Worst domain names

In theory, choosing a domain name is a simple task. Until you pick one of the worst domain names…

Short, smart, memorable, easily spelled, and communicates your business message – it should be simple, right? 

The truth is, we spend ages trying to come up with the perfect (and available) domain name. 

Short, snappy, tells people what you do… sounds easy enough. 

It turns out that squishing words together without spaces can lead to some interesting results. 

Domain names – they’re often the first thing people see when they’re introduced to your business online. 

And wow, there have been some crazy fails. 

These are some of the websites which are still operating despite dubious double meanings attached to their web addresses.

Worst Domain Names Still In Use

Pen Island

Think penisland.net, one of the most famous domain name slip-ups (squish those words together and see what you see… 😉). I have a feeling that this pen company might now realise that the notoriety of their domain name probably benefits them more than it harms them.

Who Represents

whorepresents.com is a site designed to showcase talent representatives. But an unfortunate word combination leads to a somewhat different interpretation. Surprising, they’ve stuck with it as a name,and the directory is still going strong, and their branding tries to visually strengthen the actual intent of the name.

Speed of Art

speedofart.com is a directory of artwork, whose domain can’t fail to bring about a childish snigger.

Therapist Box

therapistbox.com is a service-based business that helps therapists build a profitable private practice.

It’s just unfortunate that the first word can be so easy to mistakenly split in a string of words. (I first noticed how badly interpreted that word could be when I saw it on the back of someone’s t-shirt at a retreat. It said THERAPIST, and I totally misread it on my first take).

Kids Exchange

kidsexchange.com now redirects to another domain name, with a less ambiguous meaning, but the domain name itself lives on. Probably because it gains traffic from the likes of these blog posts pointing out the glaring mistake in their domain name choice.

Go Tahoe North

gotahoenorth.com is a tourist site for Lake Tahoe which probably never anticipated the unexpected attention its domain name would create.

Winters Express

wintersexpress.com is a news site to keep us all informed about local events. Probably not what it sounds like when we see it in our browser bar.

Mole Station Nursery

molestationnursery.com is where you’d head if you want some bedding plants in New South Wales, or a Farm Stay visit. The site hasn’t been updated since 2004.

Childrens Wear

childrenswear.co.uk seems innocuous enough as a place to buy girls’ and boys’ formal clothing, but it takes on a different meaning when you see it as a domain name.

Old Mans Haven

oldmanshaven.com is a delightful cabin rental website, and maybe it’s just me, but that’s not the impression that I get from their domain name…

Domains that are no longer used

Many of these domains have fallen by the wayside, but they’re still worth a mention, just for a giggle. But also to underline the fact that these mistakes are not wholly uncommon.

Interestingly, most of them are now premium-priced domains because of the notoriety of their domain name and the fact that they drive traffic – probably from mentions on blog posts like this one.

Experts Exchange

Experts Exchange (expertsexchange.com) was intended to be a hub for experts to share knowledge, this domain, when read without the space, implies something far more… intimate.

Holland’s Hit Festival

Holland’s Hit Festival (hollandshitfestival.nl), an event company in the Netherlands, probably didn’t anticipate the hilarity their name would cause when they started promoting their business online. The website no longer exists, but it’s still worth a mention.

La Drape

La Drape (ladrape.com), a bedding company, which looks perfectly inoffensive on letterhead, takes on an entirely different meaning when you see it as a domain name. 

Choose Spain

Choose Spain (choosespain.com) might be one of my favourite inadvertent double meanings because it’s so far from the original intention. And I can actually see how someone made this mistake.

IT Scrap

IT Scrap (itscrap.com) now redirects to an asset lifecycle management company – smart move for them to have acquired that domain.

American Scrap Metal

American Scrap Metal (americanscrapmetal.com) now redirects to a foreign language listing on Amazon.

Children’s Laughter

Children’s Laughter (childrenslaughter.com) and Therapists Choice (therapistschoice.com) are both unsurprisingly no longer in use.

Ben Dover

Ben Dover (bendover.com) a mightily unfortunate shortening of Benjamin Dover’s first name to create a website about his life.

Old Man Sass

Old Man Sass (oldmansass.com) which probably was a lighthearted collection of thoughts, but becomes something you can’t unsee when written as a domain name, sadly brings up an error these days.

Analisa Joy

Analisa Joy (analisajoy.com) was a website about someone’s newborn child (did someone REALLY call their child this?), and now redirects to a somewhat disreputable site with age-restricted content.

Teachers Talking

Teachers Talking (teacherstalking.org) makes me wonder how someone genuinely didn’t notice this when they registered the domain.

And it got me thinking, how many other gems are lurking out there in the digital ether? Have you come across any domain names that have made you spit out your tea?

If you want to avoid the pitfalls of disastrous domain names and choose a powerful domain name, you can read my blog post about it, or sign up for my Confident Website Creation Kit for just £47 which walks you through all the early stages of getting your website off the ground.