How important is a short domain name?

by dog8food

Posted: 8 years ago 22 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

So I'm getting ready to start my first online comic in the humor category.

I have seen a few successful comic blogs, and they seem to have shorter and memorable names.

The name of my comic is Object Lessons In Comics. It's mostly self-depreciating humor. However It would make quite a long domain.

My question is: how important is a short memorable domain name? If the product is good enough/funny enough, does the domain matter so much?

**Edited to add:
I noticed some online comic blogs will use acronyms if their name is too long. For example: if the acronym for my site is OLIC. That domain is already taken, but I could always go with things like "getOLIC" "OLICblog" "OLICify" etc. I just want to make it as easy to access/remember as possible.

#domain #important #short

namehero

8 years ago

Originally Posted by dog8food

Pronounceable, brandable, dotcom. That's what I've always stuck too and it's worked wonders.

You don't have to go spending big bucks either to get what you want. Check out sites like https://www.expireddomains.net/ to pickup good names that have just been dropped.

Thanks

Signature

Name Hero: Making Hosting Great Again!

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10147848].message }}

seobro 8 years ago

I have found I do best with a short domain name. This is so we can advertise on TV as people have very poor memory. Also, make it an easy to remember catchy name. For example, mikes bikes dot com.

Customers are lazy and they do not like to type out a long domain name.

A big discovery is that they forget the extension on the domain name and you do terrible with a dot net name. In fact, most people will default to dot com. OK so my company had to pay thousands for the dot com name. Like we were famous using the dot net ext and losing consumers. They would type in dot com. Yeah, it was a big hit in one year. However, it was worth every penny.
- [ 1 ] Thanks
Signature
http://www.seobro.com
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10147912].message }}
DubDubDubDot 8 years ago

Originally Posted by dog8food

The name of my comic is Object Lessons In Comics.

21 characters is probably a deal killer for a phrase that has little to no penetration into society.
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10147930].message }}
fantrom 8 years ago

When it comes to domain names shorter (unlike in the bedroom) is always better.

In this fast paced world peoples memory can only retain so much.

Get creative and take "Object Lessons In Comics" and shrink it down.
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10147942].message }}
Randall Magwood 8 years ago

Just market the site. Short domain doesn't matter. Don't rely on search engines as your lifeline online.
- [ 1 ] Thanks
Signature
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10148222].message }}
ProServices 8 years ago

Generally people can remember short domain names so it's something I want to start doing.
- Thanks
Signature
H.A.S
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10148227].message }}
Matthew Trujillo 8 years ago

Something easy and short to remember and relevant to what your site is about I'd say.
- Thanks
Signature

Trust meâ€¦ This guy is unlike any â€œguruâ€ youâ€™ve seen before.
Get FREE Training + 2 Bonuses Worth $237
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10148266].message }}
tamalanwar 8 years ago

Don't go with acronyms, they will kill your branding. hp.com is good because everyone knows what hp means but people will have a hard time remembering OLIC since they hear you for the first time. Get 2 or 3 word memorable name.
- Thanks
- 1 reply
Signature
Tamal Anwar C.
I transform old outdated 1990s/2000s websites
into a fresh site of present time Learn How
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10148967].message }}
- Steve B 8 years ago
  
  Warrior advice is all over the board, isn't it? That's what you get from a public forum where anyone can give an opinion or an un-tested theory. In the end, you do what you are comfortable with and what makes sense to you.
  
  1. Dot com is the best extension, don't settle for anything else.
  2. Shorter is better than longer, but "a little longer" is OK in order to get a good dot com.
  3. Domain age means almost nothing. Google knows that a domain is changing hands and they know that any links coming in were intended for the previous domain . . . not your brand new registered domain.
  4. From what you've described, I would say that "comics" is your main keyword and the word that should be in your domain so folks have an idea what your site's about.
  5. Go to Lean Domain Search and Impossibility, type in "comics" and you will be presented with many dot com alternatives. Pick one that is short and relevant and go with it.
  
  Steve
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
  Signature
  
  Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
  SteveBrowneDirect
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10149005].message }}
  
  mkellerman 8 years ago
  
  Another thing to consider is the history of the domain. Look on archive.org. If it used to host a spammy site or is an English keyword domain, but used to host a site in a foreign language, choose a different domain, as it may have been banned by google.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10149287].message }}
  
  rpatsmith 8 years ago
  
  I've always thought that the size of a domain didn't really matter as much as it being memorable. When people chop them down to acronyms, it can be confusing. I know it has been for me anyway.
  
  I seem to remember a lesson some time ago on this. It suggested that a domain name needed to be memorable to be marketable.
  
  Thanks
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10149526].message }}
chrismcelroyseo 8 years ago

Unless you plan to advertise on TV or radio, your traffic will be coming from links in the Serps and on social media. People will click a link regardless of the length. The headline, Image or page Title has more to do with a better CTR than the domain name.
- Thanks
Signature

Chris McElroy
TrafficAndLeadGenerator.com
LinkedIn Publisher
"The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions".-- Claude Levi-Strauss
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10149519].message }}
starcreatives 8 years ago

Short name of domain is batter than long one. Short name is easy to remember for people.
- Thanks
Signature
Star Creatives
Star Creatives Life Issues
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10150047].message }}
miradisplays1 8 years ago

For promotion point of view short name is best. It's easy to keep in mind and also get the priorities by Google. Like miradisplaysdotcomdotau. or bannerstanddotcomdotau
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10150153].message }}
SandraDLaurean Banned 8 years ago

I think it is important to define what a “good domain name” is. Summing it up, a good domain:
1) is short
2) is easy to remember
3) is easy to spell
4) is descriptive or brandable
5) does not contain hyphens and numbers
6) has a .com extension
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10150266].message }}
winnermarketing 8 years ago

Yes is important, but nowdays people use to save the site, if they think it is interesting!
- Thanks
Signature

Free Guide to Make Money Online [Now!]
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10150524].message }}
ThomasLloyd 8 years ago

You can just buy a niche-centered domain name and it will do just fine, you will have to struggle if you want to stick with super small domains as most would be taken!
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10150705].message }}
John Moore 8 years ago

Yeah a short domain is definitly recomended over a long one. What i try to focus on is using urls that's pronounceable and easy to remember. Try to find something that sticks in peoples heads.
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10150776].message }}
Maximus Flix 8 years ago

Back in time keyword rich domains were all the jazz but in today's climate, short memorable domains are just what the doctor ordered. The shorter and more descriptive, the better.
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10150784].message }}
quadagon 8 years ago

It's seems that there is no consensus on here so I will add my views to some of what's been said

Domain Length

Really doesn't matter as much as being memorable and easily associated with the concept of your site. Theworldsgreatestcomicstore.com is better than yx_a-.com

Keyword Rich

This isn't the early 90's and keyword rich domain names don't matter. Google it for yourself and see how many exact matches come up. Remember you have companies out there like Apple and Amazon who's names have nothing to do with the business they are in. Better to be a purple cow.
- Thanks
Signature

I've got 99 problems but a niche ain't one
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10150811].message }}
Alexandre Valois 8 years ago

In the past years, keyword has lost any benefits it had in ranking with search engine, so anything goes really as long as your CONTENT is solid and relevant (no scatter-shot, if your visitors don't know what your site is about, Google won't either).

Short or long domains will really depend on your strategy. If you plan on spending a lot of money on media buys and tv or radio advertising, a short domain will win the race.

If most of your marketing is done online and via social media or content marketing, the lenght of your domain becomes almost irrelevant as long as it's unique, branded and memorable.

The logic is if you want people to remember and type in your domain properly in their search bars, you want to make it easy for them to do so.

If you do most of your marketing via content where your visitors will get to your site via direct linking or emails... chances are they'll never have to type your address in anyway (and it will likely get saved in their history for later use).

Hope this helps!
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10150903].message }}
THIRUNAVUKKARASU k 7 years ago

people like short domain name as it is easy to remember and brandable. but, it is not mandatory- If you want to sell a single product then it would be better for the domain name to be same as the product name. all the best..
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10622380].message }}