1. Keep it Short and Simple (KISS): Voters are like consumers everywhere. They remember what they think they heard. If you use your first name in your domain you can count on a number of voters forgetting to include the first name or misspelling it or worse.

BobLongForCongress.com becomes LongForCongress.com when they go to look you up. Even worse is when they misremember: when a voter types in RobertLongForCongress.com or BobbyLongForCongress.com and gets a dead website, it makes your campaign (and you by implication) look incompetent. Try to stick with your last name and the office you seek.

2. No Numbers Inside the Name: Long4Congress.com looks cute on a yardsign or in a newspaper ad. But sound it out. When one of your supporters tells a friend about your site and forgets to mention that the "for" is actually "the number four" then you get the dead website impression again.

3. Are Numbers at the End acceptable? LongForCongress2008.com is acceptable while LongForCongress08.com is not! Sound it out-- is that an "O" or a "ZERO"? Also, what happens if you win? Now you have to go and reserve names for upcoming campaigns-- not to mention paying good money to change every business card, brochure, bumpersticker, and yard sign that you have to reflect the new domain names. Note: A candidate who rents a domain name from us can keep renting the name if they win or stop renting it if they lose. Best Bet: Try to avoid using numbers at the end of your domain name if you can and if you cannot then sound them out.

4. DotCom, DotOrg or Dot Something Else? Dotcom is definitely the way to go if you can get the name you want with it. People are trained to think of DotCom as the first place to look for a domain name. Sometimes they will type .com even as they say out loud .org. Whatever you do, don't go beyond DotOrg in searching for an acceptable name.

5. How about Using my First Name? Some candidates have such high name recognition that they can do that. Hillary Clinton is not worried about any voters being confused as to who people mean when they say "Hillary" so "Hillaryfor President.com" or "Hillary2008.com" or "HillaryWhatever.com" works for her. (Of course it also works against her because her adversaries can attach her name to any number of negative names and phrases). Thad Cochran of Mississippi ran last time using ThadForSenate.com as his official website. This plan works better if you are widely known and have an unusual first name.

In Conclusion: LongForCongress.com would be the best of the examples we have given here because it is short, simple, and unlikely to confuse anyone who sees or hears about the website from another source. If you think others might be useful then buy or lease them as well and point them to your official website. For Instance BobLongforCongress2008.com and BobbyLong.com can be pointed to the same website as LongForCongress.com.

Good Luck!