--- title: How To Make It Hard For People To Find Your Startup Online --- # How To Make It Hard For People To Find Your Startup Online Written By: [Dharmesh Shah](https://www.onstartups.com/author/dharmesh-shah) April 30, 2008 How To Make It Hard For People To Find Your Startup Online Written by [Dharmesh Shah](https://www.onstartups.com/author/dharmesh-shah) on April 30, 2008 - - - - Ok, it's late (2:07 a.m. here in Boston), so please forgive my snarkiness. I'm going to presume that most startups would *like* to be found online by people (you know, like potential users or -gasp- customers) .  People try really hard to get their internet marketing "right" so as to increase their chances of being found by the right people online.  There's a whole industry based on this need.  I should know, I'm in the business of helping businesses [get found](https://www.hubspot.com/). That's why this particular example really struck a chord with me.  Lets start at the beginning.  I was catching up on some of my reading when I came across an article on the [Under The Radar Blog](http://www.undertheradarblog.com/wp_blog.html?fb_2042860_anch=4013581).  The article made reference to an upcoming conference they're holding where a series of startup companies present and a panel of judges...um...judge.  One of the companies on the list is Aviary described as a startup that has a "suite of web applications for people that create content".  Fair enough.  The article even provided a link to the company website:  [http:/aviary.com](http://aviary.com/).  Just one problem.  Aviary.com doesn't go to the startup's website.  It goes to Avalon Aviary which is (drumroll), an *aviary *in Loveland, Colorado.  Ok, me thinks, they got the website wrong.  No big deal.  It's probably something like AviarySoftware.com or AviarySomethingElse.com.  Nope, no luck. Given that I'm an obsessive kind of guy, I start doing Google searches.  I *know* the company exists.  I start using search terms that I think might work.  Things like "aviary software" don't deliver the company's website.  Tried "aviary web suite" too.  No go.  I'll spare you the gory details.  Ultimately, I found the website. Here's where it is:  [http://a.viary.com](http://a.viary.com/)  Ah, clever.  But, I never would have thought of it.  Sure, del.icio.us (now, delicious.com works too) pulled this off.  But, why would you *intentionally* do this and make life hard on yourselves.  In any case, I'm not a big fan of *clever* domain names.  I like *easy* domain names.  Ones that are easy for people to pass around and distinctive.  Now, this story would have ended here.  Fine, sub-optimal domain name, no big deal.  But, there's more. The Aviary website has a *high *Google PageRank (PR7).  This means its got some decent authority.  So, why didn't the site turn up for all the searches I did?  I was *trying* to find them.  Reason?  Their page title is "Aviary - Creation On The Fly".  Somehow, I don't think that people are going to search for "creation on the fly" unless they become so big and popular that people actually remember the tag-line. **Quick Tips On Being Found Online:** **1.  **Try to use a domain name that's not too clever and is easy to convey.  **2.  **Get your page title right.  Google cares about page titles.  By "right", I mean something that actually contains terms that people searching for you might use.  By the way, Aviary does have some really, really slick tools.  I just wish I didn't have to try so hard to find their website.  End rant.  ## Related Posts [6 Y Combinator Startups I Would Have Invested In Back Then ycombinator August 1, 2008 I have been tracking Y Combinator (a new kind of venture firm for early, early stage startups) for several years. They have a distinctive approach to the early-stage funding process… Read Post ** ](https://www.onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/6119/6-y-combinator-startups-i-would-have-invested-in-back-then.aspx) [Startup Marketing: How Useless Is Your Web Traffic? January 11, 2007 My co-founder at HubSpot, Brian Halligan, posted an interesting article today on our partner blog titled “Advanced Internet Marketing: Turn The Pareto Principle On Its Head”. Brian’s… Read Post ** ](https://www.onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/878/Startup-Marketing-How-Useless-Is-Your-Web-Traffic.aspx) Subscribe ### Get OnStartup News and Updates in your Inbox. ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Dharmesh Shah", "url" : "https://www.onstartups.com/author/dharmesh-shah" }, "datePublished" : "2008-04-30T07:10:00.000Z", "headline" : "How To Make It Hard For People To Find Your Startup Online", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/5019/How-To-Make-It-Hard-For-People-To-Find-Your-Startup-Online.aspx", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.onstartups.com/hubfs/mjtw-assets/logos/onstartups-logo@2x.png" }, "name" : "OnStartups" } } ```