

Ask HN: How long is too long for a startup domain name? - alanmeaney

I’m currently working on a project and we’ve reg’d the following domain: taskmessenger.com (comes in at 13 characters).<p>Is this too long?<p>What is too long for a startup name? Can you guess what our product does from our domain?<p>Thanks,
Alan
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etfb
Never mind the length; that name is bad because of the rhythm.

Consider the current big players. Facebook, Google, Apple: all trochees (two
syllables; stress on the first syllable). Microsoft, Oracle: dactyls (three
syllables, stress on the first). These flow better than some other rhythms. If
you write trochees as "- _" and dactyls as "- _ _", then yours is "- - _ _".
It stumbles. It's the same rhythm as Stack Overflow, if that cheers you up,
but the consonents are clumsier -- the k followed by an m is claggy and
clumsy.

I'd try something with a better flow to it. Even "totalmessenger" ("- _ - _
_") runs better, and the l/m is much nicer than the k/m. Length isn't the
issue, because people can type that perfectly well.

Try employing a poet to help you. We're an underrated breed with useful
skills...

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alanmeaney
Thanks for the feedback. I haven't seen flow mentioned before, certainly
something to consider.

I'm from the land of poets so no underrating here

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swGooF
I would guess your app assigns out tasks, maybe a better todo list? I do not
think your name is too long. More important than length is spelling. Can you
tell someone your domain name and have them type it in correctly? Yours
consists of 2 fairly common English words. Thus I think your name is good.
Here is my only suggestion: buy common misspellings of the domain name and
redirect. taskmesenger.com for example

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alanmeaney
I'll give it a couple of hours to allow for some more replies before saying
what it is we're working on.

Thanks for the misspelling tip.

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keiferski
Generally speaking, it's better to have a straightforward domain than a short
one (if you can't have both). In other words, TaskMessenger.com is better than
TSKMG.com

13 isn't too long. StackOverflow and Huffington Post both have more than 13
letters.

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alanmeaney
One tip for testing I read was to describe what you are doing to someone and
mention the domain once in the first minute. After you’ve explained what
you’re doing and they’ve asked any questions they have ask them can they
remember your domain – going to give this one a go

