My wife buys some interesting products from time to time after doing research on the net. A new product I found laying around the house is a paper bottle container of Bar Keepers Friend. Not knowing what the heck it was, I checked out the package. In doing so, I noticed they use 3 different domain names on the one package.

First, congrats to them for understanding it is important to allow your customers to find out more info on their product and an easy place to find it! Your website!

So what are the domains?

Domain name number 1

Since it’s a powder cleaning product, there is a white seal over the many holes on the top of the paper can like container. This little square paper is printed continuously solely with a domain name…  www.4bkf.info

Since people are "Looking" at the domain, although ugly IMO.. it get’s the point across, in "texting" like format due to the small amount of space. In full meaning, 4bkf.info would mean to me: For More Bar Keepers Friend Information.. just visit 4bkf.info!

4bkf.info uses 301 redirection domain forwarding and sends visitors to Bar Keepers Friend main domain name and a category page on it. BarKeepersFriend.com/cleaning.html . The page is full of cleaning tips using their product.

Overall, decent use of a domain name!

Domain name number 2

The wording on the package states: BKF sponsors The Saturday Evening Post Society. To subscribe, call 1-800-829-5576 or visit www.satevepost.org .

Now I have said many times… do not make your domain name look like a licenses plate! Your acronyms can be different then what others may think. Clearly, they use 2 made up acronyms for the domain, Sat and Eve! Very hard to remember for your customer IMO and when I kept looking at the domain name, for some reason I kept missing the A and the word STEVE kept jumping out at me! Like StevePost.org.. LOL

If you were to visit www.satevepost.org, the domain once again using 301 redirection domain name forwarding to SaturdayEveningPost.com, a much better, make sense domain name! The short, acronym combo domain name is likely used for Tracking reasons to see how many people actually visit due to the specific domain name used on the packaging.

Again, I do not like the domain but it severs a purpose for them. Could a better domain name been used, yes. It is interesting they used a .org that forwards to a .com . Smart IMO! .org’s give a good deal of Trust to people!

Domain name number 3

On the back of the packaging under all the directions, notes, warnings etc… you have the typical Questions? Comments? displaying their 1-800 number and below it.. the companies full main domain name www.barkeepersfriend.com .

Perfect domain for the company to use because it matches the product name Exactly and matches the term people would "search for" on the net if they didn’t use direct navigation.

Summary

Overall, it was interesting and I think the first time I have seen 3 different domain names used on ONE products packaging. I would personally put the main products domain name on the front of the packaging and not the back! Shorter does not always mean better for domain names. Using acronyms with full words in a domain name can lead to lost traffic. You are better off IMO to make clear sense with your domain name even though it may be "longer".