U.S. mint advertises a .gov domain but also registers .com version.

This morning on the radio I heard an advertisement for the new United States Dollar coin. This is perhaps the 50th attempt by the U.S. Mint to introduce a dollar coin in America, and Austin has been selected as one of the roll out cities. (Someday the mint will understand that American’s hate coins.)

At the end of the commercial listeners are directed to visit UseDollarCoins.gov, which forwards visitors to a page on USmint.gov. I give the U.S. Mint points for selecting an easy-to-remember domain name, but of course the first thing I checked was if it also registered UseDollarCoins.com. The U.S. Mint’s PR agency, Weber Shandwick, had the foresight to register the .com, .net, .org, and .us versions of the domain name. With the exception of UseDollarCoins.net, all of the domains forward to the appropriate page on USmint.gov.

Although many people who hear the commercial will type .com, I think typing in .org and .us is also feasible.

This isn’t the first time someone in government has grasped the power of generic domain names, but we’ve also seen plenty of bureaucrats who mess it up.

Wisconsin Lt. Governor registers .com domain to forward to government site.

Wisconsin Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton just launched a new web site to help Wisconsin residents save money. The actual web site is ltgov.wisconsin.gov/issues_view.asp?issueid=30&locid=126. Try marketing that domain! So Lawton went out and registered a .com domain to forward to it: GuideforPennyPinchers.com.

Now this domain isn’t going to get blind type-in traffic other than from people who hear about the site. And sure, it’s a little long. But for $10 a year Lawton was able to get an easy-to-spell and memorable domain name to promote her new site.

I often times see government organizations try to market domains like ltgov.wisconsin.gov/something. And when they try to make it simple they usually screw it up. Remember what the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles did to simplify its domain name? It changed the domain from hsmv.state.fl.us to flhsmv.gov. That’s not easy to remember.

So Kudos to Lawton for having the foresight to register an easy-to-remember and easy-to-spell domain name to market her new site.

[Article on LaCrosse Tribune]

Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle leverages Zoo.org.

It’s hot down here in Texas. 100 degrees and humid. So last week my family packed up the bags and flew to Seattle for a 5 day vacation. The average high temperature in Seattle in August is 75 degrees, so it was a perfect location.

Except for one thing: we chose the very week to arrive that Seattle was experiencing record heat in the 90s. Sure, 90 degrees and dry sounds better than 100 and humid, until you realize that Seattle doesn’t believe in air conditioning.

On our vacation I saw a number of domain names, some good and some bad. The best was Zoo.org, the domain for the Woodland Park Zoo. We knew we were going to go to the zoo while we were in town, especially because it had a special exhibit of flamingos (my two your old daughter is a big fan of the pink birds). I forgot what time it opened, but it was easy to remember the domain name for the zoo so I could look it up.

It may seem strange that a .org domain would be a sign of an organization that understands domain names, but realize that the zoo isn’t going after type-in traffic. It’s going after something that’s easy to remember and easy to spell. An alternative would be WoodlandParkZoo.com, which is long and difficult to remember since many people think of it as the Seattle Zoo.

I also saw a truly horrible domain name, but you should visit the web site anyway. eSimplytheBest.net is the domain name for a dried fruit stand at the Pike Place Market. It’s a bad domain, but the fruit is really good. I can vouch for the dried blueberries. And we should at least give them props for printing their domain on each bag of fruit.

Update: David Castello commented that he was in Seattle just a few days before me and noticed one of the fish markets at Pike Place used the domain name “FreshSeafood.com”. While uploading photos from the trip tonight, I noticed that I snapped a picture of my daughter in front of their sign with the domain on it:

Cookie company uses generic domain name to rev up sales.

When I was in college at The University of Texas a decade ago, a little cookie shop opened up called Tiff’s Treats. They baked fresh cookies and would deliver them to your dorm room. I thought it was a great idea with little revenue potential.

I was wrong about the revenue potential. The company has exploded by focusing on the corporate niche, delivering cookies for meetings and as gifts.

A couple weekends ago I visited a friend at his lakehouse. Someone brought a box of Tiff’s Treats and I noticed the company promotes a fantastic URL: CookieDelivery.com.

There are some obvious benefits to this domain name. Consider the person who’s introduced to Tiff’s Treats at a business meeting (or lakehouse). Remembering TiffsTreats.com is a bit harder than the impactful CookieDelivery.com, especially since Tiff’s has an apostrophe. Also, the domain name focuses on where the company makes its money. If I saw the box of Tiff’s Treats on the counter at the lakehouse and didn’t know anything about it, I’d figure it was just a bakery somewhere in Austin. But CookieDelivery.com tells me that I can go online and order a box of cookies.

The good domain name also helps with search engines. Searching for “cookie delivery” on Google yields CookieDelivery.com in the number three spot in a competitive industry. Not only does it rank well, but if someone searches for “cookie delivery” they are more likely to click on a Google listing for CookieDelivery.com than TiffsTreats.com.

Incidentally, the company also owns TiffsTreats.com. But BuyDomains owns TiffanysTreats.com.

[Editor's note: I'm adding a new category to Domain Name Wire called "We Get It" that will profile company's using generic domain names. Please send me a note if you have any recommendations.]