Domain Names: Make Them Memorable

One of my first tasks when working on a client strategy for a new product or business name is to check that the domain name is available.
Because I’m based in Australia, I first check .com.au, but I also recommend acquiring the .com address and other top-level domains.

In fact, we’ve actually tweaked the name of products before when we were unable to secure the domain name; they really are that important to your brand and findability online. You can imagine, therefore, how perplexed I was when admiring some fantastic work by New York-based brand-building agency, Collins, only to find they had the domain name, collins1.com.

Now, I don’t want to pick on them here, because I believe they do some great work, but why would you choose to add a digit to your name in order to secure the domain?

It piqued my interest—what available domains could have worked for them? I spent ten minutes, and discovered the following domains are available:

• collinsagency.com
• wearecollins.com
• collinsny.com
• collinsnewyork.com

There’s no way of knowing whether these were all taken when they first set up their website, but it seems improbable. If I hadn’t written down their domain name in order to write this piece, I would have long forgotten it. Wouldn’t they have been better with one of these, or another alternative?

Speaking of domains, the domain name for Open, a New York design studio, has always impressed me. Obviously open.com was taken, so they opted for notclosed.com. Now that’s a memorable domain name!