This is a guest blog post by Mike Bal, Head of Strategy and GTM at Nova Registry.
Today’s customers have the opportunity to engage with your brand in more ways than ever before. That’s why it’s essential to maintain a consistent identity across every touchpoint with your audience—especially online.
When you type bitly.com into the address bar on your browser, the .com portion of the link is what is known as a top-level domain (TLD). With over 1,500 active TLDs in existence today, using multiple domains should be a fundamental aspect of your digital strategy.
While your primary domain serves as the cornerstone of your online presence, extending your brand across additional TLDs can enhance your marketing efforts by segmenting content for different audiences, help protect your brand from imposters, and aid your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
When first starting out, you could use .com for your main website, .link for your branded short URLs, and .shop for your online shop. By maintaining a consistent brand identity across various TLDs, you can create a seamless experience for your audience and strengthen your online presence. Let’s dig into why incorporating multiple TLDs into your brand’s strategy can be a game-changer for your business.
Strengthening brand recognition and trust
A consistent brand presence across multiple TLDs reinforces your brand’s identity and builds trust with your audience. Plus, frequent exposure to your brand will aid in recognition and help users navigate to your products or services more quickly. This is especially true when using TLDs that align with specific use cases.
For example, using brand.link for your shortened URLs creates a cohesive experience across any channel you use to share links. The possibilities with this TLD are endless; create pages like brand.link/wintersale or brand.link/newcustomers to keep things familiar while directing your audience to the content that is most valuable to them. When customers see the same branded link format in your social media posts, emails, or SMS campaigns, it builds familiarity and trust. This consistency helps strengthen your brand presence and ensures that every touchpoint feels authentic and credible.
Did you know that you can get your own .link domain directly within Bitly? You don’t even have to leave the Bitly platform to find the perfect domain for all of your short links. Simply choose .link as your TLD while setting up your custom domain, and we’ll set the rest up for you.
Optimizing marketing performance across channels
Branded short URLs, like those using the .link TLD for example, can help enhance your marketing performance across various channels. The use of a custom TLD not only makes your URLs more memorable but it also can play a role in improving click-through rates (CTR) and overall engagement. In fact, according to recent data from the Bitly Connections Platform, a custom domain can actually help boost click-throughs by 2.3x.
Social media
Studies have shown that over half of links shared on social media are never clicked. Character limits and user experience are critical in this space, so branded short URLs using a custom domain are a great way to encourage clicks compared to generic URLs. After all, your audience is more likely to click on a link that they recognize as part of your brand, which directly translates to better campaign performance.
Email marketing
Did you know that emails that contain links with a good domain reputation are less likely to be flagged as spam and more likely to be trusted by recipients? This can result in higher open rates and better engagement with your content. Establishing a good domain reputation not only enhances deliverability but also helps build long-term credibility with your audience.
SMS marketing
For SMS campaigns, where space is limited and trust is essential, using a branded top-level domain for your shortened URLs can help you potentially avoid carrier filtering. Carriers are increasingly vigilant about filtering messages that contain generic or suspicious-looking links, so leveraging a branded .link URL is a great signal to carriers and recipients that the message is legitimate and from a trusted source, ensuring that your messages reach their intended audience.
Enhancing SEO and online visibility
While TLDs like .link, .shop, and .online are often used to create short, memorable URLs, they can also play a role in supporting your SEO strategy. Short domains containing relevant keywords signal to users as well as search engines about the content they link to. By consistently using a domain like brand.link, for example, for shortened URLs, you can help reinforce your brand identity while contributing to your overall SEO strategy.
As you regularly use a custom-branded domain across your marketing channels, search engines may begin to recognize and associate it with reliable, relevant content. This can improve your domain’s authority over time, which could positively impact your visibility in search results.
Protecting your brand across TLDs
Owning your brand name across multiple TLDs is a critical strategy for protecting your brand from potential threats like cybersquatting or domain hijacking. By securing your brand across relevant TLDs, you prevent competitors or malicious actors from registering similar domains that could confuse customers or damage your reputation.
For example, if your primary domain is mybrand.com, securing mybrand.link ensures that all shortened URLs used in marketing campaigns are under your control. This not only protects your brand but also provides a cohesive and consistent user experience across all touchpoints.
Why .link works well for shortened URLs
The .link TLD is a strong option for creating branded short URLs because it offers simplicity while clearly signaling the function of the URL. The TLD makes it immediately clear that the link directs to online content, which is intuitive and relevant for users. This is particularly valuable in spaces like social media, email, and SMS, where concise communication is key.
When customers consistently see your branded .link URLs across channels, it reinforces your brand identity and strengthens recognition. Plus, when you use a TLD through platforms like Bitly, you get the added benefit of being able to easily track and analyze link performance so you can optimize your marketing strategies.
Strengthening your brand across TLDs
Maintaining a consistent brand across multiple top-level domains is an important digital marketing strategy for businesses of all sizes. Businesses that use consistent branded domains across multiple TLDs can create clear, memorable links that improve recognition across channels while also protecting against potential brand misuse.
Whether you’re sharing links on social media, in email, or through SMS, branded custom domains can help you drive your desired outcomes more effectively—don’t miss out!
