What do you guys think? In choosing a domain for a website, what issues would arise from naming it some shortened down version of the full word? Example being the website gdgt.com. They have done well- but would they have been better off if they could have gotten (or went with) gadget.com? How would this affect SEO, Marketing, type in traffic, etc?
Well since 'Gadget' is a proper word and gdgt is just some random letters according to Google. IMHO they would probably have done better with Gadget.com but hey, it all comes down to the work you put into them at the end of the day.
Theoretically speaking, if when the company was formed, they owned gdgt.com for just the registration fee BUT the domain gadget.com was for sale for $450,000 and had the following stats: Alexa Rank: 912,000 Quantcast Rank: 51,000 Compete Rank: 132,000 PageRank: 4 Backlinks: 9709 Google Indexed Pages: 3801 Live Indexed Pages: 80 Would the domain and accompanying stats be valuable enough to the success of the business to justify the $450,000 purchase? AND would those "stats" (banklinks, page ranks, alexa rankings, etc) transfer to the new owner?
in my opinion gadget.com or a name including gadget.com (igadget,com, mygadget,com, gadgetgadget,com gadety,com ) would all be better than gdgt,com. its better verbally (phone test) and easier to remember when you are telling some one about the site "*****gadget.com" isntead of saying "g" "d" "g" "t" .com
They probably didn't want to pay for gadget.com so they went with gdgt.com Another example is DVICE.com. Gdgt.com is run by former Senior Editors of Engadget.com which is only reason I heard of gdgt.com
i still think there are better alternatives than taking all the vowels out of a word - they could have gone with gadgett - or jadjet just my opinion
gadget.com by a mile of 1000 light years. Gadget.com is easy to remember and a very popular word. Gdgt.com? Whats that.. Lol..
Great advice guys! I used this example to illustrate the situation I am currently in with another industry/word. The full word is taken and for sale for $450,000 but I own the abbreviated version of the word. I just don't know if it is smart to spend $450,000 on the domain name alone when there are other significant costs to factor in as well (marketing, site development, servers, etc). I greatly appreciate any and all input from those of you with experience or educated insight!
Hello JRG12 I'm with you on that, I don't think 450.000 for your domain is smart. How many targeted PPC clicks could you get for 450.000 ? One that I was thinking about is which domain would be more valuable one with or without hyphens like dogbiteme com or like dog-bite-me com , from what I have heard that the oneword style would be more valuable even though the hyphens make it easier to read, or like igits said, its better verbally (phone test) What do you think?
this like domain are very costly that is why people like to buy some random domains. But yes domain name plays a good role when it comes to SEO and all.
First of all, my vote goes for the full name considering SEO, altough.. if you were to shorten a name.. i would prefer to do it like this "flickr" "Workr" and so on. so it would be fairly simple to stil understand the word. gdgt would probably be to confusing for most users.
It's practically a matter of branding imo... one good thing about 'gdgt' is that it only has 4 letters (considered premium) and upon realizing that it resembles gadget, it isn't that hard to indicate that there are no vowels in the domain. then again, seo-wise, as others have said, gadget would be better off. and verbal-wise, as igits has mentioned, it's pretty much easier for others to receive the word gadget rather that relaying "g" "d" "g" "t".com or say/instruct "gadget without vowels".com did i make sense? hope i did ;p
I suppose that is not good idea at all to show on the public domain names you are intersted in and which availible for the registration.