any more thanks to my writing activities, but it has been a passion of mine since I was 18 and I still work selectively. For those who don’t know, a retoucher can be defined as someone who essentially edits or alters imperfections in a picture. Usually, this work is carried out for a professional photographer or a specific brand.
A majority of retouchers work in a freelance capacity, but many are also employed full-time for a specific brand. It can be a competitive industry.
In an attempt to gain a professional advantage, I acquired the domain name Retoucher.com in October 2020.
This took five years to come to fruition after numerous discussions with the original owner, another retoucher who was close to retirement age.
As an industry, end-user rationality is something we sometimes miss. My current “On the Record” series in partnership with Media Options is as close as we often get to the reasons behind a domain purchase. The actual story of the acquisition isn’t remarkable at all, but I wanted to highlight some of the reasons why I decided to acquire this name as an end-user.
Stand Out From the Crowd
As I briefly mentioned, being a retoucher can be competitive – bidding against numerous other talented professionals for the same freelance role on a continuous basis.
Owning Retoucher.com allows me to stand out from other retouchers vying for the same role. By creating a brand at Retoucher.com, I think I stand the chance of the crowd.
Imagine reading through tens (or possibly hundreds) of proposals in your search for a retoucher. If you spot the Retoucher.com domain name within a proposal, you’re going to stop and look closely at it.
By owning Retoucher.com, I can set myself apart from the thousands of other retouchers globally. According to dotDB, there are over 4,000 domains registered that contain the word “retouch” or “retoucher.”
Gain Instant Authority
Aside from standing out from the crowd, owning the optimum domain name for your profession can help to give you instant authority in that industry.
Regardless of how good my skills as a retoucher may be, my perceived authority as an expert retoucher is only increased by using Retoucher.com as my online brand. The long term value of this authority is far more important than the initial acquisition cost.
Take Advantage of the Memorability
As with most industries, networking is important. Displaying a business card, or sending an email with Retoucher.com branding is memorable for anyone connected to that industry.
A memorable domain can open doors to future opportunities. People remember a good domain.
Build Search Traffic
As well as Retoucher.com allowing me to become an authority, it may be able to help me dominate the search results.
The generic nature of the Retoucher.com domain combined with a clean 23-year history online should help me to rank fairly easily worldwide for “retoucher” search terms.
According to an old Microsoft study, a domain bias exists, which reveals that search users tend to prefer clicking on exact match domains.
While “retoucher” isn’t an expensive keyword to advertise for, ranking naturally with the authoritative domain should help in long-term lead generation.
Overall, I think that the value the domain name can bring me in the next few years in terms of income and opportunities will far outweigh the initial acquisition cost. The domain, although it currently holds a simple landing page, will be developed in 2021.
Great article and right on the money.