Comments on: What to Do When the Dot-Com You Want Isn't Available

By: Phil Barnhart

Phil Barnhart — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:32:15 +0000

Unfortunately, sometimes those harmless-looking, perfectly-named domains may have a checkered past. Before picking up a domain name that may be banned or blocked due to previously delivering malware, trojans, or porn, you need to do a background check. We've set up a free Domain Background Check cheat sheet - just enter the domain name you are researching and we generate 14 links to domain check, anti-malware, and other tools to quickly check if your domain name is ready for business or is still on parole.

By: Fergal, Business Advice Forum

Fergal, Business Advice Forum — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:48:18 +0000

Chi.mp is a convenient service. I’ve just created a page for fergal.mp. Very user-friendly, it really only takes a minute to register a domain.

By: Charles Hamilton

Charles Hamilton — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:44:18 +0000

@Victor – You’re right, I missed .ws, as well as .to. Thanks for the reminder!

By: Victor Cap

Victor Cap — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:36:29 +0000

Why no mention of “.ws”?

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:21:06 +0000

Shell out the money for the .com, it’s worth it. But, if the price is _really_ outrageous, then build on something catchy that passes the radio test or a generic name that describes your business. And stick to two words. Please don’t replace numbers 4 words and stay clear of hyphens. Keep your brand looking as spam-less as possible.

By: Bill Rice

Bill Rice — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:52:31 +0000

Like a couple of the other comments, I am not sure I agree with going with an alternate TLD or dashes.

I think the best advice is spend a little time doing some keyword analysis. You might find another combination of words that consumers/users use as or more frequently.

I also like action words with main concepts. For example, Dave Winer wanted a Berkeley blog, with berkeley.com gone he used inBerkeley.com–clever.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:06:54 +0000

“WePickedThisDomainNameBecauseEverythingElseWeWantedWasTaken.com”

Dang it. That one’s already registered also…

By: Simon Mackie

Simon Mackie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:53:54 +0000

@marcus – I don’t believe that is true – why should the TLD have an effect on ranking, except for geographically-related searches? I think the reason why .com versions of the same domain (myname.com vs. myname.org, for example) appear higher in rankings is that people are more likely to link to the dot-com when given a choice, not because dot-coms are inherently better.

By: marcus

marcus — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:55:43 +0000

If you are interested in getting your site ranked in the search engines, then .com is the way to go. It seems google gives .com higher rankings than .net and .org.

If your preferred domain name is taken, I suggest ad a simple number or word to it.

For example..

Instead of name.com it could be
name.com1 or name-tip.com etc..

By: austinandrew

austinandrew — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:35:35 +0000

Good article. The one point I disagree on is using numbers or hyphens in your domain. You add a disclaimer to that, but I strongly advise against doing it. It's worth noting that DNJournal shows the top reported domain sales; most .com domains can be purchased for $1,000 or so. I wrote an overview of picking and buying a domain name on budget.

By: Timo Reitnauer

Timo Reitnauer — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:17:15 +0000

Very good overview. Another idea is to find a catchy phrase - we have iWantMyName for our domain registrar ;) or use a domain hack. I don't agree that .TEL hasn't become popular though. The extension is only a couple of months old and already has more than 200k registrations. That's nearly as much as .NAME has after all these years. The .NAME is not restricted to third-level domains anymore btw. You can register whatever.name in the meantime which makes it a good extension for your online identity.

By: Vane

Vane — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:07:49 +0000

Another good option to still get a dot com is to try searching domain names related to the keywords you want to aim on the internet or the best quality or promotional name you can come up with related to your business for example buy-books-online.com or something similar