Which would you choose...

... when the .com of your name is taken?

[eugenebarnes]

I have a new client who would like their company name as a ".com" domain name. Unfortunately, someone else in another part of the country already has it (though they aren't using it just yet).

The client suggested that maybe they should change their domain name slightly so they can still get a ".com" name. Something like...

Desired Name (taken): foodofthegods.com
Suggested Alternative: foodsofthegods.com

This is not the actual name, just an example to show you what they had in mind.

My thought is they might be shooting themselves in the foot by choosing a domain name that spells their company name slightly different. Not to mention all those people who may assume their domain name is "foodofthegods.com" and end up going to another site altoghether.

I'm tempted to suggest they go with a .biz, .net, or .us so they can keep their company name correctly spelled in the domain... and maybe those who hear of them will remember the .biz because it is still comparatively unusual.

What do you think?

TIA,

Eugene

[martinibuster]

I would stay away from .biz.

As a bonus I think that most mailform scripts would get confused by that, if you were filling them out using a .biz domain.

The .net I think invites confusion as well. I've seen other companies with a similar situation do an abbreviation or use a product name, as opposed to the company name.

I would give it a couple days for a creative solution.

[EliteWeb]

I've been doing .US lately since i can call up the registrar and get em for 5.00 each ;P But I normally go with the .Net, and .oRG :0)

[rogerd]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, EB! The risk of not having the .com domain is that if the site becomes popular with the .net domain, for example, users will tend to miskey the URL and go to the .com domain by mistake. A slight misspelling of the company name has the same problem, and might even be worse. You don't want to end up driving 10% of your traffic to your competitors!

(I'm assuming you are talking about a long-term business domain, not a promotional domain that will mainly be used for search engine promotion.)

I'd be inclined to come up with a creative, memorable new name that makes sense for the company and for which the .com is available.

[Mike_Mackin]

>I'd be inclined to come up with a creative, memorable new name that makes sense for the company and for which the .com is available.

and uses KWs that define what it is that they do/sell

[eugenebarnes]

"I think that most mailform scripts would get confused by that, if you were filling them out using a .biz domain. "

Mailform scripts can't handle TLDs other than .com?

[Sinner_G]

Maybe you already thought about it, but if it's their company name, can't they get the current owner to give/sell them the .com name?

[eugenebarnes]

They've already contacted the current owner. He isn't selling.

[Sinner_G]

But does he have a right to it? If he doesn't use the name and it is your client's company name, they should be able to force him to give it away.

I just think that you should use every mean of getting the real name before looking for another solution.

[eugenebarnes]

My research shows that there are at least one or two other businesses that use the name elsewhere in the US.

Plus, the client doesn't have a ton of money. I don't think they are interested in getting into a legal battle over a domain name.

Think I'm going to suggest a name that is a shorter version of their company name... and may double as a search keyphrase.

[rmjvol]

Just went thru exactly this. My client is an artist & goes by his name. The .com was taken by a kid with a personal site. Felt him out & there was no chance of a reasonable deal on our limited budget. After debating various options, we went with the .org extension.

rmjvol

[doc]

If the domain name is more than one word, how about using hyphens "food-of-the-gods.com" The advantage is the words can be searched for by seach engines such as Google.

[Woz]

>I would stay away from .biz.

Why martinibuster?

Onya
Woz

[Lisa]

Not having the .com always causes confusion in the market place, I would only use another extension unless I had the .com versions so I caught the miss-type traffic. But if you are just interested in Search Engine placement go with another extension. When your business is offline then use the the offline extension (.com is king).