WWW.crossroadspublichouse.com

I've been on a bit of a hiatus from URL-spotting but this one caught my eye as a misuse of CAPS I don't think I've seen before. For some reason, the dubs here are capitalized and the rest of the URL is in alllowercase. Talk about putting the em-phah-sis on the wrong sy-lah-bles!

HTTP://WWW.KNOPE2012.COM/IMAGESCMYK/CAMPAIGN/1239U/09230023/POSTER/.JPEG

Just say Knope to Bad URLs! Bet poor Leslie wished this domain got parked rather than (w)rec(k)ed.

Your Other Warehouse.com

Saw this on the shelf at Home Depot but couldn't figure out how to get to my other Warehouse.com.

www.FreshSeafood.com

Peter Askew sent this one in from Seattle. Love how they use "Smoke" like it's a verb rather than an adjective. At least the URL is sea-worthy, as in worthy of being seen.

FashionStore.it

This one features great presentation with Leading Caps but I’m not sure about pairing English words with a .it domain? That would be like having a glass of Chardonnay with a beefsteak.

www.adalbertozelli.com

This store in Arezzo benefits from high foot traffic near the train station but the URL that one’s feet encounters suffers from alllowercase. Not even time can heel this one.

www.chicagoschoolofhotyoga.com

This was a good, er... bad spot by Buck Dossey who now works for one of the big 3 search providers where he's hopefully spreading the URL-aholism. Now, I'm not gonna comment on the hot yoga business model but if trying not to move in a 100 degree temperature room didn't already turn you off, I have to believe that Arizona sweat lodge nonsense would make you think twice about choosing to do this. That aside, don't love the URL treatment on their sign here. You probably can't see straight as it is when you're walking out of the studio much less having to focus on that mess of alllowercase to make out which words are in there and which aren't. Hint: It's sans "the." This URL really gets me hot and bothered.

www.d-fend.us

This just goes to show that my rules are not hard and fast. I think this one works despite the dubs, alllowercase, dash, abbreviation and alternate domain. I like the play on words with "defend us." And since .us is not a popular TLD using the www helps reinforce that this is indeed an URL. And the dash helps the D-Fend abbreviation stand out. So, despite going 0 for 5, this URL comes up with some clutch defense to claim victory. Thanks to Jamie Forrest for the spot here!

www.thebitchisback.com.au

Miss Emma is back! Today she weighs in with URL spotting's #4, 5 and 6. Pretty soon, she'll get her own label to rival Peter Askew's SkewURLs. As far as this URL goes... unfortunately, it's sassiness is swept away in a sea of alllowercase and shrouded by Dubs. Put another way... this URL's hitch makes the viewer twitch, not scratch the itch to make out it's witch-iness.

moc.mortsdronpb

I've seen reverse URLs but this is a first -- an updside down URL. This graphic adorns the wall of the BP section at Nordstrom. I suppose it might be a good way to reach the BP target market -- teenage cheerleader types that can read it while doing a handstand. This URL has really bottomed out.

WWW.MOVEPROPERTYAGENTS.COM.AU

Miss Emma weighs in with her 3rd URL spotting. Still aways to go to catch Mr. Askew -- 17 to be exact. Where to start with this one? I almost had to pull out every label in the book, er... blog. Dubs, ALLCAPS, Spacing Issues. Sheesh. Maybe the brain processes words differently in Australia but I just can't see this one moving into long term memory.

12GA.com

I've been walking by this awning for a couple years now but never had my camera on me until this past weekend. I just don't get this URL. The name of company is 12 Gauge. Since when is GA a universally accepted abbreviation for Gauge? Since when did the word Gauge even qualify for abbreviation status? They need to dial back this URL.

Update 10/2: Reader Fred Wilson points out that GA is indeed a universally accepted abbreviation for Gauge and, as has become the new way to settle any argument, asks me to Google 12 GA to see for myself. Sure enough, he, and Google, are right. For good measure, I Wikipedia'd it and GA actually stands for many things, Gauge among them. Then I went to 12GA.com and it looks like the company does brand itself as 12 GA, sometimes using Gauge in parenthesis. So I stand corrected and, for the first time ever, am changing my rating. After gauging this URL again, methinks its Good.

www.musicalsolutionsbuxton.co.uk

Here's one more submission from Tsahi, wURLd traveler. This URL would not have been my first choice. This URL is not music to my ears. This URL misses the note.

wickerparkchiro.com

Here's one spotted by the URL-icious David Barnes. Wicker Park is a diverse neighborhood on the North side of Chicago -- well, as diverse as they come for the North side. Accordingly, at a passing glance, one might confuse chiro with churro here. A Little Leading Caps Would Go A Long Way. They need to work the kinks out of this url.

www.justhewayoulikit.com

Ladies and Gentleman, we have a winner. May I present the world's worst URL. Avid reader Carolyn Grantham sent this one in. Looks like these guys chop more than hair. I love how they just arbitrarily lopped off letters here. Yeah, we'll just trim the double-T and double-Y, snip off that E... ok, looking good. This URL is justhewayihatit.

www.PokerNationUSA.com

OK URL-ers, gather 'round. Christine Korza has offered up her URL as a case study for us.

The story begins about a year ago with a new retail store and a dream of online and offline riches. Here's some background straight from the source...

"I tried to find the best balance between available domains and good viable and marketable names for the store... My store does 3 different things with regards to poker so I wanted also to have a non-specific name that I could expand later as well.... I am slightly breaking a rule by having USA at the end of my URL but I felt the sacrifice was worth it to get a memorable .com domain instead of a .info or a .biz... Poker is overserved online and underserved in bricks and mortar retail... If nothing else, the 'USA' at the end does make people think I'm a larger, more successful store than I actually am."

When I asked Christine if she considered renaming her store Poker Nation USA to match her URL, she said, "I'd rather have something that rolled off the tongue. Typing 3 more letters isn't a big deal but adding 3 more syllables is."

It's certainly hard to argue with Christine's logic here. Poker is one tough category online. What do you all think? Did Christine make the right call? What would you have done differently? Is this a Good or Bad URL?

www.fitzdecarts.com

Mr. FitzSimmons probably thought he was doing us a favor by shortening his URL. Unfortunately lopping off some random letters doesn't make this any easier to remember. And what's left is a bit too close to Descartes for comfort. This URL doesn't think, therefore it's not...

DaculaDoctors.com

The mail bag is piling up. This one was sent in by AJ Martin. Love that the URL gets top billing on this board and the use of leading caps and no dubs gives it a fighting chance of being remembered in a drive-by. Originally, I thought the URL was DraculaDoctors.com (Scrubs fans will appreciate my mix-up -- remember when JD daydreams about Dr. Acula?) but I'm sure the fine citizens of Dacula, GA will not make the same mistake.

i-netsalespartners.com

Behold the danger of a 2 line URL. This could easily be misread as just salespartners.com.

BODY for the AGES .COM

Found this beaut cruising the streets of San Francisco. Notice the nice spacing and use of CAPS to really help the words pop. This is an URL for the ages.