When Brand Owners Don’t Think: Leading Domains = Lost Traffic
Posted by Caycee Boyce , Tuesday, 29 April 2008
On the same flight back home from San Fransisco I noticed how conceptual marketing helps generic domain name owners I also noticed of a rising trend, “leading domains”, domains which start with “goto”, “on”, “in”, “at”. “4″. This trend is related to the “Radio Test”. What is the “Radio Test”? Dan Warner, in an old DNJournal article, explains:

"….An easy way to discern whether a domain has a good brand is by applying the radio test. If you were to hear a domain being talked about on the radio - how likely would it be for a consumer to remember that domain and spell it correctly? Strong brands are memorable, are hard to confuse and elicit an emotional response."

We learned to cope with brand owners who choose to misspell their URL’s either on purpose or because of URL shortage. “Leading Domains” take this to a whole new level as the brand itself incorporates a keyword which “leads” to a generic domain, giving boost to generic domain name owners.

Here are few examples I came across lately:

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Dialog scenario:
Customer: How do I find your website?
Brand owner: The website is oncontact.com (sounds like “on Contact.com“)

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Dialog scenario:
Customer: What is your website address?
Brand owner: GotoMeeting.com (sounds like “go to meeting.com“)

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Dialog scenario:
Customer: What is your website address?
Brand owner: GoToMyPC.com (Sounds like “Go To MyPC.com)

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(Thanks David Castello for the scoop)
Radio ad: Visit our website InPalmSprings.com (Sounds like “In PalmSprings.com“)

Many tend to think we are running out of domains however brand owners need to consider, whether they spend on a good domain or not, most likely there’s going to be cost associated, either the cost of purchasing a good domain or the cost of losing business.

Source: Posted on TheConceptualist by Sahar Sahid -- Reprinted with permission -- April 28, 2008 

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