Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

If you think that the domain name you want will make a difference in your success, go for it.  Buy it from the seller.  But I think you can haggle the price down.  I agree, $1000 is too much.  A domain is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it.

I`ve bought domains for clients who wished to remain anonymous in the process. Because if the seller found out who is really trying to buy the domain name, the price will go up from less than $500 to $10,000.  So we do all the deals in my name, I pay the seller and everyone walks away happy. Once I have possession of the domain name, I transfer it to another domain registrar, and enter the name of my client. 

Not all good domains are taken... I guess it depends on which industry you`re on.  Once in a while, a good domain is up for grabs (expired, unnoticed, etc..)

Also, while a short domain name is convenient, the content in your website is more important so you`ll get high search engine ranking/results.  In fact, it may even help your ranking if you have some important keywords in your domain name.

I have never had a problem finding good domain names... Sure, some shorter ones are taken, but longer is not necessarily less desirable these days.

When was the last time you started randomly typing domain names into your browser. I never have.I use search, and find what i am looking for.

Some of the top domains right now have no *obvious* link to what they do/offer in the name:

craigslist.org
flickr.com (yeah, it makes sense now... but when they started?)
skyrock.com
orkut.com
twitter.com
dailymotion.com

Not to mention brands that we know and love, but made no sense at the time: Adobe, Apple, Google, Yahoo...

If you buy a domain, you may also be buying it`s traffic, though... and it may have good traffic, no or neutral traffic, or traffic that is NOT good for your purposes, skewing your tracking.

There are pros and cos to both sides, but I have never and probably never will buy a domain.

Then again, I have always been a bit of a maverick, preferring what I can create.



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Heather C
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TheSoMeEx - A Startup I`m Working On: Follow me on twitter! | Blog
Queensboro Shirt Company - Custom Embroidered And Printed Apparel for Small Businesses - LOW 4-Piece Minimum

It`s about to get even crazier in the domain space, as preparations are being made to allow registration of pretty much -any- top-level domain. In addition to the TLDs we all know and love (.com, .org, .net etc), you`ll be able to register things like .books, .laundry, .cars, essentially .whatever. Speculation is that there`s going to be a bidding war for key words like .auto, .grocery and so on, as the rules allow one entity to control the entire top-level domain.

Perry



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Perry Donham is President of KidPub Press, publishing books and stories written by kids ages 8 to 15, launched in 1995. He blogs about lessons learned in 14 years of building an online business.

Follow KidPub on Twitter

Hmmm. Hadn`t heard that. Fascinating.

Makes me wonder whether those TLDs will be a big deal, or ultimately a dump like .net and so on... for those who couldn`t get the .com.

We`ll see, of course. Thanks for the heads up!



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Heather C
--
TheSoMeEx - A Startup I`m Working On: Follow me on twitter! | Blog
Queensboro Shirt Company - Custom Embroidered And Printed Apparel for Small Businesses - LOW 4-Piece Minimum

Many good domain names are parked so just go to yourdomain.com and see if there is a website there or if it is parked and for sale. Sometimes you can get these at bargain prices, other times now. Two other resources for buying domain names are Sedo and Afternic or of course, you can make up your own.

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LocalAdLink

You have to get a little bit creative with a domain name or your company name for that matter.  You definitely want to be unique, right?  There are people out there that buy and sell domain names just like flipping real estate during the boom days.  And the barrier of entry is really low.  Spending over $1000 is way way way too much just for a domain name.  I wouldn`t recommend it unless you have the capital and your business is already up and running.


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Rully K
DublinNet
info@dublinnet.net

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Phillip Barnhart
Web Architect / Managing Partner
SiteRiver: Web Applications Intelligence

LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook |

excellent point siteriver,

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It depends on the type of business you are. If you are an affiliate site then it may be worthwhile to buy a domain name. However, if you are a "business" site then you should probably register one yourself.


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