Good to know our government is at the top of its game when it comes to the Web. I bet if Gore were in office, all .gov URL's would be easy on the eyes... after all, he did invent the Internet, right?
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You take the good, You take the bad, You take them both and there you have the facts of life... on the Web.
Your URL, My Passion
I am a nerd. I'm that guy who pronounces URL like the Duke of. I clap when I see a good URL and I cringe when I see a bad URL. My mission here is to give businesses some guidance when choosing and promoting their URLs so they don't waste the money they've already spent on this here Internet fad. Enjoy!
Labels
- _Underscores
- -Dashes
- .Subdomains.
- /Slashes
- Acronyms/Abbreviations
- ALLCAPS
- alllowercase
- Alternate Domains (Non-Dot-coms)
- Alternating Fonts
- Bad URL Display
- Bad URL Selection
- Bad URLs
- Flyers/Direct Mail
- Good URLs
- http://
- Leading Caps
- Logos
- Looooong URLs
- Movie URLs
- NotURLs
- On Package/Menu
- One-of-a-Kind Bad URLs
- Online Ads
- Out-of-Home/Billboards
- Print Ads
- Real Estate URLs
- Retail Signage
- SkewURLs
- Spacing Issues
- SuperURLs
- TV Ads
- URLs on Vehicles
- www (aka Dubs)
ABOUT ME
My name is Aaron Goldman and I'm an URL-aholic. My day job is CMO at 4C, a global data science and media technology company. So, yes, I have a vested interest in Good and Bad URLs.
Blog Archive
Are you an URL-spotter?
Have you recently come across an URL so glorious that even your mom would remember it? Seen any URLs so hideous you wouldn't wish them on your worst competitor? Snap a pic and send it to me at GoodURLBadURL@gmail.com, upload it to the Good URL Bad URL Facebook Page, or tweet it to @GoodURLBadURL. Spot on!
Tweets from @GoodURLBadURL
URL Best Practices
Do's
1. Whenever possible, use YourBrandName.com.
2. If .com is not available, use YourBrandName.net.
3. If .com and .net are taken, find a new brand name. Seriously.
4. Use YourSlogan.com when running an integrated media campaign.
5. CapitalizeTheFirstLetterOfEachWord and/or UseDifferentColorsOrBoldToHelpEachWordStandOut
Don'ts
1. Don't use acronyms, abbreviations, or numbers unless your brand is widely known as such.
2. Don’t use YourProduct.com or YourCategory.com as a replacement for YourBrandName.com. They should be used only as supplements.
3. No-hyphens/or slashes.
4. Don't include www (aka dubs) when displaying your URL. We know to go to the World Wide Web to find you.
5. Don't include http://. If your audience isn't Web savvy enough to know where to type the URL, you shouldn't have a website.
6. don'tusealllowercase (canyoureallytellwhereonewordendsandthenextbegins?)
7. DITTOFORALLUPPERCASE
8. Don't
Stagger
Words
On
Separate
Lines
9. DontUseWordsThatllRequireApostrophes
10. Don't bury your URL at the bottom of an ad. I'm the only nerd running around with a 10x zoom lens to find URLs.
1. Whenever possible, use YourBrandName.com.
2. If .com is not available, use YourBrandName.net.
3. If .com and .net are taken, find a new brand name. Seriously.
4. Use YourSlogan.com when running an integrated media campaign.
5. CapitalizeTheFirstLetterOfEachWord and/or UseDifferentColorsOrBoldToHelpEachWordStandOut
Don'ts
1. Don't use acronyms, abbreviations, or numbers unless your brand is widely known as such.
2. Don’t use YourProduct.com or YourCategory.com as a replacement for YourBrandName.com. They should be used only as supplements.
3. No-hyphens/or slashes.
4. Don't include www (aka dubs) when displaying your URL. We know to go to the World Wide Web to find you.
5. Don't include http://. If your audience isn't Web savvy enough to know where to type the URL, you shouldn't have a website.
6. don'tusealllowercase (canyoureallytellwhereonewordendsandthenextbegins?)
7. DITTOFORALLUPPERCASE
8. Don't
Stagger
Words
On
Separate
Lines
9. DontUseWordsThatllRequireApostrophes
10. Don't bury your URL at the bottom of an ad. I'm the only nerd running around with a 10x zoom lens to find URLs.
Worst URLs Ever
Additional URL Resources
- A Comprehensive 25 Step Blueprint for Initial Domain Name Strategies to Strengthen Your Brand
- The Dr. Seuss Jumble: Naming Web Sites
- URL Design for Campaign Effectiveness
- A Marketer's Perspective on Choosing the Right Domain Name
- Be The Ruler of Your Domain
- Supercharge Your URLs For Maximum SEO Impact
- Domain Name International
- Domaining.com
- DomainTools.com
- Internet Goldrush
Other Good/Bads (and 2 Bad/Goods)
Blog Roll
- Aaron Goldman - Digital Sea Change
- Aaron Wall - SEO Book
- Andy Beal - Marketing Pilgrim
- Avinash Kaushik - Occam's Razor
- Bill Wise - A Wise Search & Online Marketing Insider Tells All
- Bob Garifeld - The Bobosphere
- Bryson Meunier - Natural Search and Mobile SEO Blog
- David Berkowitz - Inside The Marketer's Studio
- Gord Hotchkiss - Out of My Gord
- Greg Sterling - Screenwerk
- John Battelle - Searchblog
- Joseph Jaffe - Jaffe Juice
- Lee Odden - Online Marketing Blog
- Mark Simon - Search Insider
- Matt Cutts - Gadgets, Google, and SEO
- Peter Askew - Search Bound
- Rand Fishkin - SEOmoz
- Rob Garner - Search Insider
- Seth Godin - Seth Godin's Blog
- Steve Rubel - Micro Persuasion
- Steve Smith - Inside Domaining
- Todd Friesen - Oilman
- Vincent Flanders - Web Pages That Suck
- Yianni Garcia - Social Media Guy
Welcome Visitors
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Disclaimer
Please note: I'm a marketing guy, not a lawyer. I am not aware of any copyright laws I am violating by posting graphics and pictures of URLs that are in the public domain to GoodURLBadURL.blogspot.com. That said, if you own any of the URLs I've posted and feel that I am infringing on your trademark, please contact me and I will remove any offending material promptly.
8 comments:
Really? A site as helpful as this is going to keep the "gore invented the internet" lie going? I'd have hoped you were better than that.
So what do you think would be a good URL for this one? I'd go with:
familypolicy.ed.gov for the Family Policy Compliance Office (which is really where this Bad URL takes you), and familypolicy.ed.gov/ferpa/ to replace ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/, where they actually go into the FERPA laws. (BONUS: you could now list the real URL in newspaper sidebars, instead of taking them to the office's home page!)
First - Dear anynonymous:
I thinks is likely a safe bet that poke at the Gore-ster was all in good fun. Really. I'd also be, given the year he's had, he'd like laugh himself.
Dear Duke,
After months, no - wait - years of debate, consideration, research, consultation and analysis we finally arrived at a brand ID we can get behing: True Callings.
When we went to claim the .com, we found it parked (grrrr). So we backordered it and went for the .net URL instead: TrueCallings.net. You'll be pleased to know, dear Duke, that in addition to dropping both the http:// AND the www., we have both begun each independent work in our brand ID with a cap AND each word will have a unique color.
Having said all this, when we announced our intentions to run like the wind with our new URL, we found ourselves in the middle of a small storm of controversy. The general concensus offered by many a well-meaning and concerned peer was that we need to (gasp) change or adapt our brand name so we could grab the choice .com location because .net 'is the kiss of death'.
After some breath catching, we remained resolute and stood behind our new URL: TrueCallings.net is who we are and shall be forthwith.
One of those aformentioned well-meaning compatriots, troubled by our plight, poked around the blogosphere and happened upon you.
Pleased to see we weren't as close to kiss of deathdom as previously thought, he pointed me in your general direction. And here - to my amazement and pleasure - I find that aside from the obviously coveted .com position we simply can't do much about, we're likely batting big thumbs up from the Duke of URL nonetheless.
We'll be live with our new URL in January, when I'll be back with an invitation to come on over, check the place out and see for yourself.
In the meantime, dear sir, our thanks for being the provider of much peace of wired-for-sound mind.
Lissa Bergin-Boles
www.TrueCallings.net
Lissa - thanks for defending me ('twas sarcasm indeed) and for sharing your story. I salute your conviction. .net was the way to go. I had the same problem when I went to buy AaronGoldman.com and it was taken. Rather than change my name, I settled for .net and never looked back. I will say that going any further than .net is trouble though -- .biz, .info, etc. Those extensions just aren't mainstream enough yet. Look forward to checking out your site when it launches. Good luck!
Gore didn't invent the Internet. He never claimed to have invented the Internet. His political opponents made up the story about him claiming to have invented it. When people have to invent stories that aren't true to support their case, it tells us their case is not very strong.
Al Gore was far-sighted enough to play an important role in the development of the Internet and he is right to take credit for doing that.
If you can't give credit where it's due, and you have to make up stuff to get your point across about URLs, what does that tell us about the integrity of your comments?
Hey Aaron,
To say we were surprised by the firestorm of .net naysaying would be an understatement - it was disorienting and could have sent us off-track, so more than happy to contribute it helps someone else in a similar situation.
Once again, thank you for being a Good URL Beacon of clarity!
And as a fellow lover (and practitioner) of pithy prose, it's always good to let those whose beliefs have a bit of a strangle-hold on their sense of humor know they've cranked up the serious dial just a little too high!
Thanks for taking the time to write - and the best wishes. Look forward to welcoming you to the new site.
Lissa
Wondering...
Would it suffice to use a tinyurl in a case like this? Or any of the other URL shortening services...
Should the print side of a newspaper just forget about trying to give links altogether?
Should the print side just use a catch phrase like:
"Learn more about the law at our website" and just state their homepage/brand URL where hopefully there is some easy-to-find place where one can find the links to current stories or sumsuch strategy?
This type of thing works both ways...
How many times have you read a story on a newspaper's website, a reference is made to a website in the context of the story and it is not a clickable link?!
Rick - thanks for the tip on TinyURL. I'd never heard of that. I think newspapers would do well to create their own version of that service. Basically, just create redirects for all the links they post (eg, WSJ.com/Link532.) That way, they can benefit from additional branding and direct any mistypes to a custom 404 error page on their site with search utility to find the appropriate link.
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