6 Smart Ways To Rebrand With Authority While Being Memorable
Are you happy with your domain name and web address? Many organizations settle for a less-than-ideal domain name because “that’s what was available” when they first launched their website.
But times have changed.
Since 2014, the internet has an expanded namespace with new domain extensions like .BIBLE, .DIGITAL, .NETWORK, .GOOGLE, and nearly a thousand others.
These new domain extensions open up opportunities for organizations to strengthen their brands and to improve the user experience by directly connecting easy web addresses to specifically-focused content.
6 proactive strategies organizations are using to rebrand with .BIBLE domain names
1. Brand Name for A Bible App
A great domain name is a great brand. The domain name NewLife.Bible goes directly to the home page of the NewLife mobile app. NewLife.Bible was rebranded from newlifeapp.ca. This instantly associates the New Life app with the Bible. This also expands the reach of the New Life Bible app to anyone anywhere in the world. The previous domain name had a geographical tie to Canada, that might cause some users to think the website is only for Canadians.
Instead of putting a link or graphic button on the corporate website’s home page, NewLife.Bible is promoted through other means, including printed promotional cards and magazines. Here’s a photo of one of the promotional cards:
This gives a unified brand name for the app that helps people to quickly engage the content in a focused manner, without having to wade through organizational details, as important as that is for other reasons.
What’s Good About This Strategy
- A short branded domain name that’s easy-to-spell and easy-to-remember
- Web address makes for a clear call-to-action
- Ranks #2 on Google search results for “new life Bible”
How This Strategy Can Work for You
To promote your product or program that’s related to the Bible, a .BIBLE domain name is the best way to make this instant association. The simpler and clearer you can make your call-to-action URL, the more likely it is for people to respond and go to your website. In other words, your promotional material has one goal: to give just enough information to motivate a person to visit your website.
2. Taking Action to Engage the Bible
The Bible compels people to engage with it in a variety of different ways. Engaging can take the form of an action verb with the Bible being the object of engagement. For example, read the Bible, memorize the Bible, understand the Bible or love the Bible.
Before someone can engage the Bible, that someone has to have the Bible in his or her language. While we have many Bible resources in English, there are many languages in the world for which there are not many Bible resources.
If you had a website where people around the world could find Bible resources, what would you name it? How about Find.Bible? Yes, that’s a great web address!
That’s exactly what Find.Bible provides, giving visitors a quick way to search and find Bible resources in their own language. Find.Bible is currently cataloging over 3,800 Bibles and over 78,000 resources in over 6.000 languages (at the time of this blog post.)
When we asked the Find.Bible website’s curator, Ken Bitgood, why they made the change from their previous domain name findabible.net, here’s what he said:
“Having a short and meaningful domain name like Find.Bible has helped people to more easily remember our web address. In the past when we shared a web address, people often didn’t remember whether the domain name had a .COM or .ORG (or something else) on the end. Now we can say that the web address is just Find.Bible and there’s no extra ending to add. People are getting it because it just makes sense!”
What’s Good About This Strategy
- A web address that is easy to remember
- Using a verb matches natural language wording, making the website more search-friendly
- Ranks #1 on Google search results for “find Bible”
How This Strategy Can Work for You
When you have a product or program that helps people to engage to the Bible or motivates people to take action from inspiration found in the Bible, branding with a .BIBLE domain name and an action verb adds clarity to your web address. Many people are solution-oriented and looking for answers to their problem, and your web address can make it obvious for people to know that you’re offering the solution.
3. The Perfect Domain Name for Bible Churches
Harvest Bible Chapel is a new church starting up in Ashburn, Virginia. In today’s digital lifestyle, most people naturally visit a church website before visiting the church. Though the church already had a domain name for their website, the pastor took advantage of the opportunity to change their domain name to Harvest.Bible. This new web address was shorter and clearer than their previous domain name, harvestashburn.org.
What makes Harvest.Bible a better domain name? Here are 3 reasons:
Harvest.Bible matches the church’s name, perfectly aligning with the brand name of the church. The previous domain name referred to the geographical location, but that doesn’t exactly help people remember the church’s name or associate the web address with the church.
Harvest.Bible tells people that the website is Bible-related; whereas harvestashburn.org tells people it’s Ashburn-related but people don’t know what it is. They might wonder if it’s a farmer’s market or a service to harvest crops. Uncertainty and lack of clarity puts a hurdle and adds friction in the user experience, and tends to result in a lower response rate.
Harvest.Bible is a better-looking domain name. Of course, good looks aren’t everything, but it is something. All kidding aside, Harvest.Bible is much easier to read than the previous domain that has 2 words that run into each other. Harvest.Bible is also a shorter domain name, making it memorable when people drive by a sign that they only see for a few seconds. And a shorter domain name makes it easier to type for a better user experience.
There’s also another church using a .BIBLE domain name: Redemption.Bible is the web address for Redemption Bible Church in New Braunfels, Texas. You’ve probably seen a good number of churches with Bible in their name; and a .BIBLE domain name is the perfect way to proclaim the Bible’s importance.
What’s Good About This Strategy
- A domain name that matches the church name strengthens the brand
- The domain name instantly says that your website is Bible-related
- A shorter domain name is easier to read, easier to remember and easier to type
How This Strategy Can Work for You
The brand name itself is the most important part of branding that helps people to remember you and what you’re about. Getting a domain name that matches your brand name would strengthen your brand’s memorability. Every time people use your web address, they’re getting another experience that reinforces their memory of your brand name.
Even if your organization or product brand doesn’t have the word Bible in it, you can use a .BIBLE domain name to make the association for your brand. Your domain name can show that the Bible is an important part of your brand, because the Bible inspires your work and is central to your mission.
4. Brand for a Bible Translation
Because the Bible is God’s Word for all of humanity, that has motivated people throughout history to translate the Bible into versions that are easier to read and understand for different groups of people in different cultures and sub-cultures.
A translation team with MissionAssist produced the EasyEnglish Bible to better serve people that know a little English around the world. This helps people that are learning English as a second language or maybe working on literacy skills. The EasyEnglish Bible translation uses a subset of the English language with a smaller vocabulary, shorter sentences and simpler grammar. These restrictions make the Bible much easier to read than ordinary English.
EasyEnglish.Bible became the new domain name for the website that was previously located at EasyEnglish.info. The previous domain name was less than ideal because it wasn’t fully descriptive for what they were offering. When asked why they made the switch, they said: “EasyEnglish.Bible is such a meaningful domain name. It tells you exactly what the website is about!”
What’s Good About This Strategy
- A most meaningful domain name
- Stronger branding because the domain name matches the Bible translation’s name
- People can easily recognize what the website is about
How This Strategy Can Work for You
When presenting the Bible to an audience, making the web address as clear and meaningful as possible increases the likeliness of more people remembering and visiting your website. Even if you are not producing a Bible translation, .BIBLE domain names can bring clarity and raise the prominence of many other editions of the Bible—produced with commentary notes or produced for a specific audience. For example, your website could host the commentary and notes from your church’s or your pastor’s Bible teaching. Or your website could be the home of the Study Bible for men, women, teens, or children.
5. A Bible Resource for Making Disciples
Harmony Bible is a ministry that is operated entirely by volunteers in cooperation with each other. Harmony Bible provides free resources and training for disciple-making disciples.
Harmony Bible switched to the new domain name Harmony.Bible to better align and associate with the .BIBLE top-level domain operated by American Bible Society. Harmony Bible’s previous domain name, harmonybible.coop, highlighted the cooperative nature of the Harmony Bible ministry, but the top-level domain was not operated by a Christian organization.
What’s Good About This Strategy
- A shorter and simpler domain name
- Makes it easier to find online
- The letters after the dot in your web address tell the world more about you than anything else.
How This Strategy Can Work for You
You can get your brand an instant association with the Bible by using a .BIBLE domain name. You can also have the peace of mind in being associated with a reputable Christian organization that has over 200 years of Bible ministry and innovation.
6. Unapologetic about Bible Ministry
Reason For Truth is an apologetics and evangelism ministry dedicated to equipping youth, families, and church leadership to share their faith in today’s 21st century post-modern culture. Reason For Truth accomplishes its mission by providing resources and training.
Reason For Truth switched to the domain ReasonForTruth.Bible to emphasize the importance of the Bible as the foundation and revelation of truth. This replaced their previous domain name, reasonfortruth.org, that only indicated its nonprofit status.
What’s Good About This Strategy
- Shows the importance of the Bible
- Retains your existing brand name
- Uses a new domain extension from the 21st century
How This Strategy Can Work for You
You can enhance your existing brand name by making a stronger association with the Bible. If the Bible is important to you, your organization, and your intended audience, a .BIBLE domain name can increase the affinity of your brand with all peoples who love the Bible.
WHICH REBRANDING STRATEGY IS PEAKING YOUR CURIOSITY?
Can you see your church or organization using any of these 6 different strategies for using a .BIBLE domain to strengthen your brand and its association with the Bible? Which one could apply to your situation?
Test it out in writing! Write out one .BIBLE domain name that your website could use and check if it's available at a registrar.