rogerd - 3:03 am on Jul 24, 2006 (gmt 0)

I've taken a few auto trips recently, and was surprised to encounter billboards whose sole purpose was to promote websites. I.e., these weren't product promotions that include a URL, but rather were geared only to drive traffic to a website.

Surprisingly, these weren't fantastic, single-word domains. But they were easy to remember. To the best of my recollection, the names I saw included "WeBuyUglyHouses.com" and "OwnACondo.com". Note that these aren't sexy domains - there are probably plenty of similar domains available to be registered or purchased cheaply right now.

Here are my quick criteria for a "billboard test":

1) Easy to remember, because drivers won't be able to write them down.
2) No hyphens or non dot-com TLDs - drivers will forget hyphens, and probably type in the .com even if you advertised ".net".
3) No easy-to-confuse variations that you don't own. (E.g., plural/singular variants when applicable).
4) Relevant to the buyer's interest or need.

The neat thing about the billboard test is that it ensures a memorable domain name for just about any form of advertising. Billboards are the toughest medium for recall since exposure is brief, the viewer is concentrating on something else, and writing is often impossible. If your domain works for billboards, it will be fine for print, radio, web banners, etc.

My quick test: show a few people the domain name written on a sheet of paper for a few seconds. A day later, ask them what it was. If all or most get it right, you have a billboard-safe domain.