|
The toll free number 1-800-Get-Rich belongs to the Resorts \rCasino Hotel in Atlantic City. Perfect vanity number for a \rcasino, right? Well apparently not. Their website shows the \ractual numbers, 1-800-438-7424 for the marketing department \rof Resorts Atlantic City. Those NUMBERS are nowhere near as \rmemorable as is the mnemonic device of letters representing \rthose numbers on the telephone keypad. It makes you wonder, \rdid the casino have bad luck (no pun intended) or receive \rbad publicity for their 800-Get-Rich phone number? Doing a Google search for 1-800-GET-RICH returns several spoof \rarticles using the toll free number to make light of get rich \rquick schemes. Seems as well suited to a casino as to satire, \rsince gambling represents the ultimate get rich quick scheme. But on the web there's a another element to toll free numbers \ryou must consider. 800 numbers are used as domain names which \rseem to stick in our memory as a web address just as well as \ra phone number. Resorts Atlantic City Hotel Casino should buy \rthe domain name www.1800getrich.com from the current owner and assign their marketing department toll free 800 vanity number to the Casino instead. The domain name www.1800GetRich.com is for sale as of this writing if you visit that web address. You can be certain that the current domain \rowner knows that the toll free vanity telephone number is \rowned by Resorts International Hotels www.resortsac.com which \rmatches the domain www.1800getrich.com. It has to be enticing \rto think a large international hotel corporation may want his domain. The casino owns the toll free number but isn't using the \rmnemonic for the numbers (GET-RICH for 438-7424). Makes you wonder about the history of the domain name, since WHOIS records show it was reserved only \rthis past May of 2004, AND the history of the vanity number \rsince it is going unused, at least on the web site. Hmmmm... There are vanity phone number resellers online that actually \rspecialize in providing 800 numbers with matching domain name \rfor those seeking the consistent branding for their business. \rClearly this is simply a marketing ploy by savvy 800 number \rvendors, as those domains may be full of hyphens and may cost \rmore than they should due to the perception of value-added. An interesting aspect to toll free numbers as domain names is \rthat of 1-800 copyright and trademarks. Take for example, the \rwell known flower retailer 1-800-FLOWERS.com where they use \rboth the domain name and the toll free number. Both are copy- \rrighted and trademarked names and essential to the business. Legal precedent allows trademark owners to confiscate domains \rfrom "cybersquatters" who buy domain names containing trade- \rmarked or copyrighted words and phrases hoping to sell that \rdomain back to the trademark holder. But it is less clear an \rissue when it comes to descriptive toll free and vanity phone \rnumbers. How about 1-800-PINDROP.com - which you would think \rwould be registered to Sprint Communications? Curiously, as \rof October of 2004, this domain was available. What do they \ruse? www.pindrop.com (without the 1-800) goes to Sprint.com. It appears there are wide inconsistencies in using toll free \r800 phone numbers as domain names but they can be memorable, \rwhich is one measure of a good domain name. They also aren't \rlimiting as to word length. I've always felt it's a bit odd \rto type in 1800keywordphrase.com as a domain name, but only \rbecause there is no hyphen in it. 1800 looks like eighteen \rhundred and is just as strange as typing 247 for domains as \ra suggestion they are always open, more often seen as 24/7, \rbut domain names can't have that slash mark in them. As a matter of fact, I've always disliked numbers of any \rkind in domain names - especially those using numbers in \rplace of the words "to" (up2me.com)& "for" (good4you.com) \rBut, as owner of http://website101.com I'm at odds with the \rdislike for numbers in domain names. Still, it works better \rthan 1800website.com or 1-800-website.com, both owned by \rVerio Web Hosting and both purchased in August of 1996, but \rneither have web sites configured at those addresses. They \rmust not have been a worthwhile domains, yet they keep them. If it offers you another option for a memorable web address, \r800 number domains may be worth considering. Mike Valentine operates WebSite101 domain name tutorial \rhttp://WebSite101.com/Domain_Name/ \rFree domain lookup tool to find out who owns domain names at \rhttp://website101.com/Domain_Name/Domain-WHOIS-database.html \rThis article written for 800 Numbers Toll Free \rhttp://800numberstollfree.com/toll-free-800-number-index.htm
|
