The longest domain

What's yours

[grandpa]

Howdy. I know I'm treading in an unfamiliar forum.. However, I have a domain name related question. A new client insisted on his choice for a domain name, his full business name - without spaces, dashes or underscores. Total length of this domain name, 26 letters. The problem is obvious, few people will ever type this domain name correctly on the first try. It would have been much better had he just taken www.26letters.com

Does anyone know of any successful sites with really long names? Would you do anything different to brand or market a long site name?

[moltar]

It all depends on how hard is it to spell it. If it was just 26 letters "a" then i guess it'd be easier then typeing every letter of the alphabet.

But generaly 26 letters is way too long.

[tedster]

Recently walking through Manhattan, I noticed several signs advertising some very long domain names -- enough so that I thought I might be seeing a trend (or possibly the work of one web developer in the area). The common feature was that they were made up of cathcy but common sayings, even cliches you might say, so the names were easy to retain.

[Webwork]

I'd go the 2 domain route.

Register the full name. That way it's protected. Heaven forbid a traffic speculator registers it and then uses it with a PPC company that favors porn.

Also, register a shorter version that can be used on business cards, letterhead, etc.

MyExampleWidgetStoreInc.com and MEWSInc.com for the cards? Permanent redirect of one to the other? 2 sites? One a mini and one the real thing?

FYI, I've got a few long domains that are the natural phrases that someone says or thinks when they're looking for a home that might be for sale by its owner. Long domain. Regular daily type-ins. Regular as clock work. I'm a big fan of generic domains that are industry buzzwords or common keyword phrases. In the domain speculation realm there's a lot of that going on right now. The math is simple: The value of 1 sales lead versus the cost of 1 domain. In many cases, where one stops to think, it's a no-brainer.

Of course, in my case I also managed to register the shorter version of the long domain. ;)

Cover your bases. It's a sound strategy in my book.

[mzanzig]

Nice one. The longest domain name in the world belongs to the official homepage of a Welsh (UK) village called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Apparently it's been listed in the Guinness Book of Records (2002) for the longest valid domain name in the world!

-- M.

[Webwork]

Well, alrightee then. In honor of the domain's apparent record holding status I guess we'll let this one reference to a specific domain stand. Y'all are free to attempt to type in the domain. Careful, though, as you might break your browser's address bar from the weight of it. :0)

Don't anybody else go getting any bright ideas about how to circumvent the rule . . . ;-P

[grandpa]

I like the two domain option. In this case I'd use firstword for the name. That domain could then be used for any number of purposes... those previously mentioned, as well as wholesale/preferred site or a related forum. Lot's of possibilities. Unfortunately it won't happen real soon. I'm still waiting for a few decents serps, and that first sale. Another expense is out of the question today.

The client is, for lack of a better term, an internet dummy. (hey, he asked me to build his site...) Once he starts to get a taste of succcess he might be easier to convince.