Majority of companies attending startup conference have problematic domain names.
Name Ninja recently performed an analysis of the domain names used by startups going to the Collision conference in Las Vegas next month. The domain name consultancy found that only 21% of companies have the “ideal” domain name for their business.
A whopping 68% of company’s domain names fail the “radio test”, meaning they are not spelled the way they sound.
It’s pretty easy to spot some of these names on this page of exhibiting startups: CloudKeyz, Dooing, Snapd and Atmospheir all jump out at me.
In addition to failing the radio test, some other issues include:
- Domain name matches company name but is not .com (17%)
- .Com domain with appendages (e.g. “The” or “Get” in front of the name) 9.6%
- Domain hack (2%)
80% of the companies analyzed use .com domains. .IO and .CO were the next most popular with 4% each.
An infographic with the results is available here.
The so-called radio test is obsolete. Domain names for start ups aren’t advertised on the radio, they are shared and spread over social media.
@ Acro, the Radio Test is not just for radio advertising. As long as people still have mouths and ears, a company name that is difficult to comprehend when it’s heard spoken is going to pose a marketing and recall problem.
…or telling someone your email address over the telephone.
And nobody need me to add that these two gentlemen hit the nail on the head. But I will add my little oppositional query below.
Completely agree with Bill and John(s), the ‘radio test’ is far from being obsolete, it’s branding 101.
May be we should change it to Siri test.
…”.Com domain with appendages (e.g. “The” or “Get” in front of the name) 9.6%”
And this is bad because?
I will definitely beg to differ on that. In fact, I’ll differ without the begging part. Some of the time? Sure. But are not .com’s with appendages sometimes also truly fabulous and great, even better sometimes than the non-appendage version? Is this going to be another case of “shorter is always better” when a whale like “CaliforniaRealEstate.com” and many others like it are obviously way more valuable than a vast multitude of much shorter .com’s, even than a vast number of one word .com’s?
@ John, to clarify the “appendage” thing, I’ve got no issue with long(er) names and domains. CaliforniaRealEstate.com is a fantastic domain for a company named “California Real Estate” (and also as a generic). But if a company is named “Foxy” then the optimal and most intuitive domain name in today’s world and for years to come is foxy.com whereas an appendage version like GetFoxy.com or FoxyOnline.com is going to cause confusion and drive up marketing costs because a percentage of consumers are still going to think the company can be found at foxy.com (without any appendages). If the company is named “Get Foxy” then GetFoxy.com is a fantastic domain for the company and the most intuitive. It’s all about consumer behavior, which is very expensive to ‘fix’.
That most definitely jibes with my view on the matter, Bill. Couldn’t agree more. And in other cases, I’ll take a great The*, Go*, Get*, and even GoInto* .com as a great brand name long before I’d want a generic like “cornmuffins.com” or or “staples.com” minus the years and millions spent on marketing and development for the latter.
Alas, my beef awaiting moderation now…white list me by now perhaps? 🙂
ANY internet firm that fails the radio test deserves to die the imminent and painful death it will surely face. No sympathy for gtld registrants either. What the heck are they thinking? Stupid is as Stupid Does.
The genie can’t be put back in the bottle. Relevant and valuable .com domain names are tapped out. The .com domain name that you want has already been taken. New domain names are not risky, ICANN has required the same security and management requirements for new domain registries as for Verisign and .com. New domains are merely a new way of doing business. New domain names not only include a company name but also describe what it does. For some, new is risky. But for those who look forward, new is innovative.
The alleged failure to pass the radio test is a concept that dissolved a long time ago. As early as in 2000, to be accurate. Stop thinking as domainers for a few minutes, it’s great therapy.
Apps, social media and cellphone use rely 0% on what the exact company name is. It can be any random but visually appealing combination of letters, in many languages, and in any TLD.
@Steve ==> Nah, the new gtlds will all wither on the vine. They make no sense and are dumb. No one wants them and no few are foolhardy enough to use them. There is no reseller market, they leak traffic and they force users to insert the word “dot” in the middle of their name.
.TOTALFAIL