Starting a business without the .com version of your name is a recipe for failure.
I belong to an Austin business email list. It’s a lively list as people ask for referrals for CPAs, which webhosting company is best, and for advice about growing a business. Today someone inquired about buying a domain name. Being an expert on the subject I chimed in. Other people gave their two cents as well, and some of the advice was misguided. Because the .com version of this person’s business was taken, some people suggested registering the .net version.
“I think you’d be fine if you acquired the other domain names and focused on the .net – though that top level domain was originally intended for network operators, it’s commonly used as an alternative when the .com isn’t available”
If you want to send customers that are looking for you to your competitor, go right ahead. If you want confidential e-mail communication intended for you to end up in someone else’s inbox, go right ahead. But if you count on your web site for any of your referrals or business communications, don’t even think about using a .net for your business.
When registering a domain, consider if your “lowest common denominator” will get it right. Matt at DomainBinge, a new domain blog, had an insightful post about this the other day (republished with permission):
.BIZ domain fails the sister test
Here’s an interesting domain anecdote from the weekend.
My wife had referred a business contact to my sister last week. Over the weekend, my sister was at the house talking to my wife about the referral.
“I sent her two e-mails…but both came back as undeliverable.â€
So my wife pulled up the contact’s business card, looked it over and noticed that her e-mail address included the .biz gTLD. She pointed that out to my sister:
“Did you use .biz or .com?â€
My sister’s response was precious:
“What the heck is .biz?â€
I snickered a bit under my breath…and duly noted the experience. My sister is ANYTHING BUT tech savvy, but I think she represents that typical web and e-mail user quite well.
Her follow-up reaction was even better:
“Why would she [the contact] use .biz and not .com?â€
My thought – which I didn’t share – was “because she couldn’t afford to buy the .com.â€
Matt says
Andrew —
Great post…it made me think about something – I don’t think I’ve ever typed “.biz” into my keyboard. Ever.
Pete says
I was just thinking about this issue last week! I had 5 correspondence emails legal issues and homeowner association stuff in my mailbox. I own http://www.hoalawyer.com and people are getting my domain mixed up with the .net and hyphen and other variations of my domain! As a courtesy I forward the emails to the intended address.
MartinE says
I’d also add that if you use a hypen you’ve just changed the name of your company to your dash company dot com because that’s what you’re going to be telling people for the rest of your existence.
Getting a clean dot com is more important than the name you choose for your business.
Ruben Rodriguez says
I prefer to plan for the long term. For instance, growing up, my telephone number began with 2 letters and 5 numbers. The 2 letters were an abbreviation for the exchange, like WAlnut, JAckson, etc. There was no zip code either.
Eventually, people got it.
This is more of a marketing problem than a strategic error.
Prior to the ‘net, people still had to distinguish between say, “John’s TV Sales” and “John’s TV Repair”. It is human nature to refer to both of them as “John’s TV”.
Find an online Assumed Name database and browse. You’ll see many similar names.
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R. Sosa says
The case shown above is certainly our current reality. However, as a new generation of people born with the Internet take over, they will be much quicker to recognize and understand the differences in gTLDs.
Hanging on to .com is a short term position. ICANN is currently ironing out the process for accepting the creation of many new gTLDs.
Another issue is understanding the purpose of a gTLD. In the above example of the .com version being taken, I would’ve chosen a .info (for information) over the .net.
Greg says
R.Sosa… Ah the next generation of interneters are currently purchasing their iPhone from, you guest it, apple.COM and getting the latest vista information from microsoft.COM. Did I mention that playstation.COM and wii.COM might have some influence over this “next” generation. I was traveling this past weekend and we got behind a big truck that all the passing children get to see with uhaul.COM. So this next generation that you talk about is at least 25+ years away, so R.Sosa you keep ahold of your .biz and other gTLD names hoping for the best.
Ruben Rodriguez says
The examples you use are all trademarked names.
However, I understand the argument. But John’s TV Sales in Minot SD has no need to market itself as a national brand.
I’m spilling the frijoles here, this once.
If JohnsTVSales.com is parked, and JohnsTVSales.biz is online getting indexed, which site is becoming more valuable?
Which is the more useful site?
The parked dot com may get more hits, but eventually repeat visitors will adapt and choose the site that more highly rewards their search. They’re looking for a local business, after all.
That said, how does the speculator who owns the dot com get value from their domain?
Domain Offerings says
I know of two ecommerce sites that are using the .net version of .com domains that I own. I don’t seem to be getting any mistaken visitors. Perhaps they are not getting that many visitors in the first place. That said, I certainly agree with the assertion that it is crazy to put all the effort to create a business and website and not ensure the domain name is a .com.