Learn/These-Websites-Aren't-as-Dirty-as-They-Sound-Part-2

By [[User:|]] on

Take care when choosing your domain name

In Part 1 of this article, I talked about the risk of creating a website name that may give searchers and other potential visitors the wrong idea about a site's content if the name is CamelCased incorrectly. Some website owners probably choose their domain names without realizing that they can be read to mean something quite different from what they intended.

Other website owners may not have a CamelCasing problem at all, but are so focused on their own industry niche, they just don't realize how their chosen domain name could be perceived by a larger audience, even when read correctly. Once it's on the web, a site is exposed to everyone -- not just to the specific demographic a business is targeting.
Other website owners, though, seem to intentionally choose website names that have only a marginal relationship to their brands. With a nudge and a wink, they may be hoping the provocative name will drive additional traffic to their sites.

But getting more traffic from a name that doesn't accurately represent the site can bring more problems than benefits. Yes, the company will probably see a significant increase in website traffic -- but that traffic isn't likely to convert to sales. The wrong audience has been attracted. Unless the sole purpose of the website is to glean revenue from display ads, this extra traffic is a huge waste. It takes up bandwidth and other resources that could be better used to show great content to the appropriate target audience. After a company spends time and money building a brand and creating a presence on the web, it's a shame to have to change the website because its name is hurting the business, rather than helping.

For Example:

	Nice-Tits.org		HookerFurniture.com

	This is now an adult website, but it use to be the home of The Royal Tit-Watching (Ornithological) Society Of Britain. Society members probably had a great time with the name when they had a print newsletter, but shut the website down in mid-2006 (probably getting too much traffic).		This is a furniture store in Martinsville, Virginia, offering "Home Furniture for Every Lifestyle". Don't worry though, their mission is to enrich the lives of the people they touch. I don't recommend trying to re-brand a company that has been around since 1925, but companies do need to consider the evolving use of language when they talk about their company. This isn't even a new definition. It's been around since the American Civil War!

	CummingFirst.com		Budget.Co.ck

	This was the website of the First United Methodist Church of Cumming, Georgia, from late 1998 through at least mid-2008. The church has since changed domains to the highly recognizable and easy-to-remember cfumcga.com.		There isn't a lot you can do about this one if you absolutely, positively must have a business domain registered in the Cook Islands. The top-level domain is .ck, and the registrar uses .co for commercial domains, so if you are a business you are pretty much stuck with .co.ck.

	CumStore.co.uk		ViagraFix.com

	Cumbria Storage Systems Ltd. is a well-established storage and handling company doing business all over Cumbria, Northern England, and the Scottish Borders. A company based in a city called Cockermouth should already be aware of image issues arising from double meanings, and could have tried to pick a better domain. At least it's not based in the Cook Islands.		ViaGrafix is really more a victim of someone else's branding than its own choice of a bad domain name. The company was quietly selling CAD software and learning CDs when a little blue pill hit the market in 1998, producing an upswell of consumer interest. Perhaps too much of the wrong traffic drove ViaGrafix to agree to be acquired by Learn.com Inc. in 1999.

	MammothErection.com		Masterbaiters.com.mx

	It is probably fine -- and maybe even a benefit -- to call your scaffold erection and dismantle company Mammoth Erection if you are talking solely to your customers. Not so much when you are on the World Wide Web, and visitors expect to see a lot more of your employees than you may be comfortable showing to the public.		Who knows what you are going to catch if you go fishing with these guys?

	CUMbooks.co.za		Rim.jobs

	Probably not the best name for a Christian family bookstore. How many people would guess it stands for "Christelike Uitgewersmaatskappy," or Christian Publishing in Afrikaans?		Research In Motion, maker of the Blackberry smartphone, has a special job for you.