Zero instead of O in a domain name

[kapow]

I have been asked if a certain domain name is valuable.
KeyWordBook.com (the KeyWord is a particularly good one) but 'Book' is spelt with a Zero ie. Bo0k.

My feeling is that this is no good because many people will type it wrong in the browser and its just too awkward to explain over the phone or in a brocure.

Any opinions?

[Woz]

I think you have hit the nail on the head yourself kapow. How do you explain it.

"KeywordBook.com, only not spelt the way you would expect, its B O ZERO K. No! not BOzeroK! O, Nought, you know the number before one. You put that in place of the seconf O... Hullo? Hulloooo?? beep, beep, beep. <sigh>, another one hung up!

Also, to me it looks ver spammy and unprofessional. Just my 2c.

Onya
Woz

[Purple Martin]

Presumably KeyWordBook.com spelt the usual way is already taken. If someone tries to use KeyWordBo0k.com I'd guess that many people looking for KeyWordBo0k.com will accidentally go to KeyWordBook.com, who are probably competitors and will appreciate the free extra visitors.

[mivox]

Unless of course it's kiddiehackerbo0k.com, in which case the zero would probably really appeal to the target audience... ;)

[Brett_Tabke]

I could see it if all the o's were replaced with zero's.

keywOrdbOOk.com

[hasbeen]

If keywordbook.com is already taken, wouldn't there be legal implications for keywordbo0k.com? Especially since they would, apparently, be dealing with the same subject matter? I mean, just try registering, and keeping online, amaz0n.com.

<sorry, mis-spelled "legal".>

(edited by: hasbeen at 6:14 pm (utc) on Mar. 12, 2002)

[EliteWeb]

The ONLY site I ever saw make it with a ZERO was L0pht and they always had this next to their tag line:

(that's L - zero - P - H - T)

But they were hackers (: now @Stake

[mivox]

See? Go for the hacker market... LOL

IMO, you'd be wasting your money on any domian name that potentially confuses visitors. Using 0 instead of o, or 1 instead of l, or anything of the sort & you're just asking for lost-traffic problems. "keyword-book.com" would be much more useful/valuable as a domain than keywordbo0k.com.

And really, the days when you bought a domain based on it's "value" are fading fast... Unless you happend to snag a killer one-word name, the only reason (IMNSHO) to buy a domain is because you think you might want to actually use it for something.

[JonB]

i think it depends form where your traffic will come. If you plan to do some ppc or pay for impression or if you will get majority of traffic from SEs results then "0" is ok . most people will not note the differnece i guess. like b00k. Like Brett said , use all 0's . So here people will just quickly scan the URL and see b00k.com and many will not realize it is 0 and not o. They will see "powerful" URL(that is they will think it is "book.com") and click it.

but building biz offline or even on cards or any other offline media and using b00k and not book is nop good i think. Unless your ad says "b00ks (and thats with zeros!) :)

Jon