Naming Your URL

Posted by Laura Bergells

July 31, 2006

Today, a blog post I wrote ended up in the top ten at Google for the phrase “naming your website.” So this alone has generated some good traffic today, as well as one very intriguing question from a podcast listener who asked,

I came across your podcasts about branding and thought they were really good info. One branding issue that I would like to know your opinion is regarding the use of “i” and “e” names.(i.e. iSlompo.com , eSlompo.com) My feeling is that being in the internet business they seem a little dated and maybe should be avoided. However, I’m not sure about how they are perceived by the general public. Even if I feel that these names may be a little cheesy, if it works with my customers, then I would use them.

Any feedback about this would be appreciated.

Here is what I wrote (mostly) in response:

I agree with you on adding the “i” and the “e” — aside from being dated and cheesy, it shows an enormous breakdown in brainstorming and creative thinking.

The same goes for adding “my” or “go” in front of names that the company really wanted. What do these “add a short syllable” approaches to the URL actually communicate? To me, they say:

“We didn’t get there in time. We were too late. And we don’t have enough creative resources to come up with anything that reflects our company in a better light.”

If you’re not a firm in the technology, marketing, or creative sector — or one that has timeliness or promptness as a core value — then simply adding a “go” or an “e” or an “i” to the front of your domain might work for you. But this opens up a bigger set of problems….

Whatever you name your URL, why, that’s the perceived name of your company. As any Marketing 101 student knows, it’s much more effective to promote one name, not two! So what’s a company to do – change an established company name to reflect a less-than-optimal URL…or risk customer confusion and rapidly spiraling marketing budgets to ineffectively market two names?

Clearly, the best choice to have a great company name with a matching URL. No brand confusion. More effective marketing. Powerful branding. The choice is clear.

But there is yet another reason to avoid the whole “add a little syllable” syndrome — it lacks uniqueness. There are thousands of other little companies that didn’t step up to the plate in time or use their creative brainpower to come up with a winning company name and matching URL — and they all have an “e” or an “i” or a “go” or a “my”, too. The “add a little syllable” name reeks of marketing, business, and creative incompetence.

So unless you’re eloans.com and have already dropped millions into developing that brand, the self-conscious little “e” or “i” or “go” or “my” name is lumped in with a lot of half-hearted competition.

ps — true story – I know of an internet marketing firm that added “2000″ to the end of its domain name in 1997, because the year 2000 was “the future with a capital F!”

And as we all know now, there is no longer much of a future in the year 2000!

Same with i, e, go, and my! There’s a better name out there, waiting to be discovered!