Long or Short Domain Names?

[Dopa.com]

Domain names can be of any length up to 67 characters. You don't have to settle for an obscure domain name like avab.com when what you mean is AcmeVideosAndBooks.com.

Having said that, there appears to be some disagreement about whether a long or short domain name is better.

Some argue that shorter domain names are easier to remember, easier to type and far less susceptible to mistakes: for example, "getit.com" is easier to remember and less prone to typos than "connecttomywebsiteandobtainit.com".

Others argue that a longer domain name is usually easier on the human memory - for example, "gaepw.com" is a sequence of unrelated letters that is difficult to remember and type correctly, whereas if we expand it to its long form, "GetAnEconomicallyPricedWebsite.com", we are more likely to remember the domain name.

Some of these arguments are actually academic. It's increasingly difficult to get short meaningful domain names. I have not checked, but I'm fairly certain that names like "getit.com" and "good.com" have long been sold. If you manage to get a short domain name though, the key is to make sure it's a meaningful combination of characters and not the obscure "gaepw.com" in my contrived example above.
Long domain names that have your site keywords in them also have an advantage in that they fare better in a number of search engines. The latter give preference to keywords that are also found in your domain names. So, for example, if you have a site on free C++ compilers with a domain name like freecpluspluscompilers.com, it might fare better in a search for "free C++ compilers" than my other site, thefreecountry.com.

Which would I go for? I'd go for the shorter name if I can get a meaningful one, but I'm not averse to longer names. However, I would probably avoid extremely long names verging on 67 characters. Aside from the obvious problem that people might not be able to remember such a long name, it would also be a chore typing it and trying to fit it as a title on your web page.

（from Thesitewizard)

[Biggie]

so are you asking a question, posing a theory or just talking to yourself?

[DropWizard.com]

so are you asking a question, posing a theory or just talking to yourself?

I'm sure the 100,000 or so members here can use these helpful hints. Who knew we were all doing it wrong!

[bigboydog_0]

i have a long domain and im number 2 on google for a strong spanish keyword and #1 on bing ,yahoo etc etc , i think that if you put good keywords and content the search engines will pick it up .

[RMG]

Short is better

[SiberForum]

Domain name should be attractive and easy to remember and that does not matter really what length it is.

[Bomber8888]

Definitely short and easy to remember!

[SiberForum]

Definitely short and easy to remember!

In any case each situation is unique. For example webhostingtalk.com and 8dce4.com. The first one is longer but easier to remember.

[drumbum]

SEO value wasn't mentioned. It's too important a factor to leave out of the discussion. While short/long is debatable, properly factoring keywords into your domain name is helpful for seo. So while a short name like barryswebsite.com might be good, barrysgolfsite.com would be better in terms of seo if your mission is marketing "golf".

[Dopa.com]

SEO value wasn't mentioned. It's too important a factor to leave out of the discussion. While short/long is debatable, properly factoring keywords into your domain name is helpful for seo. So while a short name like barryswebsite.com might be good, barrysgolfsite.com would be better in terms of seo if your mission is marketing "golf".

Exactly! Thank you for your opinion.

[Banned: adonivideo]

my typical client

they own their name

yet

they pay google thousands each month to BUY PPC for my domains that get them business

I own the keywords

so they pay me and they pay google to promote MY KEYWORDS

now on a local level, this makes 100% sense

maybe not on a national level

but when a biz is john doe lawyer

no one is looking for john doe lawyer

they're looking for GEO lawyer

so he tries to buy ppc for john doe lawyer

google yawns

oh, 301 lawyers now that want to be on page one

GET IN LINE

now when he comes in with GEO LAWYER .com or .net

he moves to the head of the ppc line

exact match keyword

so the ultimate domain for most companies is THE KEYWORD

the keyword will get organic

the keyword will get maps

the keyword will get a high QS and get preferred ppc rotation spots at reduced rates

so what name should a business have?

THE KEYWORD FOR WHAT THEY DO

unless you're a major company with millions to blow on branding

a businesses name is IRRELEVANT

I set up usually two campaigns at first for a new client

one with his name .com his business name

one with my keywords

same budget

same keywords

they see my domain GETS ALL THE IMPRESSIONS

then they say

wow, so I mean nothing to google huh

yep

only keywords mean anything

KEYWORDS are the key to google

end of story

no 4 letter abbreviations everyone is chasing mean anything

someone needs something they type in the keyword and maybe a local tag if it's a local based need

you need a tire

you type in tires GEO

or GEO TIRES

you don't type in goodyear or firestone

people search for geo product/service

local drives google

you see a ton of local guys buying local searches on google

you see very little national buyers of the same keywords

why?

national companies are branded with millions in ads

local companies get new business by being relevant on a geo keyword

so the answer is

you own what you do with your city name

and you get every tld to stop competition from doing their own geo keyword development

[drumbum]

And you get a D in sentence structure.

Seriously... you hit the nail on the head. But I would advise, "in addition to" rather than "in place of". The branding of company name is still important for small business. I own GiftsForDrummers.com... but I also own DrumBum.com, my company name.

Isn't if funny that, "end of story" is usually never the end of the story.

[Banned: adonivideo]

most businesses do not really 'do business' on line, the nets a big video ad now for local businesses that do local services/products
lawyers, doctors, dentists, realtors, etc
people 'find' traditional companies on line so keywords
your niche, drummer things
yeah a nice niche that could do 'on line' retail, unlike most local businesses
the net is big lead machine mostly for local companies, at least as I'm involved
yet, I've started up plenty of web based businesses to do 'on line' sales
ebook downloads
movie downloads
music downloads
memberships
etc
now my focus is mostly showing traditional local businesses with an emphasis on 'professionals' for mostly 'leads'
someone needs tires, they got to go to the shop to put them on, no matter what tire rack thinks
someone needs a muffler or brakes, they have to go to the shop
someone needs a lawyer or doctor, they visit the offices
same with realtors and vets and every 'traditional business'
but there are a ton of 'niche' markets where someone can deliver traditional goods and services via the net
excellent examples are niche guys that do high end restoration in auto
guys can get stuff sent to them from all over, rebuilds on stuff they don't make any more, power steering pumps, chrome stuff, etc
so yeah, you do drummer stuff, it could 'sell' on line so you have more than a regional need, but the traditional local business in america wants the net to make the phone ring so they can get the person in the office or shop
nothing 'fits' every example
but overall, if you deal in a region you need geo keywords
they're way more important to a small business than their name, since the average local business is just a 'service' oriented category to joe consumer

[drumbum]

I get the whole geo thing and you're right on target. I don't agree with this statement though: "most businesses do not really 'do business' on line". I think you might be underestimating just how many e-businesses there are now.

[Banned: adonivideo]

well doing me biz for me is more of a 'definition' of what you think 'business' is

some thing selling junk on ebay from their garage is a 'business'

I go down the main commercial strip in my market

first guy left side of road my florist client he does 'on line' sales but 98% is locals calling him still

a little down the road, one of my mechanic clients, all his mechanic work is on line, but he has a niche on line biz since he's an old school rebuilder of boosters, minor online sales and he's the dominate guy online in that 'industry'

a little further down the road, a huge client, tires and rims, big money and he has 3 divisions now thanks to me, his local biz is in shop only, he does sell rims all over since it's a 'niche' and he sells a huge amount of used tires world wide by the cannister, yet, his core biz is his shop, then his wholesale biz of used tires to 3rd world buyers in bulk

a few doors down my local granite/marble custom shop, all biz is in shop

a few doors down her brother a muffler client all the biz is in his shop

a few doors down, my auto restorer that just got a TV deal thanks to me, becoming a series, his work is all local, yet now collectors know of him and he gets rare autos shipped worldwide, but every deal is done over the phone, nothing 'on line'

a few doors down, another niche auto specialist rebuilds most mechanical stuff on rare cars, nothing ON LINE per se, every deal has to be done over the phone

a few doors down my local towing company, all his stuff is mobile calls on the road

a few doors down is my vet, all his stuff is in his office nothing on line

a few doors down is one of my lawyers, nothing on line all consults in his office

a few doors down my caterer, nothing on line all custom pitches in his office

a few doors down my alarm guy, purely for leads, traditional phone work nothing 'on line'

a few doors down my auto transport guy, nothing on line, has to all be done by phone

a few doors down my moving company, nothing on line, has to all be done over phone by quote

a few doors down my limo guy, nothing on line, all has to be phone quotes

a few doors down my contractor, nothing on line all has to be phone quotes

a few doors down my auto body guy, nothing on line all has to be phone quotes

a few doors down my used car guy, high end exotics, he does sell via ebay on line auctions, but now he's making way more money with me, doing phone leads for a niche market, so you want to not make money you auction the car on ebay, if you want to sell for a high profit, you do traditional phone work

a few doors down my restaurant client, nothing on line, only info about their joint

I could go on and on

so this is one minor area in the USA near where I live and the commercial area is filled with my clients, and in between there's 30 other businesses that want to hire me and honestly they can't afford me

the reason, I don't do 'local seo/sem' anymore really

i pretty much now only do the top professional niches, lawyers, doctors, realtors, etc


so 'on line' means you have a shopping cart and no human element

as I define it

the rest as explained above use the net but are not 'on line' sales companies

the net is used to create a lead and then traditional sales kicks in, phone sales or in shop sales

so I see how businesses use the net everyday

and any company that had something that could sell via a shopping cart, ok, you pay me to do the front door get the traffic and hire some low dollar guy to run your shopping cart script

so we had plenty of guys trying to 'sell online' and had no interest in it

too much work, we do front doors to get traffic, the on line selling is really over blown

unless it's a huge company, there's a million companies with shopping carts and almost no sales

so are they 'doing biz'

not really

my guys that do stuff outside of their market do not 'sell directly' on line, it's a lead thing, since their industry is very niche oriented and requires phone work to 'sell'

if you have a simple product and a niche, yeah you can 'sell' anything via shopping cart

but what are the numbers

no major numbers in sales they're not 'in business'

I see who is in 'business' in my neighborhood, all my clients, the only guys in town that are increasing sales usually are my clients

everyone else is slowly dying

no new clients

so yeah, anyone can open up a lemonade stand, it doesn't mean it's a 'business'

to do numbers in sales on line, you need to have a major niche with lots of traffic

very few niches have substantial traffic

and everything with big traffic is already done

the time to develop legit future 'on line' companies was 14 years ago

now, no one new is really 'starting up' with any traditional product sales on line

all the action now for domains and development is local professional stuff IMO

since I turn down now 99% of the local guys calling me

oh you're not a lawyer, doctor, realtor, insurance company or auto related?

sorry, we don't do new development for anything like you now

good luck

bye

LOL

I've been in the local development game a while and I know where I want to work, so I don't do most of it now, even though I have a ton of clients doing a lot of stuff

you got to 'specialize'

you got experience in a nice niche like I said

but unless you actually did all the development I did in so many niches or categories

you can't really argue who is doing business on line

you are, great

I am too

but it's all phone work

you can't quote a custom development job on a form

just like most of clients can't use a generic shopping cart to 'sell' their stuff

so when you look at all the types of businesses in a local economy

where are the 'on line' sellers

they're not around, unless they're selling a minor niche item connected to a retail store

you do drum stuff

you have a retail store front?

then you would see, most of the sales would be local not 'on line'

if you do no local retail, ok, you know a niche market and do most likely a 'minor amount' of sales

sure you can make even a nice living off a niche like 'drum's I guess

but are you going to do an IPO and make many millions?

I doubt it

and there's nothing wrong dude with what you do

but you're trying to argue how big 'on line' business is

it's only big for a small amount of national/global online retailers

that's it

the early players

sure some new startups may succeed but most business today on the net is being driven by local companies looking to get people into their stores

not on line retailers looking for buyers

anyway, since the tread was about type of domain, I still stick to my point

keywords control the net not company names

only major companies that brandied their name have a name worth putting even 2 cents of ppc on

a local company can't use the net to brand their meaningless name

the local company needs the keyword and a geo keyword

and most will never sell one thing 'on line'

most business in the USA is not a type of business that can actually sell something on line

it's used (the net) by local businesses now to make leads

I know

I do this stuff every day and have for years

[drumbum]

Careful not to be too condescending. I've also been doing this for years. We should be able to have a diplomatic discussion on it and agree to disagree on some things.

... ok, you know a niche market and do most likely a 'minor amount' of sales

We're a million dollar company and our traffic is in the tens of thousands daily. If that's minor, I'll take it.

[Banned: adonivideo]

well, a million buck company means nothing really, 100K in profit is a 'million dollar company'
like I said, you have a nice niche with the drums, music a big industry
I'm in that industry as well, know a ton of the artists, do some indy videos for emerging bands
but it's not where I make my money
a million buck company, nice, me, my attorney took a 1.5M offer to me the other day for a minor thing I'm involved with
so 1.5M for me for 10 minutes on the phone
I'm being diplomatic, but the only thing that matters for 99.9% of companies today is keywords
giftys.com ok minor alexa for a 'traffic' site, 1M alexa means hundreds a day not thousands and you can hit 1M alexa with a couple of alexa tool bars and a proxy
drummer.com your 'nice score', nice niche name 28M alexa means not even 30 visits a day
now if you got a ton of sites and are getting 'traffic' great
so far what I see giftys.com and drummer.com are like I said 'nice' minor niche sites, with the drummer stuff being a better niche than gifts, gifts too generic IMO while drummer, yeah, good niche
anyway, to put out info about how important domains are, there's really nothing to discuss
KEYWORD period
case closed
good luck you seem like a nice kid

[drumbum]

More condescension? Too bad your personality doesn't match your large ego and your fat wallet. Just think, if you became a nice "kid" like me, you would have it all.

[Banned: adonivideo]

the only people calling me 'kid' are senior citizens now

LOL

I'm being nice if you read my posts

I like your drummer niche

Could be a good one for you

Gifts, unless you got heavy duty angel backers, that's the proverbial peeing in the ocean that one
but drummers

nice niche

IMO

good luck kiddo

[allroundguy]

SEO value wasn't mentioned. It's too important a factor to leave out of the discussion. While short/long is debatable, properly factoring keywords into your domain name is helpful for seo. So while a short name like barryswebsite.com might be good, barrysgolfsite.com would be better in terms of seo if your mission is marketing "golf".

SEO is only on websites ...
You are mixing up domains with websites.
Don't worry: Most domainers do.

And it is the prospective buyer who decides what is important: Recognition, keywords, length, cool/funny, geo, etc. etc. etc.
If Your business runs smoothly it matters not much what domain is used for Your website.
Product name? Owner name? Street? Slogan?
Third party opinions don't matter.

Geo?
If You need an electrician, plumber, garage, You probably prefer it nearby.
The local phone book yellow pages are simply in most situations better than internet search engines.