Rebrand and Change of URL – Southbourne to Sonet Digital.

A Long-Awaited Transition

The overhaul of our website and the streamlining of our services have been on our agenda for quite some time. Over the last year, we finally took the decision to give our website a facelift and refine our service offerings. One obstacle stood in our way: time. Being a smaller niche company that prioritises client needs, we often found ourselves neglecting our “own back garden,” a common issue for busy digital agencies.

Striking the Balance – Rebrand vs. Time

Given the circumstances, we had to allocate a specific number of hours each week for our website’s redevelopment. This effort wasn’t just a matter of time but also an investment in customisations, content updates, image creation and sourcing, service bundling, and new service introductions. On top of this, we had to address complex technological considerations that are part and parcel of such a rebrand.

Domain Migration

The relaunch provided us with the ideal chance to migrate to a new domain name—something we had contemplated for a long while. Specialising in rebranding services that our clients highly value, it was high time we applied our own expertise to ourselves. Rebranding gives businesses an opportunity to rejuvenate their image without sacrificing their hard-earned historical Google data. Stay tuned for more on this topic in upcoming posts.

A Change in Identity – From Southbourne to Sonet

For the past 10 years, we were known as Southbourne.com, prior to that Intertec. The decision to rebrand to Sonet was made long ago. Fast forward to 2010, and we underwent a rebranding exercise, emerging as Sonet Digital. In terms of online branding, it made complete sense for our initial plan to migrate to sonetdigital.com. Ownership of the geographical region and the Top-Level Domain (TLD) are crucial first steps in such a transition.

Seizing the Opportunity – New Domain Extensions Released

Just as we were planning the move, new domain extensions were released, expanding options for nearly every business type and hobby. It was impeccable timing given the scarcity of appealing TLDs that weren’t already claimed or cybersquatted. Little did the Internet’s pioneers know the monumental impact their creation would have globally.

Choosing the .DIGITAL Domain

For us, the choice was clear: .DIGITAL. We secured our desired extension during the Sunrise stage and undertook a full migration to SONET.DIGITAL. While moving from a .com to a brand new extension may be novel, rest assured that these new extensions are treated as TLDs. Find out why we chose Sonet.

We seized the opportunity and acquired Sonet Digital. There are two main reasons for this:

1. Our rebranded name is Sonet Digital – the domain sonet.digital provides the opportunity to shorten the URL using name and extension.
2. Eventually, we will rebrand and shorten our company name to Sonet, this will mean we will not have to change the URL again.

Technical Aspects of Domain Migration

Google’s change of address tool, 301 redirects, content and link updates have simplified the technical facets of domain migration. I’ll write more about this in a future article, highlighting some of the pitfalls involved with such an adventure.

A New Chapter

We’re happy with the new look and performance of our website. Though there were minor hiccups (a nod to the HTACCESS file—thanks, Paul Arlott), the transition has been smooth overall. We invite you to visit our updated digital marketing services on Sonet Digital and feel free to get in touch.

Feel free to explore the site, and thanks for stopping by.