If you’ve built a solid online brand and find yourself having to rebrand your business online for one of various reasons, then you should count the cost before you start. Is rebranding really necessary?
If it is, there are some definite costs, and I mean beyond the dollars and cents.
For instance, if you have to get a new domain name to correspond with your new business domain, then when you redirect your old site to the new domain you’ll likely lose some search engine rankings. The bright side is you can regain those for the new site, but you might have to work extra hard to build up their authority. A new domain starts at line zero where age and authority are concerned.
You’ll also have to count the cost of rebranding your other assets. You might, for instance, have to establish a new Twitter account, or rename your old one.
With your Facebook, you can request a name change. That requires the approval of Facebook. It’s a relatively easy process, but it does require you taking some action. With Google+, you just go to your business page and change the name.
You’ll also have to rebrand your YouTube account, LinkedIn persona, newsletters, podcasts, and anything else online that carries your old brand name. That means more work. For each additional aspect of your business that you have to rebrand, there’s a cost – even if it’s minuscule.
Sometimes, rebranding is necessary. If you find that it’s unavoidable for your business, try to mitigate the costs as much as you can.