- Part 3 : Common Domaining Mistakes To Avoid I
Common Domaining Mistakes to Avoid ( I )
No domain name is perfect. There’s always someone bigger, better, or similar that will rain on your parade. However, if you want to get as close to perfect as possible it is absolutely crucial that you avoid certain mistakes. These mistakes are ones that are commonly made by beginners in the domain name world.
Why do so many people make these mistakes? Well, at first glance, they seem like a good idea. In fact, you’ll still have some people who won’t change their minds about using these domain names, even if they are proven to be lousy. Take my advice—you will make more money for yourself or when selling to a savvy final user if you simply avoid making these mistakes. Learn from others’ mistakes.
• Trademark Battles
Is www.disnee.com on the market and your business is selling cartoon mice stuffed animals? Stay away. Seriously. It might seem like a good idea to buy domain names that are really close to a popular company’s domain name—until you get slapped with a copyright lawsuit.
Ideas can’t be copyrighted, but once you create something written or with images, it belongs to you, and in some cases, logos can be copyrighted. If you get too close to the burner…well…you’re gonna get burned baby! These names might be hot, but you’ll lose out in the end. As a business owner, the possibility of a lawsuit could bury you in debt, and as a domain name entrepreneur, you won’t have many bites if your domain name even has the slightest possibility of conjuring court date.
Remember, however, that generic names cannot be copyrighted. A popular site on the Internet is www.hotels.com. If you want to buy www.hotel.com, www.myhotels.com, www.hotles.com, or anything else, and even run a hotel booking comparison business like the original company, you can, and there’s not much they can do to stop you, as long as you don’t use their logo or site design.
• How do You Spell that Again?
The English language is full of horribly hard to spell words. You may not think about it when you are domain name hunting, but if your customers have even the slightest question on how to spell the domain name, they might get it wrong. www.bigcakes.com is a great name because there is no question of how to spell “big” or “cakes.” However, what if your business name is Patty’s Big Cakes. Is your names spelled Patty or Pattie or Patti or…And what if your business name is your last name? you may have been spelling Schmoofenheimer all of your life, but no one else will have a clue, so it makes a bad domain name in the end.
Also, think about the words used in your domain name in general. Are they hard to spell? If so, maybe those domain names aren’t for you. Think not just about spelling either—there are certain words that are simply commonly mistyped because they are long. For example, using the word “awkward” in your domain name might not be such a good idea.
Remember that typo-squatting can bring on lawsuits. You might see terrific traffic heading to www.AllisonsBeauty.com if there’s a huge corporation called www.AlisonsBeauty.com. Be fair—running a very similar business from this site or using a very similar logo make land your in trouble.
• Homophones, Acronyms, and Other Plays on Words that aren’t Cute
Ever think that the name of a business or catch phrase was really clever? For example, as a writer, I know people who like to say that they have “the write stuff.” Aw, that’s cute. But not for domain names, please. If you’re talking to someone on the phone and tell them that your website is www.thewritestuff.com, they’ll most likely head over to www.therightstuff.com. Words that sound the same but are spelled differently are called homophones, and they make horrible domain names. The only exception is if you spend oodles on marketing the name. Because of great branding, www.digg.com is a success.
What about acronyms, which is when you use every first letter to create a new word? Sometimes, these work fine. For example, UPS is a great acronym for United Parcel Service and NASA works like a charm—in fact, do you even know what NASA stands for? Many people do not. Three-letter domain names can work fine, if you have a buyer. Remember that you may need to hang onto the name www.RSJ.com until the law firm Rodney, Smith & Johnson comes along, but in the end this will probably be a profitable sale. However, if you own Patty’s Big Cakes Bakery, using www.PBCB.com is just a bad idea. That’s difficult to remember (strike number one) and doesn’t put any image into our minds (strike number two). Worse yet, over the phone, when you say PBCB, people hear all sorts of things. What did you say? PDCB? PBDC? Strike three, you are out.
There are other common mistakes people use as well when it comes to plays on words other tricks in text. Using the dashes and hyphens are a bad idea, and so are words that need apostrophes. If you have something cute to say, consumers want to read it. Put “I’ve got the write stuff on your homepage, but use www.writer.com. We don’t want to have to think too hard to find a website.
