Week 24 (February 2019)
Welcome to Domains in the Wild. In this series I post images of domain names that I've spotted out and about in the real world. Then I write a bit about what I think of each one. It's easy to miss domain names, but they're all around us and play a key role in a companies branding, messaging and design. Spotting them and taking a photo is sort of a fun hunting game to play while you're out and it takes very little effort once you start looking for them. Once you start to play, you will start seeing domains everywhere without even trying.
If you catch any yourself, please share them with us all in the comments.
Without further delay, here are the domain names that I found in the wild recently...
The Domains
Doors! All the domains in the wild featured today were found on the front doors of businesses. Take a look!
WallingfordCenter.com
First up is WallingfordCenter.com. This domain belongs to the Wallingford Center which is a large building in the Wallingford neighborhood full of local businesses, restaurants as well as a host for a number of events year round. Here's what they're saying about themselves on their website,
Wallingford Center is a Historic Landmark officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where you shop matters: Shop Local, Shop Small, Shop Wallingford Center!
We are committed to being a family-friendly hub for the entire community and regularly host on-site events.
As far as the domain goes, I like it. It's a bit long, but honestly the name Wallingford is a bit long. I also don't mind that this is very location specific because it's not like a single business that could move, sell, or expand to other areas. For this reason, the geo term (Wallingford) actually is very fitting.
Side note, this is a cool building and there are some pretty good cupcakes for sale inside at Trophy Cupcakes!
IBSTreatmentCenter.com
Next up is IBSTreatmentCenter.com. This domain belongs to a small business located in the Northgate area. As their name suggests, they are an IBS Treatment Center.
The domain is a bit long but it's an exact match of their business name so it is fitting. I'm not normally a fan of domains mixing acronyms and words unless the acronyms are extremely well known, like "DNA" for example. In this case, I think "IBS" is a pretty well known acronym so it's okay.
DesertSunTanning.com
Finally we have DesertSunTanning.com. This domain belongs to a tanning salon with around 25 locations in the state of Washington.
The domain is a bit long at 3 words and it's not an exact match of the company name. The company goes by "Desert Sun" and clearly could not get DesertSun.com which is actually owned by the USA Today Network, so it makes sense that they chose this domain. It's just not ideal in my opinion.