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Boring may be Better – keep your domain name simple to increase sales

By Jeff Bressler for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:July 16, 2009

You may want to get your creative juices flowing by creating a web domain name that draws attention, but it seems that simple sells. If you are selling a product or service on the internet a recent study done in the United Kingdom might prove to you that bland is best.

The study was conducted by MemorableDomains.co.uk and found that generic domain names within online ads got significantly more clicks than branded names. The company tested the theory using an AdWords PPC campaign, testing electric bicycles. They used three identical ads, with different domain names: ElectricBicycles.co.uk, YourBikes.co.uk and InAHurry.co.uk.

The results show that the most generic name (ElectricBicycles.co.uk) had a click-through rate 15 percent higher than the next alternative (YourBikes) and 42 percent higher than the brand name (InAHurry). Total clicks were even higher, with the generic name getting 105 percent more clicks than the branded name.

The results of this experiment make sense. When consumers are searching for a product, they will likely be more inclined to click on the domain that most closely matches that product. Judging by the study (bearing in mind this is one experiment), businesses that do not have an instantly recognizable brand name, like Amazon.com, might consider buying domains for individual product campaigns. Start with some keyword research, and then try to find the closest matching available domain name. The traffic can be redirected, or a very specific landing/checkout page can be built.

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Tagged with: ICANN, Internet Corporation, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

Frank C. Tannehill

As I see it, a person selling flowers will get more clicks with flowers.com than with springfreshflowers.com for example. As you said, simple words give people the impression that they can make a safe purchase because product.com must have been the first site to ever sell that product, right?
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Frank C. Tannehill
domain name

venkat2009

I registered the Domain name in the site http://www.tucktail.com/it is the reseller of the Godaddy site.

camp185

Not sure how good of an analysis that was. Yourbikes sounds more generic too me. Also, I am betting that electric bikes get more clicks because people are curious about electric bikes, and not actually looking to by.

sumbinirondon

Very good point. We see it everyday with our website Tortillas.com We get direct navigoation ("type-in") visitors every day, from around the world, who are specifically looking for tortillas, tortilla by-products and services. Because of our keyword specific domain name we also appear on the first page of natural "non-paid" results for the 3 major search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN). This has saved us a lot or work and money by not having to overspend for SEO and Paid Search Results.