UK ISP Namesco Reveals the Top 10 Worst Domain Names

Namesco, which recently phased out its old fixed line broadband service, has drawn up a list of what it thinks are the top 10 worst domain names on the internet. The often comical list reveals what happens when a graphic design company like Speed of Art goes online with speedofart.com and don’t even get us started on Pen Island.

The ISP, which now focuses on web hosting related services, claims that its Worst Domain Name Award is designed to highlight some of the “key mistakes businesses can make when registering their website address“. Suffice to say that it’s important to get your website name correct as otherwise you might attract the wrong sort of visitors, which may or may not be a stroke of marketing genius.

Sally Tomkotowicz, Customer Acquisition Manager for Names.co.uk, said:

“Our Worst Domain Name Awards were inspired by a story about Only Fools and Horses. Apparently when its writer John Sullivan started the show he didn’t consider what Trotter’s Independent Traders spelt until half way through the first series when he saw the acronym on their famous Robin Reliant.

This unintentional joke reflects the common mistake many small businesses make when they found their company – forgetting to register your domain name first and having to settle for an awkward name for the rest of your business life is no laughing matter.

Every year we see hundreds of UK businesses that register their domain name without properly thinking about the consequences of having to say that name on the phone every single day. Remember once you’ve chosen your domain it this will grace your business cards and email signature so it’s important to get it right at the start. We hope these awards will draw attention to the issue for small businesses in the UK.”

We can’t help but wonder whether some of the domains (listed below) could unintentional end up causing problems for future adult content filters, which the government is quite keen to impose upon UK internet providers.

The Top 10 Worst Domain Names on the Web (Examples)

1. Terrible Web 2.0 name: www.profilactic.com is a social media aggregator and life- streaming service. It could also be confused with a medical Prophylactic

2. Spoonerisms: Pen Island, a company which specialises in personalized pens, amazingly didn’t see the problems with registering www.penisland.net

3. Fart gags: Graphic designers Speed of Art also managed to register the more puerile: www.speedofart.com

4. Giving the wrong idea: kidsexchange.net – this US website encourages people to buy and recycle their things, bringing in extra income for kids. But it could easily be read as ‘Kid sex change’.

5. Two choices: Meanwhile www.choosespain.com – a travel website for Spain – could be read as ‘chooses pain’.

6. Foreign Names: While foreign sounding names have been successful for web 2.0 companies like Hulu.com, others are harder to convey on the phone: www.jwaala.com

7. Just uncool: Having a poor name and extension at the end for your website address is not ‘cool’: www.cuil.pt

8. Web 2.0 names that got dropped: Host meeting service www.dimdim.com was a hot new startup with a silly dotcom name and website address, until Salesforce.com acquired the company.

9. Typo-friendly: Likewise www.eefoof.com did not last long as a business with its unpronounceable web domain.

10. Hyphen misuse: While the use of a hyphen can usually save a name, and- thekitchensink.co.uk is an example of off the wall positioning.

The winner of Namesco’s Worst Domain Name Award will be announced at the end of June 2012.