It’s come to my attention that not everyone is paying close attention when they choose a website name and URL. Remember, just because words make sense when there is a space in between each word does not necessarily mean they will make the same sense without those spaces. In fact, your original meaning can become completely lost, and what you’re left with is a sad misunderstanding at best or some really annoyed people who never click your link at worst.
Here are some examples, and yes, these are 100% REAL and online right now…
Adams Extract adamsextract.com
Who Represents whorepresents.com
Speed Of Art www.speedofart.com
Pen Island www.penisland.net
Go Tahoe www.gotahoe.com (Since changed to http://www.gotahoenorth.com – is that any better??)
The following websites were eventually removed once the owners realized what they had inadvertently spelled in their url…
Experts Exchange www.expertsexchange.com
Therapist Finder www.therapistfinder.com
Beatles Hits www.beatleshits.com
This software site (now closed) reads like a Bart Simpson joke: www.ipanywhere.com/
And the First Cumming Methodist Church chose this as their URL: http://www.cummingfirst.com While it’s not surprising that they let that domain expire, it is interesting that someone else bought it and is actually using it.
Sometimes something gets lost (or its meaning drastically changed) in translation. For example, this website was for a power generator company in Italy before it was removed…
And this one based in New South Wales was taken down when they realized their faux pas…
Bottom line? Before you buy that URL, look at it from every angle and see what it might mean to someone who’s looking at it for the first time and without gaps between the words. You might just save yourself a little time and a whole lot of serious embarrassment.
Plus you won’t end up on lists like this one!