http://bit.ly/dn5n10

Here's a tip when using bit.ly or other URL shorteners in print. Customize them! Too tough to tell the difference between zero and letter O and one and letter L. And this one ends with both. Oy vey! Thanks again to Brian Leiberman for the spot and reminding us that a little bit of extra effort goes a long way.

Ferman.com

While I was on hiatus, Bob Kahns picked up the URL-spotting slack, filling my inbox with nuggets like this one. He likes this logo URL "but at the same time it looks a bit funny with the .com so large." I agree whURL-heartedly. It is funny looking but it does gets you looking. And, even though the fonts and treatments don't go together, there's no questioning what the URL is here. So, while this URL could stand to be Ferman-ted a bit longer, it's still got some decent hops.

jumpsmokers.com, facebook.com/jumpsmokers, myspace.com/jumpsmokers, twitter.com/jumpsmokers, youtube.com/jumpsmokers,ultrarecords.com,moodswing360.com

Here's another submission from Mr. Kahns. As Lesson #5 in my forthcoming book, "Everything I Know about Marketing I Learned from Google," dictates, it's critical to "Be Where Your Audience Is." That means creating a presence in all the various social media outlets to engage customers and prospects -- or, in this case, music fans -- on their time and on their turf. And, even more important, is promoting your presence on each of these channels. Jump Smokers gets this lesson half right. They've built the requisite social media pages but they resort to pimping them via alllowercase Bad URLs buried at the bottom of their Print Ads. By doing this, readers are more likely to jump right past the entire copy block, leaving the artist's efforts up in smoke.

ALLHIGHLANDSNCREALESTATE.COM

I swear Peter Askew has too much time on his hands. This is his 34th submission. As he put it, "It's long but it ain't half-bad." Yes, he was referring to the URL.

www.eiu.edu/~adulted

Just when you think you've seen it all, a truly one-of-a-kind Bad URL rears its ugly head -- or, in this case, it's ugly tilde. Props to Aaron Bynum who spotted this in the Champaign-Urbana News Gazette. As he pointed out, it's also a best practice not to use the word "adult" in your URL unless you're in the porn industry. This URL makes me say eww, not eiu.

www.HUGSHURT.com, www.HugsHurt.com

I've been a little deliquent on checking the Good URL Bad URL mailbag. When I logged in today, I found a slew of good submissions (and some great offers to help some friends in Nigeria move money into my bank account!) This one from Brad came with thoughtful analysis so I'll just cut and paste his words verbatim...

"There's an ad on TV encouraging people with painful shingles to take part in a research study. The retired couple in the ad sadly complain that sometimes it hurts to hug people. So the URL is HugsHurt.com. Neat! Except the URL is displayed throughout the ad like this. I thought they were selling a huge shurt. However, they got it right in this print ad.

My two cents:

- TV ad: Lowercase www and .com -- there was potential for LeadingCaps, but alas.
- Note the two ads have slightly different toll-free numbers. Someone gets a hug for tracking that ROI !!
- At the site, there's no privacy statement. Nothing about who's sponsoring or conducting the survey. A WHOIS lookup shows an ad consulting company in New Brunswick, Canada."

chicagotribune.com/homes

This is perhaps the most egregious example of a wrap-around URL I've come across. Not exactly fine print.

today @ marketday.com

One more from the Good URL Bad URL mailbag. This one comes courtesy of Leo Dominguez. He points out that the spacing here makes it look more like an email address than an URL. They need to fix this one today.

trrainright.com

Alejandro Sanchez, long-time URL-aholic, submitted this misspelled URL but pointed out that, to their credit, they covered their tracks by buying this domain too. Regardless, this URL is a train-wreck.

GoodGrapes.com

Having just spotted a double-doozy Bad URL (2 bad URLs in 1 ad), it was refreshing to see an ad with not 2 but 3 Good URLs. No dubs and leading caps help the words pop. Even the logo has it right. Not sure about capitalizing the C in Com but, hey, can't blame 'em for trying. These URLs are really grape (ok, who didn't see that one coming?)

web-physicians.net/hyperventilation

I'm out of breath just trying to read this URL. The funny thing is this is just a vanity URL that redirects to web-physicians.net (apparently adding slash-hyperventilation is supposed to make it easier to navigate to?) At this site you'll see a 20 second flash video before being redirected to Toyota.com/matrix. This is truly a case of one Bad URL begetting another. Toyota needs to take a breather and reevaluate their domain promotion strategy.

www.leesfamousrecipechickenofcincyandky.com

Fellow URL-snob, Matt Waller sent in this eyesore. This URL is truly a recipe for disaster. Throw in 1 part waytooooolooooong, 2 parts awkward abbreviations, and 1 part alllowercase and what do you get? A finger-lickin' Bad URL.

www.picctv.com/nw

The Resolution Media connection continues with this submission from Jeremy Williams who is actually the brother in-law of Grant Parker, another co-worker. Jeremy saw this stinker in Newsweek and did the right thing by sending it in so we can make an example of it. Including the dubs, using all lowercase (especially when using a bunch of random letters), and adding a slash to try and track the traffic source make this URL utterly uninterpretable. This URL is Newsweak.

Yeesh, did I really just use the same pun in back-to-back posts?! This is gonna be a long weakend.

evolutionsoffun.com and bookccl.com

With 106 posts under my belt here at Good URL Bad URL, it's getting hard to find URL-firsts. Here's one though -- 2, count 'em, 2 bad URLs in 1 ad.

Let's tackle them one at a time -- evolutionsoffun.com. OK, don't mind what they chose here as it integrates with their overall campaign. But alllowercase just kills it, especially when buried in a bunch of copy at the bottom of the ad.

As for bookccl.com -- could they have picked a more obscure URL? Who knows Carnival as CCL? Add "book" before-hand and it's even harder to decipher than the other "Cruise" in his rambling Scientologist indoctrination.

www.windmillinns.com

Did I miss something here? The joint is called Windmill Suites not Windmill Inns, right? At a glance, the URL looks like WinMillions.com. This URL is definitely on the Outts.

learn-why.com

no-thanks.com

www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/index.html

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?

WhyDietHungry.com

Love how they tied their whole campaign into their URL -- and, of course, presented it in a nice, clean fashion. Kinda makes you wonder... WhyDontAllURLsLookThisGood.com.

GiftsForAllHolidays.com

Here's one that follows all best practices and works in some fancy (but still legible) fonts to boot. Should be a very Merry Christmas for this online retailer.

shriners4kids.org

OMG, is this URL 4 real? It's 2 hard 2 remember URLs that replace words with numbers or use other inane IM acronyms. It would be one thing if this were a hip kids brand but the target is adults who want to donate money. It'll take a really gr-8 URL to nab them. C U next summer. XOXO.