Why, yes. Yes it is. A little forward. In relation to domain names.

Domain names. It is still amazing how many brands come up with a contest or new campaign ... and they don't buy the domain name first! They print brochures, flyers, publicize it -- and then find out some cybersquatter has swooped in, grabbed the domain for $10 and then is holding it to ransom for thousands.

Sometimes this happens because of a disconnect between the team creating the campaign, and the digital team putting the whole thing together. Takes five minutes to pick up the phone, call a colleague and ask, "Just checking, we bought the domain name, right?"

I digress.

Busy world, bombarded with information all day, easy to forget things. You're driving home along the highway and spot a billboard. It's promoting a contest for something. Looks interesting, and it's caught your attention for 10 seconds. Might want to check it out.

So you get home, have dinner, spend some family time, then go to the computer. Now what was that URL for the great contest? You know it was run by a certain brand, but was it brand.com/contest/freecar or brand.com/freecarcontest?

Can't remember, giving up = one less visitor to the contest page for the brand's digital team to report back to management when they compile the weekly analytics stats report. Hashtag fail.

Just grab a different URL and forward it to the hard-to-remember contest page. Most premium domains are long gone, but with some clever thinking by going for a different suffix such as .click or .rocks. may produce some good results.

gohomeand.click / thiscontest.rocks etc.

There's lots of choice available.

Forwarding is free for most domain name registrars. Or -- and there's different opinions on this -- build a separate microsite around that unique domain and base the contest or promotion there.

Pros: targeted, specific, easy-to-remember domain, disposable after the promo
Cons: another site to update, remember to renew the domain, waters down the brand

Each to their own, as they say. But domain names still have a lot of value if used in the right way for specific projects.

Sometimes you have to be a little forward in life.

John.