Mindshare versus attentionshare	1.7/5.0 (3 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
Barry Goggin October 22, 2008

Rick Schwartz has a nice post on his blog talking about how purchasing category-killing domain names for end users is a no brainer. This is true in the “real world” also where buying a shop on main street is always better than buying a shop on some side street. The latter requires far more advertising and effort to drive customers through the door. Location, location, location.

Side street shops

So why do people buy shops on side streets and how do they succeed? The why is probably answered simply enough by saying that they do not have the capital to invest in a shop on main street. Does that mean that they are doomed to fail or to go into debt trying to advertise their business? No. But it does mean they better have a clear idea of the customers they can reach, the needs of those customers and the competition for those customers.

Average domain names

I think the same holds true for domain names and websites. If you don’t have the capital to invest in a category killer domain name and have not had the luck or smarts to spot an opportunity to register such a name, you are joining the many who have average domain names. So how are you going to stand out in the crowd? How are you going to succeed?

Mindshare

For me, one of the key components is to go after attentionshare. Mindshare is a term often used in marketing where branding efforts strive to make the consumer think of the brand when they think of the product category e.g. Coke when thinking of cola drinks. Mindshare requires significant investment in advertising, marketing and time, something beyond most average domain name/website owners.

Attentionshare

Purpose driven - attentionshare is within the grasp of the average website owner though. I am not talking about the 6 year old kid in class who, when the teacher asks an easy question, is jumping up and down trying to attract the teachers attention and answer the question.

Rather I am thinking of the person who often remains silent but when they do speak, they have something interesting and informative to say. I am thinking of a great teacher or great storyteller who grabs our attention in a quiet way and has us wanting more.

How does that translate to the online world? In a nutshell: quality, unique content married with a knowledge of what your customers/visitors want. Good niche websites fall into this category. I talked previously about Superparents online and how to target this visitor. As Rick pointed out in his blog, thinking like an end user will help you.

Pretend you are a website visitor

So pretend for a moment that you are a superparent and you come to the web because you are wondering if your child is in danger of becoming autistic because of upcoming vaccinations. You visit a website with a good informative article about how mercury is no longer used in vaccinations and the positives and reasonable risks of vaccination. Now you spot another article headline (carefully positioned by the website author) about a new vaccine that may prevent cervical cancer in girls and you have a pre-teen girl.

Even if you do not read that article immediately, you are much more likely to bookmark this website and return at a later time. Now the website owner can use their marketing skills, call to action pages, advertising etc to turn you from a visitor into a customer.

Garner attentionshare

Many demographics are coming to the web with a specific purpose while others are coming with less clear intentions. As a small website owner, you can target those purpose-driven users and compete for their attention. Garner attentionshare and you may be the next internet equivalent of that successful side street shop.

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