Re: Question on domain names

At 08:02 AM 6/3/03 -0700, Carole Goodwin wrote:
>I'm not sure if this is the right list or not. Please let me know.
>
>I have a client who wants me to do their site. She is getting ready to 
>purchase a domain name. Her business is a two word name and right now, 
>that name is taken. She is agonizing over how to get around this. If she 
>adds the number "2" at the end of it (businessname2.com) that is not 
>taken. But, she wonders about the feasibility of having a number appear in 
>a domain name. Good, bad, no one does it?? She can add an "s" and 
>pluralize the name (businessnames.com) but that is not really the name of 
>her business, although it works. Which is preferable? Adding the number or 
>making the domain name the plural of the business name? Both of those are 
>available for purchase.
>
>Thank you!
>
>  Carole

Several have suggested adding a hyphen but I would avoid that as well as 
the two suggestions you were already considering. Remember that a domain 
name needs to be easy to remember as well as clear to understand when 
spoken. Instead, I'd consider adding something like "inc" or "co" to the 
end. If it's a regional business, you could add the city/county name or 
state abbreviation. If it's a multi-word company name, consider 
abbreviating it to its initials. Depending on the company name, you may 
also be able to work in an abbreviation to one of the words. We had this 
problem for a publishing company we did. We shortened "publishing" to "pub" 
-- yes, someone might think it's a bar, but it was the best solution.

You might also consider a descriptive name versus a company name. For 
instance, one of my two companies is "Precision Marketing" -- just imagine 
how common those two words and all the variations are! (No, we didn't pick 
that name; this is a company we bought and have to keep the name for now.) 
This company produces practice newsletters for medical professionals so we 
registered "practicenewsletters.com." It works great, plus it helps with 
search engine ratings.


--
Nancy J. Foster
Quill & Mouse Studios, Inc.  http://www.quillandmouse.com
Graphic Design -- Computer Typography -- Website Creation 

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