A Domain by Any Other Name
I was talking with Andrew Gouty of DeepRipples (an Indianapolis SEO company) the other day about the characteristics of a good domain name. He had a few tips which I put to use on a project we were struggling with. He suggested domain names should:
- Use .com, .net or .org. Too many spammers use .biz and .info. I know he is right, because I occasionally run into issues with www.roundpeg2020.wpengine.com, but after seven years, I have too much invested in the suffix to change. Fortunately, I have enough legitimate content on the site, and elsewhere on the net to overcome the negative perception of .biz. I would not however, at this point recommend any of my clients choose that suffix starting out.
- Be as short as possible – Five Syllables Maximum- Logical, but tougher then it sounds, when the company you are working with is UNCLAIMED FURNITURE AND MATTRESS WAREHOUSE. Even the initials www.ufmw.com actually equates to six syllables.
To his list, I added the criteria for the name to be something meaningful or memorable. Here are a few of the names we came up with:
- www.cheapfurniturenow.com
- www.mycheapfurniture.com
- www.bestcheapfurniture.com
- www.cheapfinefurniture.com
These are less meaningful, but shorter and easier to remember:
- www.goufmw.com
- www.buyufmw.com
- www.ufurnituremw.com
- www.ufmwarehouse.com
None of those were exactly what my client was hoping for, so we went back to the drawing board. I really liked: www.yourwarehouse.net because they do sell more then furniture in some of their stores, but the .net was less then optimal, so we suggested:
- www. unclaimedshop.com
- www.shopunclaimed.com
- www.buyunclaimed.com
The winner: www.shopunclaimed.com. The more I look at it, the more I like it. The name is short, memorable, and I like the fact it leads with a verb. What do you think? What other criteria are important when you try to find a domain?
Please contact Roundpeg, an Indianapolis web design firm, for more information.