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Read my short guide to a good domain elsewhere on HN and for your own sake avoid domains with digits. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1659674 http://news.y

by Revisor 16y ago

Read my short guide to a good domain elsewhere on HN and for your own sake avoid domains with digits. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1659674 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1659674

qeorge 16y ago
Good tips. I advise the "radio test" to all of my clients.
- nerfhammer 16y ago
  Unfortunately the search for short domains leads people to abandon this rule. (worst offender of all time: del.icio.us) If you look at the YC list it looks like at least half the YC startups would fail the radio test: https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=t_toYuVyy6fci0MAiIaZ30A&hl=en#gid=0 https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=t_toYuVyy6fci0MAiIa...
  - InclinedPlane 16y ago
    Isn't the true version of the radio test whether when someone types what they hear into google they end up on your site?
jamesbritt 16y ago
Unless the digit actually plays into the name. I put up the Web 2.0 Validator site: web2.0validator.com (now on vacation until I get around to updating some code). Interestingly, someone wrote to me asking how I managed to get such a domain; I pointed out the domain is simply 0validator.com, nothing magical. Which of, course, means I can plan on web3.0validator.com :)
- Revisor 16y ago
  Domain hacks are funny but counterproductive and problematic in the long run. Domain hacks involving digits are a marketing problem squared. See the reasoning behind the switch from del.icio.us to Delicious.com: So why did we switch to delicious.com? We’ve seen a zillion different confusions and misspellings of “del.icio.us” over the years (for example, “de.licio.us”, “del.icio.us.com”, and “del.licio.us”), so moving to delicious.com will make it easier for people to find the site and share it with their friends. http://blog.delicious.com/blog/2008/07/oh-happy-day.html http://blog.delicious.com/blog/2008/07/oh-happy-day.html
  - SoftwareMaven 16y ago
    Also known as "We wanted delicious.com from the beginning, but couldn't afford it. Now we are big enough to pay for it." ;) I always liked the hack (I still us it; it's shorter), but I'm obviously not an average user. You are completely right that being "clever" in your domain (or really anything regarding your product) is often not a great plan.
    - joshu 16y ago
      Actually, we'd bought the domain in 2005. It seemed like the right thing to do later on. Remember that nobody had really done domain names like that (maybe cr.yp.to? i also have had burri.to for 15 years...) in a big way before, so it wasn't clear that it was a bad idea at the time. Some of the other domains, like http://delicio.us/ http://delicio.us/ worked correctly too. I wonder if Yahoo! kept them all.
      - Revisor 16y ago
        Hi Joshua, thank you for chiming in. Can you estimate how much users/visitors you lost due to the complicated domain name?
  - SoftwareMaven 16y ago
    Also known as "We wanted delicious.com from the beginning, but couldn't afford it. Now we are big enough to pay for it." ;) I always liked the hack (I still us it; it's shorter), but I'm obviously not an average user. You are completely right that being "clever" in your domain (or really anything regarding your product) is often not a great plan.
  - semanticist 16y ago
    I use semantici.st for my email and blog, and it's a real chore. The ccTLDs used in domain hacks are frequently expensive at renewal time and reading your domain out to people verbally is a huge pain. If I was starting over, I'd pick something else.
  - whatusername 16y ago

by Revisor 16y ago

Read my short guide to a good domain elsewhere on HN and for your own sake avoid domains with digits. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1659674 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1659674

qeorge 16y ago

Good tips. I advise the "radio test" to all of my clients.

nerfhammer 16y ago
Unfortunately the search for short domains leads people to abandon this rule. (worst offender of all time: del.icio.us) If you look at the YC list it looks like at least half the YC startups would fail the radio test: https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=t_toYuVyy6fci0MAiIaZ30A&hl=en#gid=0 https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=t_toYuVyy6fci0MAiIa...
- InclinedPlane 16y ago
  Isn't the true version of the radio test whether when someone types what they hear into google they end up on your site?

jamesbritt 16y ago

Unless the digit actually plays into the name. I put up the Web 2.0 Validator site: web2.0validator.com (now on vacation until I get around to updating some code). Interestingly, someone wrote to me asking how I managed to get such a domain; I pointed out the domain is simply 0validator.com, nothing magical. Which of, course, means I can plan on web3.0validator.com :)

Revisor 16y ago
Domain hacks are funny but counterproductive and problematic in the long run. Domain hacks involving digits are a marketing problem squared. See the reasoning behind the switch from del.icio.us to Delicious.com: So why did we switch to delicious.com? We’ve seen a zillion different confusions and misspellings of “del.icio.us” over the years (for example, “de.licio.us”, “del.icio.us.com”, and “del.licio.us”), so moving to delicious.com will make it easier for people to find the site and share it with their friends. http://blog.delicious.com/blog/2008/07/oh-happy-day.html http://blog.delicious.com/blog/2008/07/oh-happy-day.html
- SoftwareMaven 16y ago
  Also known as "We wanted delicious.com from the beginning, but couldn't afford it. Now we are big enough to pay for it." ;) I always liked the hack (I still us it; it's shorter), but I'm obviously not an average user. You are completely right that being "clever" in your domain (or really anything regarding your product) is often not a great plan.
  - joshu 16y ago
    Actually, we'd bought the domain in 2005. It seemed like the right thing to do later on. Remember that nobody had really done domain names like that (maybe cr.yp.to? i also have had burri.to for 15 years...) in a big way before, so it wasn't clear that it was a bad idea at the time. Some of the other domains, like http://delicio.us/ http://delicio.us/ worked correctly too. I wonder if Yahoo! kept them all.
    - Revisor 16y ago
      Hi Joshua, thank you for chiming in. Can you estimate how much users/visitors you lost due to the complicated domain name?
- SoftwareMaven 16y ago
  Also known as "We wanted delicious.com from the beginning, but couldn't afford it. Now we are big enough to pay for it." ;) I always liked the hack (I still us it; it's shorter), but I'm obviously not an average user. You are completely right that being "clever" in your domain (or really anything regarding your product) is often not a great plan.
- semanticist 16y ago
  I use semantici.st for my email and blog, and it's a real chore. The ccTLDs used in domain hacks are frequently expensive at renewal time and reading your domain out to people verbally is a huge pain. If I was starting over, I'd pick something else.
- whatusername 16y ago