Short Thoughts

The Ten Commandments of Domain Names

While driving home from dinner this evening, I heard an ad for the company Graphic Innovations. At the end, the voiceover announcer listed their website as “graphin.com.” It kind of got me thinking.

As you probably already know, in my opinion, the URL is an important part of a website’s usability; I expressed those thoughts of mine in a previous blog post. In that post, however, I really only paid attention to the path and query string of the URL — everything after the first slash. Just as important, however, is the domain name, not just in terms of usability, but also when it comes to maintaining a consistent and appealing brand.

The reason the domain name “graphin.com” struck me funny is because, on the Web, there really is no clear need for abbreviation. Now, in a phone number — for instance, (800) GRAPHIN — the need for abbreviation is quite clear. However, the domain name “graphicinnovations.com” is more directly connected to the actual name of the site, and unless the company regularly refers to itself as “GraphIn” outside of the Web, the abbreviation really doesn’t make all that much sense. Granted, in this particular case, “graphicinnovations.com” is taken by another large-format self-adhesive vinyl printing company called Graphic Innovations… hmm. ‘k then.

Choosing a domain name is a balancing act between brand identity and “typeability.” However, there are certain things that you must keep in mind in order to choose a domain that isn’t a turn-off. For that reason, I have crafted the Ten Commandments of Domain Names.

The Commandments

1. Thou shall not choose a domain name that, when typed with “http://” and a terminating slash, is longer than half of the address bar in a typical 1024×768 browser window. If possible, thou shall choose one that is significantly shorter than one-third of the length.
2. Thou shall not choose a domain name that uses uncommon, unnecessary, or unintelligible abbreviations. The Web is not a telephone system, you aren’t limited to 7 digits. Unless the abbreviation is commonly used inside the brand itself (ie, using business initials or a nickname that’s common knowledge), don’t put it in your domain name.
3. Thou shall not choose a domain name with words of ambiguous spelling, like “judgment/judgement” or “color/colour” (for domains in an international market). If unavoidable (which it will be for some business names), and the correct spelling is not likely to be widely known, consider registering both domains, and setup the “less correct” domain to redirect to the chosen form.
4. Thou shall not choose a domain name with words that are hard to spell or hard to type (when avoidable), like “unconscionable” or “amphitheater.” Granted, these are two very extreme cases, but there are a lot of words in the English language that are liable to be mistyped. If you find yourself having to pay extra attention to correctly type your domain name, so will your users.
5. Thou shall not advertise a domain name via radio or spoken word without also spelling it. Unless your domain name is composed solely of very common English words, it isn’t fair to assume that listeners will immediately know how to spell it. Will most people get it right? Yup, most likely. However, you run the risk of alienating potential users who may be either less educated, or less familiar with the verbiage of your field. This is particularly true when proper names or brand names are used in a domain.
6. Thou shall not have more than one distinct domain name pointing to the same website. Different parts of the same website with distinct purposes (ie, “kleenex.com” vs. “getmommed.com” for their special promotion; or “nikerunning.com” vs. “nike.com” for the whole site), that’s totally fine. However, when I hear a radio commercial advertising “visit blahblah.com OR yaddayadda.com,” that’s just weird. Take away one point of user confusion, use (or at least advertise) only one domain name.
7. Thou shall make good use of thy subdomains. Unless you’re hosting with some draconian, sadistic web hosting company that places restrictions on your number of subdomains, by nature of owning a domain you naturally own every possible subdomain underneath it. Use them to separate content, but only where it makes sense. You should not use one subdomain for images, one for CSS files, and one for JavaScript files, or anything crazy like that (I actually had a boss once who insisted on that structure… *shudder*), but if there is a portion of your website that serves a purpose distinct from the rest of your site, and constitutes a site in and of itself, push it over into a subdomain. It can help keep the right side of your URL shorter and cleaner.
8. Thou shall not append arbitrary digits to the end of your domain name. Yes, I know that it’s sad that you couldn’t get “awesome.com.” No, registering “awesome22.com” is not an acceptable substitute. Domain names aren’t like usernames: if your desired domain isn’t available, don’t just start adding numbers, reexamine the concept from scratch and pursue other options. If you’ve got the cash, and the domain you want is NECESSARY to your brand, consider making an offer.
9. Thou shall choose a TLD that is consistent with your type of website. Most websites should fall under the “.com” bracket, or if necessary/it sounds better, the “.net” bracket. Only non-profit organizations should register a “.org,” and “.info,” “.biz,” and the others should be used relatively judiciously. Keep in mind that, while semantic purpose is important, very few people are familiar with TLDs other than “.com,” “.org,” “.net,” and “.edu,” so use one of those if possible, even if “.aero” fits your airline’s website better (yes, it exists).
10. Thou shall not choose a domain name in vain. Changing domain names, while technologically simple, can be a massive pain in the ass for your users (and your marketing department). Put a lot of thought into choosing a good domain name, and stick with it.

Now obviously, like all rules there are exceptions to the above commandments. However, consider them next time you need to register a domain name, you’ll be helping to keep the Internet a beautiful place.