Website names have taken a drastic turn from the traditional keyword.com. Names mean less than ever now. Search engines supposedly don’t care what your website is called, and neither do your visitors. So why all of the strange names?

Examples of Web 2.0 names:
Digg
Flickr
delicio.us
Odeo
9rules
craigslist

Coincidentally, all of those services have been moderately successful. Is this just another trend, or is there something behind these unusual titles?

I think we can agree that the names above have little value. As standalone domains, they aren’t worth much in the domain market. These unusual names arose as secondary choices; all of the good keyword.coms have been snatched up by corporations and domain sharks. The websites above were all created by amateurs that wanted to revolutionize the online experience. With no or little funding, it easy easy to find a 2.0 name:

1. Come up with a few keywords that describe your site
2. Use a thesaurus to find more keywords
3. Choose the most unique and brandable one
4. See if it’s been registered already; if not
5. Change the word slightly by removing a vowel, adding an extra consonant to the beginning or end, or otherwise making clever use of characters

If you follow TechCrunch at all, you know that a lot of big-game networks are trying to capture this style by releasing their own services with 2.0 names. It’s a bit ironic, but imitation is the best form of flattery.

Do search engines care? The simple answer is no. However, keep in mind that people will typically link to your website by name. If this is the case, you may have a harder time getting valuable keyword-links to your site. That theory is debatable though. 2.0 names are extremely brandable, so it’s not to hard to get yourself out there.

Keep in mind that a names aren’t everything; being the next “MailSendr beta” wont guarantee success. Find something that works well and reflects your site, then get it out there!