# Do you need a .com?



## SC2565 (Apr 28, 2006)

My problem here is that all the domains that I want are already taken with the .com endings. They aren't being used but domain selling agencies own them and I don't want to deal with paying a high price for a domain name. So I'm thinking of using .biz. Would this be a wise decision? I've read on wikipedia that some people use .biz for scams and such and I wouldn't want to bring this kind of view upon my site, so wat do you guys think I should do?


----------



## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

.com is always the best choice. Most of the time people are focused on remembering the first half of a domain name and not the second half, so if you have .biz and your customer accidently types in .com, they won't be able to find you.

You should try contacting the companies that own the domains you want. You might be able to find one for a few hundred dollars, or less.


----------



## SC2565 (Apr 28, 2006)

their email address is no longer valid so i went to the main website of the company who owns the domain and they had a section where you could make an offer for registered domains after clicking the link it sent me to sedo and I'm thinking if i should join sedo so they could do the negotiation for me


----------



## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

Did you look up their whois information? You might be able to contact them directly.


----------



## SC2565 (Apr 28, 2006)

yea the whois info had the expired email address. I was thinking of just emailing the actual company directly but when i clicked the make an offer button and they sent me to sedo I figured going the direct route more than likely isn't going to work they are probably going to send me right back to sedo


----------



## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

Ah I see.

Might as well go through Sedo, then.


----------



## SC2565 (Apr 28, 2006)

cool thanks for the help. I think i'm going to make a avatar that says thanks for not calling me Jasonda in your honor lol


----------



## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

SC2565 said:


> cool thanks for the help. I think i'm going to make a avatar that says thanks for not calling me Jasonda in your honor lol


Woohoo!


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> So I'm thinking of using .biz. Would this be a wise decision?


Definitely don't go with .biz. I would go with .net over .biz, but .com is really what you want to try and get.

I've bought and sold a few names through Sedo, it's a pretty painless process (except for the negotiations)


----------



## monkeylantern (Oct 16, 2005)

I agree that a .com is critical. I agree with Rodney that .net is the best (although much much less desirable) second choice. If I were you, if you cannot secure the .com, change your name. It's that important.

If you're planning on selling internationally, in addition to .com, I'd also get the major .co and .com.[country], such as .com.uk, .co.fr, .co.ca and com.au.

You can pick most of them up for very little (although certain ones have new laws....I believe .com.au may now have a Australia-located criteria), and it will reassure international customers, as well as do better in localised searches.


----------



## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

monkeylantern said:


> .co.ca


Actually, it's just .ca.



monkeylantern said:


> You can pick most of them up for very little (although certain ones have new laws....I believe .com.au may now have a Australia-located criteria), and it will reassure international customers, as well as do better in localised searches.


For .ca you need to have some kind of connection here. You have to be a citizen or permanent resident or have some kind of business presence here.


----------



## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

SC2565 said:


> My problem here is that all the domains that I want are already taken with the .com endings.


Personally I think .com is kinda like auto-playing music on webpages: there is only one correct answer.



SC2565 said:


> So I'm thinking of using .biz. Would this be a wise decision?


Simply put: no.



SC2565 said:


> I've read on wikipedia that some people use .biz for scams and such and I wouldn't want to bring this kind of view upon my site


Most dodgy spammers use biz. The ones who don't generally use info. Info at least is also used by legitimate websites, but it's very rare for legitimate businesses to use biz (some absolutely do, but *many *biz domains are fraudulent, so they are associating themselves with a bad crowd).

We do need more top level domains, but biz was a bad idea. I think all the legitimate businesses just thought "we already have com, why the heck do we need biz?" and the scammers thought "Ca-Ching!"


----------



## SC2565 (Apr 28, 2006)

thanks everyone i'm just going to go the sedo route and try to get them to negotiate for me im hoping desperatly that it doesnt go over $300 for everything


----------



## 48HourGraphics (Jan 31, 2007)

Hello everyone,
Everyone who has replied has nailed it on the head... You need to go with .com. When I first started my web site .com was taken so I went with .net. The problem was was that most people just type .com after the name and when the right site doesn't come up they move on to another choice. After about a year of sluggish activity on my site I changed the name and went with a .com. Activity has been a huge improvement, it just shows a little sacrafice with my name made a huge difference. Good luck with the negotitions.
Jason


----------



## Brenda G (Feb 10, 2007)

First of all.....if you take a name that's already out there and just do a .biz when someone is using the same name with .com......you're causing yourself many problems. Just because someone will sell you the domain doesn't mean that the main name isn't trademarked by another company. We are in start up litigation because we are tshirtspot dot com and our trademark name is protected in every possible spelling and combination as TshirtSpot, T Shirt Spot, etc, etc. Be careful. If you try to use tshirtspot dot net tshirtspot dot biz ...it won't fly and just a matter of time before your service provider is asked to pull your site down due to trademark violation....they kill the site and you've spent all that time and money. Another thing you want to avoid is natural listings confusion. Advice....don't try to "copy" someone elses domain or company name. Come up with something original.


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

It's also good to remember that not all domain names are trademarked. So it's good to search the trademark database when you're looking at a domain.

I don't think anybody wants to "copy" another name, but sometimes there are domains that are registered that aren't being used yet.


----------



## The T Shirt Man (Aug 29, 2006)

I wouldnt say you need a .com it depends where your visitors are going to come from. If it is through offline promotion i would say it is more important, because people will first think of .com if they cant remember. If it is going to be online promotion then it doesnt matter as much, because people are going to be clicking your link, VIA a search engine or a web page. When you start to grow people will get used to whatever your name is; I visit a site lots which uses .ws which is quite big

Having said that, if i couldnt get the domain i wanted because a potential rival or someone in my market was using a .com version of it i would rather come up with a new name than use the same one with a different extension.


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> I wouldnt say you need a .com it depends where your visitors are going to come from. If it is through offline promotion i would say it is more important,


The problem with that is that you don't always control how your business will be promoted 

For example, news stories that mention your site, radio talk show hosts that mention your site, friends and family sharing the site with others "offline" when they talk on the phone or at the park, someone seeing one of your customers wearing your shirt and hearing the website address there.

Those are all ways that I've received 100's of sales from "offline" people saying my domain name. Short and catchy with a dot com is very important to make sure you get all those visitors


----------



## LoneStarBrand (Feb 3, 2007)

GOOD READING!

i need this page

lonestarbrand.com

any help please


----------



## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

LoneStarBrand said:


> GOOD READING!
> 
> i need this page
> 
> ...


You can look up the whois information and try to contact the person who owns it. Other than that, I'd say start looking for a new name.


----------



## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

The T Shirt Man said:


> If it is going to be online promotion then it doesnt matter as much, because people are going to be clicking your link, VIA a search engine or a web page.


True, but there's the _remember it and go back later_ factor, and (more important in my opinion) the _everything looking right and professional so that people don't question the legitimacy of the site_ factor.

There's also the _people passing your link around_ factor, and the _if the dot com is taken you have a higher chance of running into problems with trademark and business licences_ factor.



The T Shirt Man said:


> I visit a site lots which uses .ws which is quite big


Amongst gaming forums sure, not amongst professional commerce sites.


----------



## SC2565 (Apr 28, 2006)

the thing is that the people who own the site domain are just one of those companies that buys a bunch of domain names and then sell them at higher prices so its not like im stealing a business name or anything i've already checked the trademark website so i'm all set i'm sending my trademark form off probably by next week I just picked up my DBA forms and had the irs send me a sales tax kit so I'm on my way


----------

