I was wondering if its ok to have numbers in a domain like b4me.com...do they have a sandbox effect and stuff?does it really matter if your trying to create a brandname?
I have quite a few domains that have numbers in them, the best one (although I don't use it at the minute) is 4mal.com (Formal?). There is a Russian (I think) techno duo called 4mal. I registered the domain in April 2000 so it was way before there time, even before they wore long trousers Maybe I could develop a site around that. It was initally registered for my business which deals with formal wear hire but we decided against using it as it was seen as too gimicky for the hirewear business. I also have a number of .co.uk domains that are all mad4 domains. As in Mad4England.co.uk etc, one day I will get around to using them. Unless anyone wants to offer me $XXX,XXX for them - are you listening MAD4? Try looking at the other extensions of the domain. If you see a .net or .co.uk for example and that has been developed then you could be onto a good thing. If they have just been registered and not developed then maybe its not that good!
numbers in a domain have nothing at all to do with the sandbox. plenty of domains with numbers in them do just fine. www.43things.com comes to mind. if the url makes sense for a user, use it. if the url will just confuse the user, don't.
generally speaking i don't recommend having numbers unless it point to something!! not an abbreviation for "FOR" or M8 - Mate!! but we can't neglect there is big sites out there with numbers in their domains like Hi5.com