Do you know what makes an ad jingle effective?

1. It’s short.
2. Anyone can sing the melody.
3. It’s easy to remember.

The same three criteria apply to picking domain names.

1. Short - The longer your domain name, the harder it is for people to remember—and the greater chance for mistakes when typing. Our domain, www.heblogssheblogs.com works, not because it’s short, but because it plays off a common phrase in our society; two of the words are the same and the other two words are similar. He’s a blogger and she’s a blogger does not.

2. Anyone can say it in the most common vernacular. In other words, it’s easy to spell.  “Hike for Hope” works. www.hikeforhope.com “Hike 4 Hope” doesn’t. www.hike4hope.com (Both are real domains.) Uncommon spellings are trouble also. Love is fine. Luv isn’t.

3. It’s easy to remember. I can remember “Advanced Fiction Writing.” www.advancedfictionwriting.com (Editorial comment- excellent site for fiction writers.) It’s hard to remember www.ifyouwant2beagreatadvancedfictionwriter.com  Also, when people think Web addresses they think .COM. Not .NET, .USA, .ORG, etc. It’s similar to toll free numbers. Even though 888 and 866 have been around for years, people still dial 800, even with 866 or 888 staring them in the face. Same thing with domains. If at all possible get .COM.

Bottom line? Make sure your domain name keeps the hoops to a minimum. The more hoops you make people jump through to get to your site—or back to your site—the fewer hits you’ll get. A simple test is to tell friends the name of your new site, then ask them a few minutes later what the name of your site is.

If they remember, odds are the rest of the world will too.

Tags: Marketing, Picking domain names, Web sites