What domain name should I use?

[Shane]

www.casperstoveshop.com
www.wyomingstoveshop.com
www.countrystoveshop.com
www.mountainstoveshop.com
www.thestoveshop.com (this one is owned by one of those companies that buys lots of domains and sells them for $$ so it would cost considerably more than the others.)

Should I use one of those or do you guys have any ideas?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

unless you planning on selling over the internet, it probably shouldnt matter. Your website will be on your business cards and your customers will see it. If you do plan on selling online it might be worth the money to use thestoveshop.com otherwise i like casperstoveshop.com

 

[babalu87]

Something with the City or State name in it

People often just google something like "Wyoming woodstoves" and find a place that way
Make it easy to google and it will help

 

[KP Matt]

Go with the domain that features your town or your state. If it sounds too generic it might be taken for an ad farm and dismissed before anyone even hits the hyperlink. I recently spent a lot of time doing web research and recording domain names and this is a pattern I noticed.

 

[Shane]

I won't be selling over the internet. Maybe the log mantles I've started making, but no stoves unless they're in my service area. I thought about using casperstoveshop and then also buying the wyomingstoveshop, wyomingfireplaces & casperfireplaces domain names and having them send people directly to casperstoveshop. Again I'm not real sure it's worth the extra expense.

 

[PutnamJct]

Do you own: www.allamericanhomecenter.com ? (somebody does)

 

[PutnamJct]

Never mind. I just looked at the whois, not the actual site. Plumbing supplies......DOH!

 

[wg_bent]

A good one would be Hearthnet.com but it's taken! Maybe Craig would be willing to sell it to you...EVERYTHING is for sale if the price is right! ;-)

 

[KP Matt]

http://www.allamericanhomecenter.com/ does not appear to be involved in the retail sale of any actual physical merchandise, I'm guessing it is also owned by one of those companies that buys lots of domains, they would probably sell it but who knows the price.

If that's a name you have a right to use and that people know you by it might be worth considering. It's rather long for the QWERTY-challenged, so you'd have to have a couple of aliases, and it could be more informative if what you are selling is stoves, etc.

 

[Roospike]

I like http://www.wyomingstoveshop.com Thats my vote. After i read the post i had a few hours to think about it and it was the one i remembered.

 

[lepp]

my 2 cents. I like the casperstoveshop and wyomingstoveshop, with casper having a slight edge. It's more descriptive of your store location. Do you sell a lot state wide or is your market centered around your city? If you advertise across the state then the wyoming name would make more sense.

Either way, a URL is part of your branding strategy so try and make sure the URL and your store name are connected in people's minds.

 

[lepp]

Gideon. An excellent point. Just the 2 words is much easier to remember and to type. And after a while when you run 3 or more words together the eye starts to see other words embedded in the URL. Not that I see any wierd words in your URL but it an issue fresh in my mind. A local resort area has recently started advertising their new website which is 3 words strung together and every time I see it, at first glance I read it as a reference to a veneral disease and it takes a couple seconds to see their intended 3 words. This is NOT GOOD but I doubt that they are even aware of it.

So anyway - my 2 cents are now in the CasperStove.com bucket.

Note - I also like that Gideon types the URL with the first letter of each word capitalized. It really makes a difference in reading it and remembering it I would recommend that format in any printed materials. Just check that your server is not case senstive.

 

[webbie]

www.casperstoveshop.com
www.wyomingstoveshop.com
www.countrystoveshop.com
www.mountainstoveshop.com
www.thestoveshop.com (this one is owned by one of those companies that buys lots of domains and sells them for $$ so it would cost considerably more than the others.)

Should I use one of those or do you guys have any ideas?

I think names that are not your name (like that you are located in Casper) are not good. I'd rather see something like aastoves.com or similar. The shorter the better, and Google does not take domain names into account.

What is the store name known as? If All American Stove Shop, something like
aastoveshop.com
aastove.com
aastoves.com
etc.

 

[Shane]

I'm kind of looking to the future. The name All American Home Center will eventually be changed to The Stove Shop or Casper Stove Shop. My father in law wants to leave around January so this will probably happen rather quickly. I do like CasperStoves.com it is shorter and easier to remember. Originally the store was named to encompass all of the things that we do landscaping, fencing, sprinklers in addition to stoves and chimney cleaning. I get alot of calls people asking what we charge for various hardware store wares. I have to explain alot that we're not a hardware/sprinkler/fencing supplies outfit. We build these things and retail fireplaces. I plan to drop the landscaping end and only do fencing and sprinkler service (no system installations). I will be able to name the fencing/sprinkler repair end of the business by another name. I think CasperStoves.com is the ticket.

 

[Nokoni]

I'm kind of looking to the future. The name All American Home Center will eventually be changed to The Stove Shop or Casper Stove Shop. My father in law wants to leave around January so this will probably happen rather quickly. I do like CasperStoves.com it is shorter and easier to remember. Originally the store was named to encompass all of the things that we do landscaping, fencing, sprinklers in addition to stoves and chimney cleaning. I get alot of calls people asking what we charge for various hardware store wares. I have to explain alot that we're not a hardware/sprinkler/fencing supplies outfit. We build these things and retail fireplaces. I plan to drop the landscaping end and only do fencing and sprinkler service (no system installations). I will be able to name the fencing/sprinkler repair end of the business by another name. I think CasperStoves.com is the ticket.

I like CasperStoves.com. Good choice!