The State of New York launched a new website to help state residents connect with government officials. Dubbed Citizens Connects, the website aims to be an “online town hall where you can find everything you need to communicate with New York State Government.”
Although the website sites on a state government url, http://governor.ny.gov/citizenconnects, the State of NY smartly purchased the matching .com domain name to forward to the website. If you visit CitizenConnects.com, you are forwarded directly to the correct website.
The government is also promoting CitizenConnects.com instead of the bulky url, making it easier for residents to access the website. I often see organizations and government agencies pushing hard to remember website addresses, but this is one instance where the government agency has done a good job with its domain name selection.
To be honest, I don’t particularly like the “Citizen Connects” branding because it sounds a bit strange. IMO, Citizens Connect sounds like a better option, but that domain name was registered.
Something like NewYorkState.xxx would have been much more logical & intuitive. That’s alot of people they are trying to serve and “connect” with.
Domains for 301 redirects and SM placements to increase conversion are awesome.