- Part 2 : Coined Words as Domain Names
Coined Words as Domain Names
Before the Internet came about, how often did someone say or write the word “yahoo”? Probably never—at best, a five-year-old yelled it when he was excited about something. Today, almost everyone knows what to expect from www.yahoo.com, even though the word yahoo has nothing to do with Yahoo!’s business. This is an example of a coined word used as a domain name (and for a very big profit, I might add!).
Coined words are all around us. If you want to see the master of coined words at work, simply pick up The Cat in the Hat or any other Dr. Seuss book. Yahoo! had great success with their domain name—so are coined words a good idea?
That depends on the word. Coined word domain names that are short and sweet tend to be memorable. They’re your own creation, so you also can copyright the name. Could you imagine what would happen if a company tried to run a competitive business under the name Yahhoo!? If they did well at all, they’d be buried in legal fees. Of course, copyright law cases are difficult to prove and to understand at times, so you can never be sure what will happen, but still, unlike generic names, you have more legal protection with a name like Yahoo than with a name like The Necktie Store. That’s definitely a selling point for coined words as domain names.
The downside is that you have to market your name well. That included using keywords for search engine optimization, doing media advertising, and providing one heck of a service that people can’t find anywhere else on the web.
And you have to remember, no matter how awesome your website may be at all of those things, if your coined word is too long, if amounts to nothing more than a string of silly sounds. If you run a business called Computer Software and Design Technicians, www.CompSofnDesTech.com is not a good name. Your own employees would never remember it.
Therefore, if you’re on the hunt for domain names, be wary about coined words. If there’s already considerable traffic to the site, or if it is a catchy, short phrase, you may find a gold mine, but coined words can be a total bummer too. The plus side is that they’re usually cheap or, if you make the word up yourself, free (not counting the registration fee).
