Is an abbreviated geo service domain an option for your brand?

Alvin Brown
Reading Time | 6 Minutes

It was another fun-filled weekend of Town and Country Soccer. If you remember in my last post, I thought summer had passed.

Boy was I wrong about that! It was quite hot this past weekend, especially for a 1:30 pm soccer game for 4-6 year olds. Nevertheless, our little team did well.

They did have to substitute a bit more due to the heat, and we had a few heat-related crying episodes on the sidelines too. But nothing a gatorade and quick snack couldn’t remedy. 😉

As my family and I were leaving the soccer field in search of shade, lunch, and nap time, I encountered a few fence banners advertising domains.

All were quite clever to seize the moment in hopes of advertising to a captive audience of young sports enthusiasts and and their families.

I say clever because most of the advertisements had to do with some sort of bodily injury or accident, which playing soccer can be quite dangerous.

A ball or cleat to the face, a twist, break, or sprain of a body part, a hard fall or collision of players, or simply dehydration or heat stroke can happen without notice, especially when playing sports in the summer and in Texas.

One of the first advertisements that caught my eye was a company named Medicine in Motion.

Based on the advertisement and their website, MedInMotion.com appears to a growing Austin-based sports medicine facility for all sports-related injuries, sports evaluations, nutrition & fitness, and performance-based care.

It’s interesting that this company choose to use an abbreviated version of their company name as their primary web presence: MedInMotion.com.

Although MedInMotion.com is a decent sounding brandable domain, curiosity got the best of me in wanting to know whether or not they owned MedicineInMotion.com. In short, they don’t own MedicineInMotion.com.

In fact, MedicineInMotion.com is owned by another company out of Carlsbad, California also named Medicine-In-Motion, and is redirected to Medicine-In-Motion.com.

Hat tip to Dr Jeffrey K. Pearson for owning the .com and redirecting to the hyphenated .com domain.

However, his company could use substantial help with a modern website design as could MedInMotion.com.

Nevertheless, a few paces later and the next banner I encountered was Austin Family Orthodontics.

Whether a chipped tooth, missing tooth, or any other mouth and tooth related injury, it’s always good to know a dentist.

In fact, my oldest son was jumping on the bed not long after encountering this ad and took a knee to the mouth. Fortunately, the incident was minor in nature, but I immediately thought back to this sign.

Based on Google search, Austin Family Orthodontics looks to be a solid family-owned business with four locations throughout the greater Austin area based on its website.

One thing to note is that “Austin Family Orthodontics” is a bit long to type and say. That said, I cracked open a web browser to discover the following domains (* denotes available at time of writing):

These were just some of the domain names and phrases that popped into my head as viable alternatives to AustinFamilyOrthodontics.com. I really like ATXFamilyDentist.com.

In fact, many Austin-based small businesses that strictly serve the local market are using the “ATX” abbreviation since most “Austin” geo service domains are taken. There are a number of other states with Austin as a city too.

And in most cases, the abbreviation is not only shorter, but helps a business create what most refer to as a “brandable geo service domain”.

And speaking of geo service domains, there was yet another banner for emergency care right beside the Austin Family Orthodontics banner: AustinER.com.

The one downside to this banner is that it used all capitals in the domain name. I had the same complaint with Austin Family Orthodontics, yet their banner used all lowercase in their domain.

I prefer companies to use Camel Case on print ads to help the eye distinguish and read the domain more easy.

I very much like AustinER.com as opposed to the longer version AustinEmergencyCenter.com, which looks to not resolve to a website currently.

And it goes without saying, I began wondering what other city and ER domain combos were available for hand registration. I found the following:

  • AtxER.com
  • RrER.com
  • CpER.com
  • LhER.com
  • SmER.com
  • BudaER.com
  • LakewayER.com*
  • CedarParkER.com
  • LeanderER.com
  • GeorgetownER.com
  • RoundRockER.com
  • SanMarcosER.com

I was not surprised to discover one domain above is available, seeing how emergency or urgent care centers are popping up like convenient stores on every corner.

Talk about giving hospitals and traditional healthcare facilities a run for their money with affordable and high quality health services.

The final banner I encountered had nothing to do with emergency care or injuries. In fact, I was quite surprised to see it hanging along side the others: CrownTrophyAustin.com.

The company, Crown Trophy, provides corporate/sport awards, promotions and engraving services. The reason I mention this company and their banner ad is because of their use of:

  • a gmail address
  • a brand + geo .com domain

As for the gmail address, I deem it unprofessional to use a gmail address when you could very well and easily use CrownTrophyAustin.com domain for email too. I see this unattractive behavior occurring quite often by companies.

Not only that, I was more surprised ands omewhat elated to figure out that CrownTrophyAustin.com redirects to CrownTrophy.com.

However, when viewing company locations, I discovered a company does not possess domain name portfolio strategy (see screenshot of Texas location web page below).

Truth be told, I was so bewildered by their lack of organization and strategy, I couldn’t bare to look at additional pages of domains and emails used by other locations. It hurt me eyes something bad to discovering their Texas quagmire.

In my humble opinion, any company with multiple locations should either use uniform geo / sub domains to represent their locations or uniform geo service domains to represent their brand well.

In fact, I’m often reluctant to do business with companies not taking care of the simple details like using matching email and domains to represent their business. C’mon and get with the times.

I, as well as other domain consultants, are more than willing to assist companies in developing a sound domain portfolio to represent their business.

It’s actually quite easy and affordable to achieve, and will likely beat traditional marketing avenues hands down when soundly executed.

Are you up for the challenge? If so, then give me a call to discuss your company.

That’s all for now!

Alvin Brown
Alvin is a serial entrepreneur and digital strategist with an avid love for domain name consulting. As the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of DNAdverts.com, his assignment is to ensure business and personal brands don't suffer the consequences of common domain name pitfalls.

As a domain investor and business consultant, Alvin actively participates in daily domain auctions. Outside of auctions, he passionately shares his views, opinions, and vision for how businesses should and should not use domain names to generate greater customer growth and revenue.
Alvin Brown

Alvin is a serial entrepreneur and digital strategist with an avid love for domain name consulting. As the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of DNAdverts.com, his assignment is to ensure business and personal brands don't suffer the consequences of common domain name pitfalls. As a domain investor and business consultant, Alvin actively participates in daily domain auctions. Outside of auctions, he passionately shares his views, opinions, and vision for how businesses should and should not use domain names to generate greater customer growth and revenue.