How To Display Your Domain Name

Displaying your domain name for your website should seem pretty simple but the fact is that often times I see domain names displayed that are very confusing! Here are some tips on how to display your domain name to make it most effective.

It can be hard enough for you or your company to get your message across in an advertisement while displaying your website domain name for the consumer to simply remember it, so you should take full advantage of making the domain look good in the process and not confusing.

Make your domain clear from other text!

Keep "extra" advertising wording Away From the domain name itself. This can make it look like these extra words are really part of the domain name when this is not the case and simply confuse the customers!

You will notice in the advertisement above for Lexus® that they have Visit lexus.com . With Visit and lexus.com all underlined and the words so close, it can make it appear as that is the domain name.

The fact is, Lexus does not even own the domain name VisitLexus.com ! Secondly, most people also know that domain names do not include any spaces but simply can be confused as the eye may not catch the spacing.

The above ad is not only confusing due to the space between visit and lexus.com with the wording together, but add in the fact of the two words underlined and it can confuse customers to think it’s Visitlexus.com . This will equal missed traffic!

In this case, just remove the term Visit and the Lexus.com domain will stick out on it’s own! I would not even consider the Underline myself and without the underline, I would make the l capitalized so there is no question between a capital l (i) (in some fonts) or capital L.

Make keywords Pop!

I always strongly suggest to capitalize the first letter in each keyword of your domain name. This helps the reader to make each word in the domain name POP OUT much easier when reading! Remember, no spaces in domain names, so words can "run" together.

ExampleDomain.com YES

www.ExampleDomain.com YES

exampledomain.com NO

www.exampledomain.com NO

All caps is not a good way to display a domain for a couple reasons! Online edicate states that all capital letters is YELLING! It has the same effect as all lower case text and can make keywords run together and make it hard to read.

Color

Simply use a different color for your domain name that is in your text. If all the text is black and the domain name is in red, it makes the domain name stick out more from the rest of the text.

www. or no www.

This one should be considered on a case by case basis, but here is what I think. First things first, make sure your website resolves with or without the www. when you type it into your address bar. I often see websites not resolve without www. added. Your site should resolve not matter if somebody types in www.DomainName.com or DomainName.com .

If you are advertising online, it is very likely that the person reading your domain will know it’s a domain name and  what to do with it without the www. . In this case, it is likely best to leave off www. . Now if your domain names TLD is not a commonly known extension, I would include the www. no matter where you use the domain. .ag .cm .cc etc. I think you are safe with .com, .net and .org TLD’s.

If you are placing your domain name on other things like business cards, your products, business sign, TV ads, Print ad etc. it’s best to know your customers or potential customers. Most people that are 40 or younger know what a domain name is without www. . Some elders may need the www. to "let them know" it’s it’s a "web" related thingy.

Domain names allow making it pretty easy for you to tell where you would like somebody to visit world wide, but making it confusing or hard to read is your fault if you are not using the tips above no matter where you display your web address.