The do's and don'ts of URL promotion

Aaron Goldman
Websites Posted on June 09, 2008

I was excited to read Jeremiah Johnston's recent column on integrating domains into overall marketing strategy. URL selection and deployment is an oft-overlooked weapon in the marketing arsenal.

In his piece, Johnston focused on securing generic URLs to bolster a brand's position in the marketplace -- e.g., Russian Standard Vodka buying Vodka.com for a cool $3 million.

Supplementing YourBrandName.com with YourProduct.com, YourCategory.com or YourSlogan.com is definitely a sound approach.

However, choosing a good URL to support your brand is only the beginning. Effectively integrating a domain into your program requires careful promotional guidelines.

Too often I see marketers shell out top dollar for a premium domain name -- or worse, cop out with an obscure URL that no one will remember -- and bury it in all lower case at the bottom of an ad. It's quite rare to find a marketer giving his URL the attention it deserves by presenting it in an impactful way.

To illustrate my point, here are screen captures of the last frame of two different TV commercials. See the difference?


Which URL are you most likely to remember?

Here's a more extreme example:


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Comments

Penelope Gordon
Penelope Gordon June 19, 2008 at 3:14 PM

One of my pet peeves: URLs that are hard to read due to poor choices in font style, size, and color; and background pattern and color. So while the URL in the milk ad is not prominently displayed, and the test is all lowercase, I find it much easier to read than the SeeItNext.com ad with which it is contrasted. Likewise I cannot read the red text in the URL in the "SOLVE THE PUZZLE AT" ad, but I can read (though not easily parse) the "OWN IT TUESDAY" URL. Virgin Atlantic hasn't learned about color contrast: the emails that they send to members of their frequent flyer program use dark purple or crimson backgrounds with black text - Delete. And I do NOT agree with the belief in some circles that a black background is better for presentations. As can be seen from the ad examples provided, dark text on a light background is MUCH easier to read, and patterned backgrounds are just a distraction.

Thanks for the pointers.

Suzanne DeCarolis
Suzanne DeCarolis June 9, 2008 at 8:58 AM

Having the right Domain Name is the most important step to getting your customers to visit your site. Several times a company will have a website, but never use those words in the website on their website. It's important that if you pick a website name, to brand it in
your first page of your website. If you don't, most likely your competitor will take the wording from your website, and use it as their domain name, and now they've captured your audience.

Suzanne DeCarolis, President
Merrimack Valley Group