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Got Your Dream Domain?

[Graphic: TLD Extensions]
What's A Great Top Level Domain Extension?
A couple of days ago I have received an email from some gmail.com address saying,

“You own the domain SOMEDOMAIN.BIZ(*) and we thought you might be interested in purchasing SOMEDOMAIN.COM, which we own. We offer it to you for US$ 195.00. ...”

(*) I obviously changed the real domain name into a fake one.



Why would I want to buy SOMEDOMAIN.COM?

A short list of reasons:
  • Well, the classic .COM top level domain extension has the widest recognition as Internet - Web - Domain among all other extensions.

    Say “WHATEVER.COM” and almost everybody, who ever has browsed the Web, will know what you are talking about and how to get to your Web site. Some SEO (search engine optimization) specialists also claim, that .COM domains are treated favorable by search engines, especially Google. Although Google likes .ORG domains these days as well.

  • Many of the new domain extensions like .BIZ already have been heavily abused by spammers and have got a bad taste in the perception of anti-spam tools.

    E.g. Whenever I am sending a newsletter from my FCON21.BIZ domain I am reminded by the SpamAssassin™ Score that emails originating from a .BIZ domain are penalized with some extra points into the red.

    Obviously, when I registered this domain. I didn't really know what I was doing. But I'll stick with it for now.

  • Today you find all sort of commercial and non-profit sites both in the US and every other country in the World using the famous .COM extension. Use it, too.

When I originally bought SOMEDOMAIN I was looking for .COM, which had not been available at the time.


Will I jump on the deal?

No, for several reasons.
  • SOMEDOMAIN was not a good choice for a domain name anyway.

  • The latter point also seems to be proved. SOMEDOMAIN.COM is available for registration! (Would it be, if it were such a hot deal?)

  • The offer obviously came from some sort of spammers, who search the WHOIS database. They did not even bother registering the .COM domain at first. Probably they would, if I showed interest. Or they simply want to receive some cash via Western Union. (I'll never find out, because I don't react to spam.)

Above I have recommended the .COM extension, but what makes up a good domain name?


A Great Domain Name - Some quick rules

  • Is it unique and catchy?
  • Is it descriptive?
  • Does it convey the right image?
  • Is it memorable?
  • Can people type it without misspellings when they only hear it?
  • The shorter the better!

My SOMEDOMAIN example failed, because of high potential for misspellings that' why I don't bother registering it, and I also will let the .INFO and .BIZ versions of it expire.


Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: I originally jumped on the bad SOMEDOMAINs, when GoDaddy had one of its frequent sales. At this time I was not aware of the advantages of .COM and I didn't have any clue about qualities of a good domain name at all. I mean FCON21.BIZ kind of is a remnant from this time, too.

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Comments

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D.D.J. on :

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The shorter the better! - getting harder to find those!!

-- www.repairairconditioning.net

Sedation Dentistry Beverly Hills on :

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I would have ignored that email. If someone was serious about buying a domain from me, why would they use a g-mail account to solicit an offer? I don't know, but that certainly doesn't resonate well with me. --http://dentistsbeverlyhills.com

Mila Ace on :

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Do you consider keywords in the name? To me that's essential as your domain is instantly associated with your niche then.

Jennifer M. on :

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Absolutely! I think you always should make the connection to your visitors first. It's more important they rather than the search engines understand what you are trying to do.

Dhimas on :

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Good post.. Very helpful.. Thankz... --dhimas.web.id

Nick on :

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hey, love the blog - i will try and keep up with it!! please keep more coming :)I wish I could start a blog but I don’t have much time :(Thanks, nick

--www.carmoneyrealfast.com

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