domain problems

Yurple

Hi

Im setting up a new website and got a fantastic (in my opinion anyway) business and domain name. This domain is free for .ie but its taken for .com and .net etc. When visiting these .com and .net versions they are just one page fake websites.

Will i just go for the .ie or think of another domain name where i can register a .com ? It is very difficult thinking of a good name because ALL names are taken already!

Thanks in advanced

MyBusinez.com

Hi Yurple,
I presume the .com and .net names have been bought up by some opportunist who thinks they can then sell it on at a later time. This would only really become a worry if your company was to become very very profitable at some point and you wanted to buy the domains then.

Personally, I bought a .ie and .com for my company because I believe that these are the only 2 extensions that most Irish people would look for if they weren't sure of your web address. In saying that though, nowadays most people just Googleit!

If you're an Irish company and you advertise your web address as yourcompany.ie then I don't think the .com would be a problem. If people go to the .com and don't find what they are looking for they will just search again anyway.

Hope this helps

smtdos

Sometimes you can place a bid on a parked domain.

Sites like godaddy auction off domains regularly.

Yurple

thank you so much for the reply.

my new website is not just for people in ireland, it will serve for people all over the world to show off my work. I will need a .com then i suppose.

I need to think of a new name :mad:

hate those huge companies buying up 100000 domain names trying to sell them

MyBusinez.com

I think having the .com and .ie (and maybe even the .net) works better as you can capture your visitors/ customers both ways and it shows to them that you are professional and think of everything. This is good for customers to see as it helps them (even subconsciously) make a favourable decision when thinking of buying from you.

I don't think the name really matters so long as it people know it and trust it. That is the main thing when selling to your customers.

mneylon

Unless you're planning on sticking to the Irish market ONLY you should register the .com and the .eu as well as the .co.uk

usainbolt

Blacknight wrote: »

Unless you're planning on sticking to the Irish market ONLY you should register the .com and the .eu as well as the .co.uk

I have registered a few domains with the various extensions ....usually .ie/.com/.org/.co.uk. You mention .eu, has .eu really taken off yet ? Is it expected to ? or are people just buying .eu to protect their brand?

It just seems like the .eu extension is way down the pecking order .

Thanks.

mneylon

usainbolt wrote: »

I have registered a few domains with the various extensions ....usually .ie/.com/.org/.co.uk. You mention .eu, has .eu really taken off yet ? Is it expected to ? or are people just buying .eu to protect their brand?

It just seems like the .eu extension is way down the pecking order .

Thanks.

.eu is being used by some very big brands such as Sony
It's also very popular in central and Eastern Europe

A lot of people register them because it's saner and cheaper to just not have to worry about it ..

fishbun

I think MyBusinez hit the nail on the head quite early on - it's probably not going to matter unless you expect your company to become super profitable.

I read recently that pretty much all dictionary word 4 letter and 5 letter .com domains have already been bought, and the squatters tend to hold on for a company willing to pay in a price range of $xx,xxx - $xxx,xxx. I've heard of companies using Sedo.com as their anonymous domain broker, but I couldn't advise this unless you have a lot of time and money.

A lot of startups go the route of appending an extra word on their desired domain until its branding becomes important - e.g. getdropbox.com and thefacebook.com. For building a brand it's probably best to stay under 7 letters for a memorable domain name, but that probably shouldn't even be a factor until you have series A venture funding and thousands of customers.

From an SEO perspective, I feel that a .com TLD (top level domain) might rank slightly better than its counterparts, but there are so many other ranking factors to consider that, with a bit of elbow grease, a .ie, .co.uk or even .org TLD will rank globally for its keywords.

Just go with the .ie name for now. With enough SEO power the rest of the world will find it. Mybusinez also touched on the point that most people use Google to find sites and I tend to agree (I've even seen people that will type "facebook.com" into Google!). If it's a portfolio site or blog most people are going to be clicking on the link anyway, and shouldn't need to memorise the name from a radio or tv advert.

Best of luck and try not spend silly money on the extra names and TLDs. Before you know it you'll become one of those squatters that everyone hates!

AnCatDubh

last I checked the search engines will target their search results to an intended audience as measured by the TLD ( .ie = irish target, .co.uk = UK target, etc...) - this, as an element to the prioritisation of your content among search results. So this is one reason why having a relevant TLD is important and why vanity naming incorporating the TLD as part of a word may not necessarily work. That said there are many elements to the secret search engine sauce

mneylon

fishbun wrote: »

I've heard of companies using Sedo.com as their anonymous domain broker, but I couldn't advise this unless you have a lot of time and money.

That's not true.

The actual costs of using a broker are related to the value of a domain, so if it's something like $randomcompanyname.com then the cost will be pretty low, but if it were $superkeyword.com then the cost would be higher.

Some of the services are based on a fixed fee, others on a percentage and obviously the more work they have to do the more it can cost.

I've dealt with Sedo and several of the other companies in the past and haven't had any headaches

blue4ever

The .ie will bring you traffic from th the .ie parish. It will bring traffic from international traffic - searches with local (.ie) search intent after a bit of work.

Don't worry about the .com/.co.uk/et al until you get the site correct in the first place.

jmcc

fishbun wrote: »

I read recently that pretty much all dictionary word 4 letter and 5 letter .com domains have already been bought, and the squatters tend to hold on for a company willing to pay in a price range of $xx,xxx - $xxx,xxx.

Probably an article from some technology journalist that just does not understand the domain business. Short domains are sometimes more valuable but there have been fads where four letter domains, and to a lesser extent, five letter domains were all being registered and then the markets collapsed. That was about five years ago when most dropping domain names in com/net/org were never making it back to the open market due to industrial scale domain tasting. Domain tasting is where a domain would be registered, tested with Pay Per Click advertising for under five days and then, if the PPC revenue was high enough to justify registration, it would be registered. Otherwise it would be dropped with the domain going through the same process again.

From an SEO perspective, I feel that a .com TLD (top level domain) might rank slightly better than its counterparts, but there are so many other ranking factors to consider that, with a bit of elbow grease, a .ie, .co.uk or even .org TLD will rank globally for its keywords.

In terms of users, it is not whether the TLD matters as much as the trust in that TLD. This is why ccTLDs do better in their country markets than the non-core gTLDs such as .biz and .info. If a startup intends to be successful, and most do, then it is best to do the grand slam of ie/(com/net/org/biz/info/co.uk/eu). For an Irish company targeting the Irish market, the .ie is essential now. The .net and .org should also be considered. The .co.uk is also a domain that should be registered as there are more .co.uk domains on Irish web hosters than there are .net domains.

The .eu should also be considered a must-register for startups that may target countries in the EU. It has effectively replaced .com as the second choice TLD in Eastern Europe. (Blacknight pointed out that it is popular in Central and Eastern Europe and some of the main growth in .eu is now coming from that region.) Many large companies use .eu domains as their gateway domain for targeting the EU market. The visitor hits the .eu site and then may be forwarded to the relevant ccTLD site. It is a very effective and cheap way of targeting the EU market and it does not necessarily mean that you have to go out and register your brand in each ccTLD.

Best of luck and try not spend silly money on the extra names and TLDs. Before you know it you'll become one of those squatters that everyone hates!

I would suggest that you protect your brand in all markets where you intend to operate. A 10 Euro registration is cheaper than a domain dispute costing thousands of Euro.

Regards...jmcc

offlineuser

The .com extention is really the only extension worth buying for worldwide consumption... Recently overstock.com bought O.co as a domain and tried to rebrand as this... it didnt go to well to cut a long story short