 | LearnFromGoogle.com
This will be my last post for a while. Taking a little hiatus so I can focus on writing my book, Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google, which will be published by McGraw-Hill in the Fall. More details on that project at LearnFromGoogle.com. While I'll be covering more than URL best practices, you can be...
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, January 2, 2010 - 22:40 |
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| LivingwithChronsDisease.com, LIVINGwithCHRONSDISEASE.com
Bob Kahns checks in with another URL-spotting here -- his 4th to-date. This also happens to be the 4th URL to-date we've seen featuring 2 of the same URLs in the same TV ad. They got it right at the topic with Leading Caps and alternating fonts but then inexplicably MASHEDUPsomeCAPSwithlowercase in the bottom. It's bad enough...
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, January 2, 2010 - 22:34 |
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| followapolo.com
Here's another SkewURL -- Peter Askew's 39th submission to date. He points out the spacing issues that could cause some to read this as GoFollowApolo.com. I have to agree that the placement of that "go" button is odd. This URL can't skate thru on alternating fonts alone.
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, January 2, 2010 - 22:22 |
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| dadepaper.com
Bob Kahns spotted this URL on a Cribbean cruise. In his words... "I was a bit 'pissed' off! Good job with no leading w's, but without the leading caps this URL ends up 'piss' poor!" Let's just be thankful Bob has good aim. With the camera, I mean!
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, December 12, 2009 - 12:18 |
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| HondaofPortRichey.com
Here's another submission from Bob Kahns. He just has a way with words, so I'll let him take it away... "With no w's, leading caps as well as alternating colors, I'd say this URL's got a 'motor in the back of that Honda' (in my best Sir-Mix-a-Lot impression)!" Baby URL got back, indeed.
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, December 12, 2009 - 12:13 |
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| The Road to TampaBay .com
Peter Askew and I had a difference of opinion on this one. He thought the spaces made it look like they're promoting TampaBay.com but I think it's pretty obvious the URL is TheRoadToTampaBay.com, especially considering the context of the TV commercial. And, for as big an URLaholic as Mr. Askew is with 38 submissions to date, I still...
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, December 12, 2009 - 12:11 |
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| washingtondcbmw.com
Here's an URL spotted by the mysterious "belieber." Too many Acronyms/Abbreviations going on here. Some Leading Caps and BMW would be the ultimate URLing machine.
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, December 12, 2009 - 12:10 |
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| f-k.com
Peter Askew checks in with his 37th SkewURL. The man is a one man wreck-URLing machine. And while this cup may be eco-friendly (although I bet the folks over at Beta Cup would have something to say about that), the URL is not exactly reader-friendly. In fact, I'd go so far as say it's f-k'ed up. Iced coffee may go well with a dash o...
| Good URL Bad URL - Thursday, November 26, 2009 - 11:13 |
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| itunes .com/tv/the office
Peter Askew was on the ball with camera at the ready when this ill-fated URL appeared. Not sure what they were going for with the spacing. And putting everything after the root domain in orange only emphasizes what a clusterfreak it is. This URL has Michael Scott written all over it.
| Good URL Bad URL - Friday, November 13, 2009 - 23:44 |
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| StartHealthyStayHealthy.com
Here's another SkewURL. Nice slogan integration and Leading Caps aid in readability. My only problem with it is that some may read this quickly has StartHealthyStartHealthy.com or StayHealthyStayHealthy.com. Alternating Fonts would've gone a long way here. Otherwise, this URL is smooth as a baby's butt!
| Good URL Bad URL - Friday, November 13, 2009 - 23:30 |
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| www.chicagoschoolofhotyoga.com
This was a good, er... bad spot by Buck Dossey who now works for one of the big 3 search providers where he's hopefully spreading the URL-aholism. Now, I'm not gonna comment on the hot yoga business model but if trying not to move in a 100 degree temperature room didn't already turn you off, I have to believe that Arizona swea...
| Good URL Bad URL - Friday, November 13, 2009 - 23:26 |
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| www.chicagoschoolofhotyoga.com
This was a good, er... bad spot by Buck Dossey who now works for one of the big 3 search providers where he's hopefully spreading the URL-aholism. Now, I'm not gonna comment on the hot yoga business model but if trying not to move in a 100 degree temperature room didn't already turn you off, I have to believe that Arizona swea...
| Good URL Bad URL - Friday, November 13, 2009 - 23:26 |
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| ThisIsTheEnd.com, Farewell Atlantis.com, WhoWillSurvive2012.com
This goes to show that movie URLs do not need to be long adaptations of movie title dash the movie dot com. Rather, they can pose intrigue and, when paired with a clean display, be very effective. Let's hope this is not the end of good movie URLs.
| Good URL Bad URL - Friday, November 13, 2009 - 23:17 |
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| {first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e}.com
This one comes from a longtime URL-sufferer but first time URL-spotter, Gene Daly. This billboard was part of a Google recruiting campaign for engineers. My head hurt just typing this into the post subject line, much less, trying to figure out the URL. Maybe I would've had a chance back in high-school, when my math skills were ...
| Good URL Bad URL - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - 13:13 |
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| www.adidasbasketball.com
Bob Kahns, another longtime URL-aholic but first time "official" URL-spotter, sent this one in. He says, "Of course the w's and no leading caps hurt this one, but otherwise, a good use of unused real estate perhaps?" Agreed, Bob. Had they just used Leading Caps and dropped the dubs, this URL would've been a shoe-in.
| Good URL Bad URL - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - 13:1 |
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| Tranny.org
And here's one more submitted by LivURLlicious via Facebook. This is definitely a Slurl. Wonder if the parishioners knew what kind of transfiguration they were in for when they joined this Church?
| Good URL Bad URL - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - 12:0 |
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| 90sHits.com
Here's another SkewURL. If this ain't a case study for Leading Caps, I don't know what is. This was almost a very shitty URL.
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, September 5, 2009 - 16:50 |
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| clubbing.com
Bridget Buysse spotted this URL while planning a big night out with her girlfriends. Of course, the irony here is that Bing is Microsoft's newly branded search engine. While I can't blame them for buying a SEM-ingly irrelevant keyword (as they want to capture anyone errantly typing the URL into a search box), you'd think they'd k...
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, September 5, 2009 - 16:35 |
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| tryThermaCare.com
Here's another example of a confusing call-to-action URL. The treatment of Leading Caps and alternating fonts makes it unclear whether the URL is TryThermaCare.com or if they want you to try ThermaCare.com. They better hope their audience cares enough to figure it out.
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, September 5, 2009 - 16:23 |
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| proStyle.shoes
Nate White sent this in via the Facebook GUBU page. Apparently, this was the logo on the box of a pair of Dockers he bought. Nate called it a NotURL and I like that tag so much I've created a new category for it. These shoes may do it all but they most certainly can't create new TLD's... yet!
| Good URL Bad URL - Saturday, September 5, 2009 - 16:14 |
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