February 02, 2004 | View Comments (23) | Category: Web Mastering
Summary: What makes a quality domain name?
Today while looking for some new domain names I began to wonder when does a domain name become too long for users to try and remember. Or even worse, when does a domain name become too long for them to even type? There are so many quality domain names already taken, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find useful ones. I consider a domain name useful if it is easy to remember for the users and is somewhat catchy. Sometimes you can get lucky and come up with a name such as Yahoo and over time people will begin to associate your site with searches and resources.
How big of a role does a domain name play in the user's decision to go to a site? What I mean is if Amazon had been called Just Books instead, would it have mattered? I am sure there is no research for this, but I do wonder if there is some research showing the optimal letter count in domain names. What makes for a quality domain name? Any thoughts?
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Ahh, so then you gotta think would they have even moved over to more than just books if they kept that domain? silly question, but makes you wonder some.
Scrivs (http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/)
hmm. shorter is better, but not so short that you abbreviate things. Hyphens suck, always. .com,.net,.org are OK, not much else is. Choose sites that are easy to remember, easy to type, and don't have homonyms unless you want to buy multiple domain names. Ditto for plurals or things that cab be pluralized. I seem to recall reading '8-14' for optimal number of characters, but I can't give any references for it.
Of course, search engines like long descriptive URLs, so the SEO person will sell you www.nine-rules-web-design-best-quality-work-located-in-florida-usa-cheap-cheap-cheap.com or something. heh.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
It's just a hypothetical of course, but they'd likely have ended up in lots of trademark disputes... I think I've been to 3 or 4 different small bookstores in different cities called 'just books'
And they'd probably have either changed their name, or made it a playful humor thing, like Douglas Adams' increasingly well-named Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (which numbers 5 books and one short story)
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
I don't think you can call Yahoo's succes luck, they've spend a lot on branding before people started to associate them with "search and resources". But this a side, I can relate to what you're saying. I've checked hundreds of domains the past years and 99% of those I checked were taken. Alltough keyword-rich domains is great to have, it's not at all a must/garantee for a succesfull website.
If you don't do any offline advertising people will only find your website true search engines and we all know it's not the domainname that will get you ranked well but the quality content.
Bart N. (http://percept.be)
It used to be that 65 characters was the limit.
I don't think there's any hard research that indicates a preference on the part of users. I did however read somewhere recently that having a double hyphen (or two hyphens, not necessarily together in the name) gets filtered out of some anti-spam programs.
For the most part (assuming some level of intelligence) names don't matter as much as reputation for quality.
For instance, there's no reason why Ed's Bakery, (for example) who has developed an outstanding reputation for baked bread and a smart marketing strategy would not eventually get as much / or more web-based traffic as a national outlet such as Panera.
I think it's similar thinking as those companies that name themselves "AAA Widgets" just so they'll be first in the yellow pages. Doesn't really matter that they're listed first (or have a cool domain name) if they don't have a following. People might visit a site based on the domain name - but what good does that do if there is no payoff?
Mark Fusco (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
The key to Amazon and Yahoo's success - as Bart notes above - is not that they lucked out by grabbing a short and easy to recognize domain name, but rather they were a couple of the relative handful of web-based companies that had a vision, strategy and solid plan for achieving their vision long before they registered that domain name. They saw the potential and grabbed it.
As in the early 90's, there is still a ton of unexplored and unthought of possibilites out there. The key is to be visionary enough to do something about it. Don't cry over the fact that "all the good domain names are gone" or wait for a new market to appear. Create one yourself - just like Yahoo and Amazon did.
Mark Fusco (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
Just my poorly thought through opinion, but I reckon it just doesn't matter. Apart from URLs I already have in my browser, I always google for anything I want, specific or general.
In Safari it's one tab from the Address field, or you can get the google toolbar for windows.
Do people still try URLs?
john
John
I'm still deciding on a domain name for when I move my site to a real host. PassiveDigressive.com is available, along with the .net and .org iterations. I think it's a little long, but that's probably just me.
I don't type URLs often anymore. Bookmarks, button bars, and RSS feeds have nearly alleviated the need. I do type in random URLs from time to time, just out of curiosity and boredom. How else would I find such gems as crap.com, asdf.com, and of course, bored.com?
Chris Vincent (http://dris.dyndns.org:8080/)
Personally, I type them quite a bit. I tend not to use the mouse much, keyboard shortcuts are generally faster. But I don't usually type in names at random. Well, if I'm looking for a company's website I'll usually type in companyname and hit control+enter (www.%s.com) -- I'm that lazy -- and see if it works. if not, I'll pop it into the google box and search.
BTW, Chris, don't forget hell.com -- for an email address no one will ever forget. (It's more laid back than it used to be. It used to just have a black page with white text that said something like "piss off. this is a private domain"... now they offer email and stuff.)
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
John asked if people still use URLs. Of course we do! When someone asks you about something that you recently read on one of your "must read" websites, do you tell them to go Google it, or tell them to check out an article at arstechnica.com (or wherever)?
I had to stop and think about this before I answered, because I was full ready to agree with you on just Googling for what I want. It's not so much how I use the URLs on my computer that make the shorter, easy to remember one's important, it's social interaction that makes them essential.
Phillip Marquez (http://bentd.blue-ball.org)
Seth Godin has a good post on this:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2003/06/naming_a_busine.html
Brian (http://savedbyzero.org)
JC: Yeah, Hell.com is another good one. Last time I looked at it, it was a little weird. Another classic is http://www.absurd.org/. You can spend hours there and gain nothing but a little disturbance.
Chris Vincent (http://dris.dyndns.org:8080/)
llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.com?
huphtur (http://www.huphtur.nl)
Well, I either use some bookmarks/rss feeds or type the first letters of the domain name then select the right URL with the arrows. For Whitespace, I simply type 9r then press the down arrow and enter.
Regarding the name, I'd say the shorter the better, but try to keep it meaningful and avoid abbreviations unless they are crystal clear for the audience of the site.
P01 (http://www.p01.org)
In response to JC, I'd have to disagree with his recommendation that we should always use .com, .org and .net ... what a strange suggestion! My domain name is http://doepud.tk, and if that ain't cool and easy to remember I don't know what is!
Blair (http://doepud.tk)
It's all about marketing and branding your product (or maybe your website in this instance). Amazon has just become an internet mnemonic for 'bookstore' (or in recent times, 'department store').
Similar questions can be posed about the reasons behind the naming of Kleenex, Xerox and Coke, etc. Maybe the simple fact is they became so good at what they do their name just became synonymous with their function.
On a separate note... I caught myself typing www.whitespace.com to get to this site. I'm not sure what the implications of this are. :D
Jack (http://boxofjack.com/)
A cool domain name:
http://madeup.domain.name/
(I found about it via http://NTK.net)
Laur (http://purl.org/NET/LAUR)
I always remember this domain name:
www.wemadeoutinatreeandthisoldguysatandwatchedus.com
Dunstan (http://www.1976design.com/blog/)
That is an amazingly long domain name and yet I can see how effective it is for someone to "actively" try to remember it. It's kind of cool knowing that you can remember a long domain name like that and maybe you will try to type it in everyday just to show yourself how well you remember it. Interesting idea.
Scrivs (http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/)
Easy to remember and easy to say/understand. I went with achinghead.com for my weblog. (Sorry the server is down and I don't have a current backup either - ouch! Time for a new host). But whenever I've given my personal email address to a freind, either in person or over the phone, they go "Huh?" I have to spell both my not-so-common name AND the domain. Can get to be a pain. I have been thinking of going back to a yahoo (or similar) email account just for simplicities sake. (Anyone know of a free email service that will auto-forward or offers pop3 access?)
Btw, I got the idea for my domain from splorp > available domain name of the week. You'll find lots of interesting suggestions there along with their availability.
waylman
It may not be so important anymore with the popularity of Google, but back in the day when Yahoo was king, being at the top of a given section really helped you traffic. And since it is listed alphabeticaclly, having an A name is a good way to get on top. My dad read a biography on the guy that owns Amazon, and he said that it mentions in the book over and over that they wouldn't be where they are today if it weren't for their name starting with an A so they were first on Yahoo. I'm not sure I completely agree with that. I mean that obviously wasn't the only thing that was responsible for their success, but I'm sure it helped in the beginning. I personally believe in choosing a creative name over one that is high in the alphabet. Having an A or B name might get people to click on you the first time they see it in a an alphabetical listing, but I think a creative name will help people remember it a lot better.
For example, if Amazon was called ABookStore.com I don't think they would be as successful, even though it comes higher in the alphabet than Amazon.
Derek Rose (http://www.twotallsocks.com/)
@Blair,
I think the reason for going with com, org or net is simply due to the fact that nowadays if you just type "amazon" (for instance) your browser will try amazon.com, amazon.net & amazon.org. I have yet to see one that checks the various country abbreviations, .biz, etc.
It's just one less thing for common man to remember (obviously not a problem with big brand sites like amazon or MSN).
Phillip Marquez (http://bentd.blue-ball.org)
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#1
Well, it might have impacted their business model slightly. They sell alot more than "just books" these days, but this would have been harder to pull off if that was their domain name.
KillAllDash9 (http://www.pulpblog.com)