All about share

Looking at going into business on the Internet? If you are, you have probably found that the dot-com you had settled on is long gone. You’re not alone, in the past few years most people who have gone to the web hoping to get that one perfect dot-com name have found the very same thing. But don’t throw in the towel thinking you can’t win.

First of all, are you sure your domain name is out of reach? Ok, you’re not going to get it for less than ten dollars like you had hoped and expected; but if you think it’s all that important that you should have it, maybe you should try purchasing it from its present owner. Yes, it could cost several hundred or even several thousand dollars in an aftermarket purchase. In the brick and mortar world nobody is surprised when they have to pay a premium for the best address. But it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it. Find the owner, send him an email and make him an offer.

Secondly, do you really think that the lack of that exact dot-com name that you’ve been lusting for is all that stood between you and success? Come on, you’ve been around long enough to know that hard work is still required to make it in business! Making another analogy with the brick and mortar world, you can have the best address on the busiest corner in town but you’re not going to sell anything if you haven’t the inventory, the advertising or the workers. It’s the same with a web address.

Let’s shine a little light on what are known as ‘Extensions’ at the end of a domain name. Sometimes they are known as TLD extensions with the TLD just standing for Top Level Domain. (Not sure why, but that is what the TLD stands for.)

Primarily you’ll see a domain name ending in either ‘.com’ / ‘.org’ / ‘.net’ and also ‘.biz’ and ‘.info.’ The ‘.com’ is the most widely known as it was the first and stood for ‘Commercial.’

Now you use to hear to always try for the ‘.com’ because that is what people were familiar with. But now not only are most ‘.com’ domains taken but people are used to seeing the ‘.org’ and the ‘.net.’

My understanding from talking with a few people who really focus on this is that today Google does not penalize a site for having an extension other than the traditional ‘.com.’

Looking for a domain name with ‘.org’ or ‘.net’ gives you more of a chance to get the domain name you really want. I have been told that after the ‘.com’ the next 2 best ones are the ‘.org’ and ‘.net’ but in search results you’ll still see a few ‘.biz’ and ‘.info’ ranking high as well.

Interesting thing is with the ‘.org’ people give it a little more credibility as it stands for ‘Organization’ and I believe it used to be for non-profit organizations only. Now it can be used for a commercial site and is the one I would look to first if the ‘.com’ is not available. Keep in mind when it comes to a domain name ending in ‘.com’ that some of these sites were established early and have been built up over the years with content and a lot of good links.

Yes, this writer is aware that it is generally considered a poor writing practice to give the most important kernel of information away for free in the title of an article. A good writer is supposed to offer up a title that adds an air of mystery to the piece (preferably a question) and suck the reader into the body of the article. Then after gradually building the tension to a fever pitch with several well-written paragraphs, announce the answer to the question posed by the title. Unfortunately following that particular methodology has already confused thousands of searchers looking for the answer to the question correctly answered by the title of this article: “What is the world’s most expensive domain name?”

You thought it was Sex.Com, right? Of course you did, nearly everyone does. I did! I’ve written that fact into a number of articles. But I find I was wrong. And we’re not alone, you and I.

Google the question “What is the world’s most expensive domain name?” as two thousand or so individuals do every month, and you will get page after page of misleading search results. Some of them actually have the correct answer but you have to dig to find it and why would you do that when some of them are screaming the answer in the first line like “Sex Sells!” And even more to the point, and less than halfway down to the fold, “Sex.Com: Now Officially The…” This article goes on to say that the domain sold recently for 13 or 14 million dollars. Actually, as I understand it, it sold for that price in 2006. And even if that price in 2010 were correct, it still overlooks the fact that Insure.Com sold for 16 million dollars in 2009.

Feature *No 1, Short Is Gold

The best domains are short, as in the least amount of characters the better “excluding numbers or hyphens” The 3 and 4 letter domains are gone ” although you can. Look to purchase them on various Domain Auction platforms. The five letter domains are nearly gone as well. One word domains are the most valuable, especially if they actually are a real word, but you can still purchase 5 letter domains that may not be a word, but can still be valuable for branding such as “ozner” for example

Feature *No 2, Catchy and Memorable

tinyas.com is catchy and easy to remember, when a potential client comes across this website, it’s catchy and easy to remember, as such they will have no challenge returning to your site. Qwngy.com is short, but it is not catchy and is not memorable, so this would not necessarily attract a large price.

Feature # No 3, Should be easy to spell

Obviously a valuable domain needs to be easy to spell, people are impatient, if they have trouble reaching your domain due to spelling mistakes, then that domain is not going to get a lot of traffic, people will get irritated and move on.

Feature # No 4, Recognizable

Your domain should be recognizable, so if your potential domain buyer wants to market a product or service in a particular niche market, then he would look to buy a domain name that has relevance to the product or service he is going to market.

Feature #5,.com Is best by far

The most popular domain names are.com sure organizations will use.org and companies can use.co but more often than not they will want a.com, a.com in most cases will fetch a better price.