Reputability is everything when it comes to financial decisions and investment.
You can think of your reputation as a form of currency; businesses without a solid reputation will quickly find their cash flow dwindling.
No matter the size of your company, you should be making a point to be thinking about your presence online. As we increasingly live our lives online, we have to ensure that the first impression counts while remembering that last impressions are forever.
Registering a .BOND domain name could be the first step towards your digital success.
If you are a financial institution, such as a bank, a trust, an insurance company a brokerage firm, or and investment dealer, then you are engaged in the business of dealing with financial and monetary transactions encompassing a broad range of business operations within the financial services sector.
Making decisions about domain extensions and cybersecurity typically aren’t part of the daily business. However, that doesn’t mean that they are any less important for long-term success.
An important aspect of a proactive branding strategy and establishing a trustworthy online presence is your domain name. But the name itself is only part of the deal; you also have to determine which domain name extension works best for your needs.
The .COM extension is not just one of the longest-established and most-recognized generic top-level domains (gTLDs), it also comes at a reasonable price. So, why should you invest in a premium-priced new gTLD like .BOND, especially when it hasn’t even had the chance to prove its worth yet?
What makes a company reputable?
According to the research paper from Weber Shandwick “The Company Behind the Brand: in Reputation We Trust,” companies use a wide variety of tools to build and reinforce their reputations. Word-of-mouth is still the most influential communication channel, but digital resources like online search results and a company’s website are also widely seen as very influential reputation-makers. According to the research, only 9% of customers said they would buy from a company with a poor reputation.
Reputability is not something you stumble upon by chance; If you want to improve your reputation online, you can start by taking a closer look at your domain. When looking for a domain name for your business, you should consider domain extensions that reflect your brand and what makes the most sense for your company.
How significant are domain name extensions?
In today’s online world, the domain name is the first perception of your company, your credibility, and an essential part of your brand image. But does it really make a significant difference which domain extension you buy to represent your company online? Will customers or clients even recognize the effort and money you put into registering an expensive new gTLD like .FINANCE, .MONEY, .LOAN, .CAPITAL, or the latest addition to the financial family .BOND?
“Nothing of value is free. Even the breath of life is purchased at birth only through gasping effort and pain.”
-Robert Heinlein
Cheap domain names don’t necessarily represent cheaper brands. Domain names and extensions serve a much bigger purpose than simply being the online address of your piece of digital real estate. As mentioned earlier, .COM is still one of the most widely registered domain extensions worldwide, and it can be purchased at a low price.
On the other hand, everybody and their mother can register it without restrictions, and it doesn’t provide any information about your business before people take a closer look at the website. In a perfect world, the domain name of your website should make it immediately obvious what services your business offers.
People are searching online to learn about your brand before deciding to work with you. Whether you want to enhance or increase awareness of your brand, businesses that are able to prove they are sincerely trying to make their customer’s life easier will rise above the rest.
You shouldn’t make decisions based on a domain name’s price. Your domain name portfolio is something that should never be taken lightly. It is what precedes you, your reputation, and your brand online. Buying a domain name just because it is available and, more importantly, cheap could set you up for failure.
How to boost your business’s reputability
Taking a “sit back and relax” approach to your business is a sure way to guarantee it has a quick death and could damage your reputation irreversibly. You can build a stellar reputation through hard work and informed decisions.
The key to creating trust is to be proactive, which will set you up as an expert in your industry and can help you communicate with your customers in a non-intrusive way. You have to actively work to build the best reputation possible for your business.
Unfortunately, this is easier said than done, and the pressure is higher than ever to avoid damage to your brand image.
Whether offline or online, excellent customer experience is the best way to guarantee a positive online reputation. This includes being responsive to feedback and fixing issues before they become major problems.
Customers today research brands and services online before making a decision. If you are actively engaging with them, they are more likely to believe that your business is an authority on financial matters.
All of this works together to demonstrate that your business is current, relevant, and reputable. This being said, you simply can’t put a price on the trust and credibility you earn by investing in a financial domain extension like .BOND.
All these factors could make or break your company’s online reputation. Still, an even bigger strike to the heart could be if your customers fall victim to a scam website that’s operating under your name – just because you didn’t register the domain name in time. Keep in mind: It can take years to build a reputation, but only minutes to ruin it.
How to detect scam websites
The internet can be a quite vicious place. Countless websites are either fake, fraudulent, or a scam. Therefore, cybersecurity has become a vital part of business success. There are many ways to determine if a website is fake or legitimate. It starts with paying close attention to the address bar and checking connection security indicators.
A padlock next to a website’s URL means it has an SSL certificate encrypting the site, and any communication, including payments, can’t be intercepted. Bad grammar, an overabundance of ads, and the absence of a contact section are further indicators of a scam.
However, due to the aforementioned high price of a .BOND domain and the comparative cheapness and abundance of extensions such as .COM, chances are good that scammers will prefer to register cheap domain extensions instead of investing in one of the more expensive, new gTLDs for the financial market.
Deciding on a .BOND domain doesn’t just show your connection to finance; it makes a clear statement against cybercrime. It’s never too early to start taking control of your online reputation.
