Re: domain name success

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Re: domain name success

From Jim Perry on 18 April '01
replying to Re: domain name success posted by Nicholas

The previous writer makes a good point. Interestingly, he chose HP as an example. There is a major women's bike race sponsored by this company. The full title of the race is "Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Women's Challenge". In the past, the web site for the race was hplwc.com. This year it is womenschallenge.com. That at least shows what they think of long names. Memorability is key, not length.

Here's one of my favorites: the Belgium Cycling Federation has the improbable (but short) domain name kbwb-rlvb.be. Now, folks, this doesn't work in _any_ language that I know of! There are no vowels.It almost looks more like an encrypted password or something.

Jim Perry

>>Hi,
>>I have a client who has a domain name that is 24 characters long.
>>I think this is very long, and think peolpe will people will forget it.
>>Does anyone know of any facts that can verify that longer domain names
>>are not as successful? Also, will this effect the search engines and
>>get them ranked higher or lower? Does anyone kow what the average domain name lenght is?
>
>The average length has been rising for years, and IMO, the average
>user now expects to see the name spelled out. www.hp.com may still
>work for Hewlett-Packard, but people have been calling them "HP"
>for a long time. With the InterNIC's increasing length allowed
>length to 67 characters, I imagine the trend will continue.
>
>Of course your concern is still valid: a name should be memorable,
>and people should be able to give it to someone else over the phone.
>
>Things that help:
>
>No "-" in the DN. The standard is now "no spaces, no dashes."
>
>Luck. Ideally a company name will have well-placed ascenders (b,d,f,l)
>and descenders (g,j,p,y) in its name, like www.bigskyhotel.com,
>as opposed to something forgettable like www.oneobscurecompany.com
>
>Plays on words should definitely not be long, and generally should
>not contain over one "cute" change. www.xactly.com is memorable.
>www.ekzactly.com is pushing the limit.

Re: domain name success - T J Daniels - 18/04/01

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>The previous writer makes a good point. Interestingly, he chose HP as an example. There is a major women's bike race sponsored by this company. The full title of the race is "Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Women's Challenge". In the past, the web site for the race was hplwc.com. This year it is womenschallenge.com. That at least shows what they think of long names. Memorability is key, not length. > >Here's one of my favorites: the Belgium Cycling Federation has the improbable (but short) domain name kbwb-rlvb.be. Now, folks, this doesn't work in _any_ language that I know of! There are no vowels.It almost looks more like an encrypted password or something. > >Jim Perry > >>>Hi, >>>I have a client who has a domain name that is 24 characters long. >>>I think this is very long, and think peolpe will people will forget it. >>>Does anyone know of any facts that can verify that longer domain names >>>are not as successful? Also, will this effect the search engines and >>>get them ranked higher or lower? Does anyone kow what the average domain name lenght is? >> >>The average length has been rising for years, and IMO, the average >>user now expects to see the name spelled out. www.hp.com may still >>work for Hewlett-Packard, but people have been calling them "HP" >>for a long time. With the InterNIC's increasing length allowed >>length to 67 characters, I imagine the trend will continue. >> >>Of course your concern is still valid: a name should be memorable, >>and people should be able to give it to someone else over the phone. >> >>Things that help: >> >>No "-" in the DN. The standard is now "no spaces, no dashes." >> >>Luck. Ideally a company name will have well-placed ascenders (b,d,f,l) >>and descenders (g,j,p,y) in its name, like www.bigskyhotel.com, >>as opposed to something forgettable like www.oneobscurecompany.com >> >>Plays on words should definitely not be long, and generally should >>not contain over one "cute" change. www.xactly.com is memorable. >>www.ekzactly.com is pushing the limit.