What’s in a name?
It all happened by serendipity.
One day, while browsing through the Oxford English Dictionary, we stumbled upon the history of the halcyon*, which is an alternative spelling of halcydon. Halcydon is also another name for kingfisher.
Moments after talking about the domain – we heard a thump on our window. We had our blinds closed but since we were near the door, we peered out the window.
We were startled to see a belted kingfisher looking directly at us as if to say ‘Hi!‘. In a flash, the kingfisher took to the skies again.
We checked our registrar to see if Halcydon was available, and it was, so Halcydon identity (Hi) came to be!
What does Halcydon Identity do?
Halcydon is a domain brand specialist. We are a husband and wife team who have worked in the IT industry for over 20 years. So, what exactly do we do at Halcydon Identity?
- We discover and/or recover domains that offer value to businesses, non-profit organisations, or individuals.
- We do background checks on these domains (such as looking for a history of spam).
- Wherever possible, we target niche categories, terms and phrase that offer both branding and search engine optimisation opportunities.
- We target international and regional terms and phrases often overlooked by the anglo-centric resellers.
- We love classic top-level, generic domains (.com, .net, .org) and we also think domains created from domain hacks are clever and memorable! You’ll find a variety of choices on our website.
Our goal is to sell these domains, not hoard them. Not only do we take great care carefully choose our domains; we craft copy that will put the domain in the best light for people who happen to land on the page.
We refuse to put ads on these pages, as we think they denigrate the value of the domains we choose. We will not use text generators to ‘spin’ copy for these websites; we believe that each domain here on Halcydon has a story to tell.
Finally, we do think search engine optimisation is important, but domains are made for private blog networks or PBNs. Domains used for PBNs tend to be abandoned as soon as it’s search engine optimisation value is depleted. In addition, PBNs often render the site with very spammy content, which could seriously damage the reputation of a great domain. This is not who we are, we’d love to see these domains shine in the best possible way! If we buy domains that previously have had websites on them, we carefully check the content history via archive.org.
We also list what we know about the domain’s history on the homepage, as well a link referencing the domain in the archive. This way, the user can make their own decision regarding the site’s history. We look for content that has been free of spam such as adult sites, gambling, and other questionable content; this will give the new owner a fresh start to do their own search engine optimisation.
Why own a domain in the age of social media?
You own your piece of internet real estate. You are not subject to ever-changing whims of Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. You are not kicked to the curb if it gets shut down like Geocities or Google+; you are not forced to find a new home when it becomes unpopular like MySpace, Orkut, Bebo and many others.
You can completely control how your website looks. If you are unhappy with it, you can change it. The keys are you your hands. You do not have to worry about censorship whether it is corporate or governmental. Also, you can completely monitor, measure and control the traffic to your website; it can be your scalpel for very targeted marketing.
As a business, it shows a level of professionalism. Having your own domain shows commitment to your business and your brand. additionally, a custom domain email looks more polished than a Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook, or Yahoo domain.
Our digital lives have become our raison d’être, and allowing a third party to control your online identity is far too risky. Take control of your digital identity; find a great domain to fit your purpose!
~ Halcydon Identity.
* read more about the myth of Halcyon and Ceyx here.