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View Full Version : Are numbers in a domain name unattractive to businesses?



Robert360
11-21-2012, 12:30 PM
Let's say I have a business that helps other businesses. If my website's domain name is something like "help4you". Is that unattractive or off-putting to businesses?

KristineS
11-21-2012, 12:38 PM
I don't think numbers in a domain name are necessarily off putting, but a domain name like "help4you" will take a bit more marketing to make sure that people remember it. People won't naturally type in a number, they would probably be more likely to type in "helpforyou". So, you need to do a bit more to make sure the URL with the number sticks in people's minds.

nealrm
11-21-2012, 02:33 PM
I think the biggest issue would be a competing site called helpforyou. Even if there are not in the same line of work, you would still need to over come people mistaking the name.

Robert360
11-21-2012, 04:27 PM
Thanks for the info guys. I think I'm going to put a little more effort into my domain name now.

Pack-Secure
11-21-2012, 05:37 PM
If you are going to get the name with a 4 in it, make sure to purchase the domain with the "4" and "for" and even perhaps "four".

Gabe
11-22-2012, 01:53 AM
I think its a bit off-putting. It seems cheap. The trouble these days is getting a good, reputable domain name for a decent price. It also depends on your target market. Web savvy folks would see it as off-putting, someone who isn't web savvy may not mind it just like they don't mind a cheap looking website.

Harold Mansfield
11-24-2012, 01:30 PM
I had a domain with a number in it, "1st" and it was a bad idea. Besides all of the other reasons about avoiding numbers, the biggest pain was that I had to explain every single time that I gave me email to someone that it was "1st" and not "first", especially over the phone, and that made me hate the domain for years. I finally changed it.

Yeah, my name now is not very "traditional", but it's much easier. 6 letters. Although I do still have to tell some people that "it's just .it. It's not .it.com. There is no '.it.com'. Stop trying to add .com to it".

There's always something. You could have "money.com" and someone would still get it wrong or overthink it.

billbenson
11-24-2012, 06:41 PM
Does it create any search engine issues in the US for using an Italian TLD?

Harold Mansfield
11-24-2012, 06:48 PM
Does it create any search engine issues in the US for using an Italian TLD?

Nope.
It's sitemap and ownership verification are submitted to Google.com and Bing.com, not Google.it or Bing.it.
Also, it's written in English. Domain registered from a US address. Any links to it are from English written, mostly US based websites.

billbenson
11-24-2012, 07:33 PM
Something to be aware of. I pretty much only sell to the US or a US freight forwarder if there is enough money in it. If I get an email from an .it TLD or other international I will only open the email after I have gone through all my domestic emails and phone calls. A lot of those never get opened if I'm busy. Just FYI

Harold Mansfield
11-25-2012, 07:40 PM
Something to be aware of. I pretty much only sell to the US or a US freight forwarder if there is enough money in it. If I get an email from an .it TLD or other international I will only open the email after I have gone through all my domestic emails and phone calls. A lot of those never get opened if I'm busy. Just FYI

Well, it's so rare that I send a solicitation that I don't expect that to be an issue. Anyone who sees my email has usually already contacted me.

I understand some people in the U.S. who don't do any business online still look at anything that isn't a ".com" as "foreign, but we really need to get over it. Plenty of ccTLD's out there that people don't even think twice about such as Bit.ly, del.icio.us, not to mention .fm's ( for radio stations), .la's (for Los Angelas), .lv's ( for Las Veas), .tv's (for T.V. stations) and so on and so on. But then again, a lot of people think .TV was made for Television stations, so ignorance can work in your favor.

libra
11-26-2012, 04:11 AM
... so ignorance can work in your favor...

With the rate information explosion and information overload is growing, marketing can ony become more and more difficult and challenging, since the world will have become more and more 'ignorant' in the process. Going with the 'flow' of things may be the only way to go.

joa
02-26-2013, 06:16 AM
Good domains are so important. I think a lot of businesses try to be creative with theirs but it can only lead to confusing the odd visitor when they try to type the domain first hand. Just think, what would you type in to try and find your business? You probably wouldn't put a number.

Alex1
02-26-2013, 10:28 AM
In this instance, "help4you" doesn't sound very professional. It probably didn't sound good to you so that's why you are asking.

Therefore you probably know what sounds good :).

semaphore.v
04-05-2013, 08:04 AM
It's not about how it's look or trends, it’s all about your brands what you want to tell you from your domain much necessary. Here is the domain net4.in sounds like some it company provide net solution in India or would be ISP. We take one another example channel4.com sounds like some news related site.

Wozcreative
04-08-2013, 10:20 AM
No they are not attractive. Can you imagine the annoyance when you are trying to type it in using a mobile device? You would have to switch the keyboard over to numbers. Very inefficient. Also imagine having to explain over the phone "4—as in, the number 4" instead of just saying "for". Don't create more work for yourself!

billbenson
04-08-2013, 03:02 PM
No they are not attractive. Can you imagine the annoyance when you are trying to type it in using a mobile device? You would have to switch the keyboard over to numbers. Very inefficient. Also imagine having to explain over the phone "4—as in, the number 4" instead of just saying "for". Don't create more work for yourself!

However for adwords, they will only display so many digits of the url. I don't know if this is current, but in the past Adwords SEO was best if you could put the whole the whole URL in the ad. I went as far as to redirect a dynamic url to domain.com/product-name. Not sure if this matters anymore if the landing page matches the ad, but I doubt it hurts. I redirect the dynamic url with htaccess.

jacksarlo
04-12-2013, 02:26 PM
help4you is ok, but 333help4you is not :) so yes as long as it appears NICE it's fine :)
Before buying domain ask for review if you want to be certain :)