Ask HN: How long is too long for a startup domain name?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3919142

by alanmeaney • 14 years ago

2 6 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I’m currently working on a project and we’ve reg’d the following domain: taskmessenger.com (comes in at 13 characters).

Is this too long?

What is too long for a startup name? Can you guess what our product does from our domain?

Thanks, Alan

swGooF• 14 years ago

I would guess your app assigns out tasks, maybe a better todo list? I do not think your name is too long. More important than length is spelling. Can you tell someone your domain name and have them type it in correctly? Yours consists of 2 fairly common English words. Thus I think your name is good. Here is my only suggestion: buy common misspellings of the domain name and redirect. taskmesenger.com for example

alanmeaney3• 14 years ago

I'll give it a couple of hours to allow for some more replies before saying what it is we're working on.

Thanks for the misspelling tip.

etfb• 14 years ago

Never mind the length; that name is bad because of the rhythm.

Consider the current big players. Facebook, Google, Apple: all trochees (two syllables; stress on the first syllable). Microsoft, Oracle: dactyls (three syllables, stress on the first). These flow better than some other rhythms. If you write trochees as "- _" and dactyls as "- _ _", then yours is "- - _ _". It stumbles. It's the same rhythm as Stack Overflow, if that cheers you up, but the consonents are clumsier -- the k followed by an m is claggy and clumsy.

I'd try something with a better flow to it. Even "totalmessenger" ("- _ - _ _") runs better, and the l/m is much nicer than the k/m. Length isn't the issue, because people can type that perfectly well.

Try employing a poet to help you. We're an underrated breed with useful skills...

alanmeaney3• 14 years ago

Thanks for the feedback. I haven't seen flow mentioned before, certainly something to consider.

I'm from the land of poets so no underrating here

keiferski• 14 years ago

Generally speaking, it's better to have a straightforward domain than a short one (if you can't have both). In other words, TaskMessenger.com is better than TSKMG.com

13 isn't too long. StackOverflow and Huffington Post both have more than 13 letters.

alanmeaney3• 14 years ago

One tip for testing I read was to describe what you are doing to someone and mention the domain once in the first minute. After you’ve explained what you’re doing and they’ve asked any questions they have ask them can they remember your domain – going to give this one a go

Ask HN: How long is too long for a startup domain name?

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