Thread: Be creative when your domain name is taken

My husband loves baseball and is a baseball historian, so I designed an affiliate baseball site for him that will include a blog (with a forum). I'll have my web designer create the site in April, 2010.

When I went to register the name that we chose for the site, it was owned by a hosting company. Okay, so I called the company who promptly informed me that the site name would cost $3000+ dollars.

No way would I ever pay that type of money for a site name. Even if I were a millionaire I would not do it.

On a whim, I checked the exact name under (.net) and it WAS available. Apparently, whoever had owned the name under (.net) never renewed and the hosting company that owned it under (.com) had not checked.

So we own that name which works perfectly for the branding we are doing for the site.

Just wanted to encourage folks that there is truly more than one way to skin a cat.

Well done on securing your domain.

For some reason, I always make sure that I can register my domains in multiple TLDs and only ever put a serious site on a .com or a localised .co.uk. If I come up with a great name, but the .com is taken and all other TLDs are available, I still won't register it. I think I worry about creating a brand based on a domain if someone out there already has the best TLD version of it (.com). I probably expect competition/trouble down the line if the site takes off.

For sites that I don't intend to keep for the long term, I am a little more relaxed about it.

Out of interest, why would you not pay $3,000 for a good domain name even if money was not an issue? Some domains would be a total steal for $3,000 and a great investment.

I don't like people who take advantage of others. I got the .net domain for less than $16.....yet the .com version of it would cost $3,000?

No, thanks!

Hi Lennie,

I agree with "coder" on using the dot com version. By building the dot net version of the same domain name you may be unknowingly sending traffic to the dot com.

I too don't understand why you wouldn't buy a domain name in the after market if it were a good domain name and money was not the issue. The days of finding great names from a registrar are pretty much gone.

You are building an affiliate website that will make a profit. Are the suppliers of the baseball memorabilia taking advantage of you by selling you products, that they had the foresight to purchase, for a profit.

Are you taking advantage of your customers by selling them products for a profit that you had the foresight to purchase?

I know nothing about baseball memorabilia but I do know that some of your items will cost a lot more than others because of supply and demand.

Domain names are no different.

Good luck on your new venture,
Greg

We all have varying opinions. I have another .net site (on a totally different subject) and have had it for over 10 years with zero problems.

I have no worries about traffic being sent to the .com site (with the baseball site), especially since the .com site does not exist and probably never will if it is not purchased by anyone.

@LennieG, I see problems with it though can be eliminated depending on how effective your web promotion would be. As @Greg1 says, you could be sending traffic to .com domain in the long run as most internet users used the domain extension like there is no other.. And while there, this could also be the same reason why the $3000 tag prize for the .com would go up higher as you make your .net popular.. (They'll be thinking, always, that you'll be interested sooner of the .com version - to stop them leveraging from the traffic which is supposedly for your .net but visitors accidentally went for the .com version, because that's the most memorable)

But then, as I said, everything lies on your web promotion.. If you could always get your visitors to remember your domain with a .net extension, then you could help them to not stumble on the .com the next time they visit.. (You might ask yourself now, 'how do am I suppose to do that?') Well, one thing I could think possible, incorporate .net on your header banner.. Make it obvious..

But it would really be good to own a domain with varying domain extensions to save every possible traffic loss especially with .com extension..

I'm honestly not concerned. My other website is 10 years old, on a .net and never a problem.

@LennieG, well, we might just thinking the worse senario.. But it is really good to learn you are not having any problem with it.. =)