10 big firms making domain name mistakes
These firms ought to upgrade their domain names.
Being big does not necessarily mean you are better at choosing your domain. When I survey the corporate landscape in China, I see many sizable firms needing to upgrade their domains.
Brand-matching is the golden rule of domains. For example, Jack Ma founded a firm called Alibaba Group Holding Limited, but it is generally called “Alibaba”. Therefore, its brand is “Alibaba” and so the brand-matching domain is Alibaba.com, not AlibabaGroup .com, AlibabaGroupHolding .com, or AlibabaGroupHoldingLimited .com. Of course, the acronym version is also acceptable, such as JD.com for Jing Dong.
Based on the brand-matching rule, let’s look at some mistakes made by Fortune China 100 firms.
| No. | Mistake | Brand | Domain |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adding prefix | China Life | e-ChinaLife.com |
| 2 | Adding suffix | China Merchants Bank | CMBchina.com |
| 3 | Not brand | Country Garden | BGY.com.cn |
| 4 | Using subdomain | PetroChina | PetroChina.com.cn |
| 5 | Incorrect acronym | WZ Group | ZJMI56.com |
| 6 | Incorrect spelling | Bank of Communications | BankComm.com |
| 7 | Incorrect order | China Shenhua | ShenhuaChina.com |
| 8 | Using other ccTLD | CRRC | CRRCgc.cc |
| 9 | Long acronym | China Railway (CREC) | CRECG.com |
| 10 | No understanding | China Communications Construction | ccccLTD.cn |
In the case of #3, the firm is called “Country Garden Holdings Firm Limited” and its Chinese name is Bì Guì Yuan (碧桂园). Still, since “Country Garden” appears in its logo, I consider its brand being “Country Garden”.
#10 shows a complete lack of understanding of domains. There are three issues: (1) The acronym ought to be “ccc” not “cccc”; (2) The word “LTD” (for “limited” ought to not be used; (3) .com ought to be used since it’s a Fortune China 100 firm!
As you can see, even some of the largest firms in China do not own their brand-matching domains.
