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Choosing a web site address Now that society's idea of polite
conversation has progressed from "What's your sign?" to "What's your URL?" — or Universal Resource Locator, i.e., Internet address — it may be time to take a fresh look at the attributes of a
successful web page address. Regardless whether you already have a web presence or are in the process of establishing one, you may want to review your options. As a starting point, it's important to remember that
even though Internet browsers contain a "favorites" feature which makes it easy for visitors to easily revisit your site, unless visitors locate your site using a search engine (like Yahoo!), they have to
actually type in your web site address. Characteristics of a successful URL
Although a successful web address involves carefully balancing several considerations, successful web page addresses share three main attributes. They are:
- Short and simple
. Shorter is always better. Short web addresses are easier to remember and reduce the possibility of typing errors that can trip up potential visitors.
- Descriptive
. Your web address should preview the content visitors will encounter when they visit. Your name, in itself, may not provide enough of a clue to your web site's contents to entice visitors to drop
in.
- Memorable
. The very best URL's combine simplicity and description with an unique element—often a play on words—that helps potential visitors remember your web site address hours, days, or even months after
they first encounter it.
As a result, a successful web address often requires more thought and creativity than immediately obvious. Your first instinct, usually to name your URL after your name or your firm's name, may not—in the
long run—be the best choice. Let's take a closer look at each of these three attributes. Short and simple
Whenever possible, use the minimum number of letters necessary to
identify your web site. This reduces the chances for ambiguity and typing errors. Homes & Land Magazine
offers an excellent example. Their web site permits you to view photographs and descriptions of hundreds of thousands of homes across the United States. Although the words "homes and land" are relatively
difficult to misspell, the large number of letters offers increased opportunities for typing errors. In addition, there is the ambiguity of whether visitors should spell-out "and" or use the ampersand symbol.
Homes & Land skillfully eliminated these potential problems by simply calling their site www.homes.com.Initials and acronyms offer a great way of reducing long names. Foreign Motors West is an automobile dealer outside Boston. It would be a lot to ask visitors to type
in "Foreignmotorswest.com." Instead, Foreign Motors West choose www.Fmwest.com—far shorter. Descriptive
A good web site address describes its contents. For example, one of my friends owns an
audio/video store named Gramophone Ltd. Using Gramophone Ltd. as a web site address creates several problems.
- Too long
. One is that Gramophone Ltd. contains numerous characters, requiring extensive typing. Even worse, there are several ways to misspell Gramophone Ltd. Each day, the store receives checks and mail
with various spellings: two "m's", an "a" instead of an "o" after "gram," etc.
- Ambiguous
. There's also the question of whether or not to spell out "Ltd." (i.e., Limited) plus the decision concerning what to do about the space between "Gramophone" and
"Ltd."
- Punctuation
. And then, whether or not to add a period after "Ltd."
Rather than work with the firm's name, the owner is considering naming his web site after its content—in this case, information about audio/video equipment and home theater. As a result, the relatively cumbersome and
hard to type "Gramophoneltd.com" could become alternatives like "a-vadvice.com" or "hometheater.com" which, although admittedly a bit long, is at least easily spelled. Another good
example of a descriptive URL is the Design & Publishing Center that provides design, typography, graphics, illustration, and other services. This company has named its site www.graphic-design.com. American Auto Transportation is a
company in Massachusetts that ships cars, so if you're on an extended vacation in Florida (lucky you!) you can drive your own car instead of a rental. Now, "americanautotransportation.com" would be a very long
and cumbersome URL, so instead they chose www.shipcar.com
—which is short enough to be remembered if heard on the radio while driving. I'm involved with establishing a strong Internet presence for Smith Motor Sales. Not too unique a name, eh? A URL like
"smith-motors.com" does nothing to describe the firm or what makes it special. What does make Smith Motor Sales special is the fact that they're the only exclusively Mercedes-Benz dealer in the Boston area,
which is a strong positioning statement (other Mercedes-Benz dealers in the area sell other brands of cars). Accordingly, Smith Motor Sales's new URL is www.onlymercedes.com
a short, unique, easily-remembered descriptive statement of the firm's purpose and competitive position. In some cases, the business name does do a good job of describing the contents of the web site. An example
that comes to mind is www.Caboosehobbies.com. There's
little doubt that the site deals with model railroad supplies and not radio-controlled airplanes or slot car racers! And, although the name is lengthy, the words are not easily misspelled. Memorable
One of my friends is an author whose name is Crystal Waters. Crystal has written several books on Internet design. If Crystal named her web site after herself, i.e.,
"Crystalwaters.com" or "Cwaters.com", her address wouldn't be very memorable. It would just sit there and be immediately forgotten. However, typographical errors are something that everyone in the
communications field fears. Thus, Crystal named her web site www.typo.com
which satisfies several objectives: it's short, easy to type, hard to misspell and signals that the web site addresses communications issues. Most important, www.typo.com is easily remembered. Perfect! Ten minutes
from now, you may have forgotten her name, but you'll probably remember "typo.com". Another creative type with a creative URL is Jeff Rubin, a copywriter/newsletter consultant. His URL is www.put-it-in-writing.com. InfoAdvantage Research
International is an Internet research firm with a good name, but one which would also be rather cumbersome. So, the company's resource-filled web site is www.businesscity.com, which is both shorter and projects a feeling of vitality and lots of different times of
activities. Finally, John Towey is a Realtor who wisely chose not to name his URL after himself, which wouldn't offer the browser a reason to visit. Instead, in his desire to position himself as the leading source of
real estate in the Magnolia district of Seattle and also become memorable, he chose www.mrmagnolia.com as his URL which is simple, descriptive and definitely harder to forget than his first and last name. Conclusion
Test
yourself by reviewing your present or proposed URL and see how it stacks up against these criteria:
- Short
. Is your URL as short and easy to type as possible?
- Descriptive
. Does your URL do a good job of describing the content visitors will find when they visit?
- Memorable
. Is your URL easy to remember, even if your name or your firm's name isn't? Is it distinctive or humorous?
Other considerations
As can be seen above, the better your business name, the easier it will be to choose an URL. Like good business names, effective URLs are
short, descriptive and memorable. Here are some other aspects of URLs to bear in mind:
- Preliminary research.
Although not a foolproof method of seeing whether or not a web site address has already been taken, you can do a preliminary search by simply typing in a desired web site address and see if the domain name has already been taken. This can help you weed out web site addresses already taken without paying a search firm to do the first round of searches.
- Act fast.
Because of the explosive growth of the web, it pays to get there early.
Before you concern yourself with the details of web design, content and production, you should firm up a short, descriptive and memorable web site address as early as possible.
- Product or geography.
You might build your URL around specific products, events or your location. Perhaps you want you business to be known as the best source for a particularly well-known product or service in a given area. "Bmwnyc.com" would be a logical choice if you wanted to be known as the leading BMW dealer in New York City.
- Oops!
Be careful about web addresses that inadvertently create "words within words." Although at first glance a web address for Rogers Audio/Video might be reduced to the partial acronym "Rogersav.com", the problem is that visually the address emerges as "Roger Save" (which my accountant keeps telling me to do).
- Support.
Most important of all, be sure you support your web site address throughout all of your marketing materials and broadcast advertising. Your ads, brochures, business cards, letterheads and newsletters should all prominently feature your web address. The more exposure your URL gets, the greater the number of visits, especially if your address is short, descriptive and memorable.
Finally, if you find that your business name or your desired descriptive name is already taken, consider simply adding "online" to the name. That was the solution I suggested to a firm whose name was Cookin. "Cookin"
was taken but "Cookin-online" was available. |
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