Having a dot com for your brand is essential or not?
Written by Marcela - Naming Specialist in Naming
on 2018-01-14 ● Article read by 4640 people
When naming a product, service, company or any kind of new business, there are many criteria to take into consideration. And one of them is about the web domain.
Many times, when speaking with clients we hear the same requirement: ‘I want a name which has a free .com’. Well, for sure this is the ideal for any business, but let’s deepen the subject.
Finding a new name for a future brand is not an easy task. There is a well-established working process, with clear steps that cannot be skipped. Usually, a naming process reaches 4 - 6 weeks, but this is a different topic. During the process, more analyzes of future brand’s positioning, target audience, countries of interest etc. are made. After all this analyzes, the main criteria that the future name must meet are established.
After all this hard working, we found some very good names that have the potential of becoming great international brands, but there is only one thing that prevents us from choosing one: no available .com.
What should be done? Should we choose a name and use another web extension or should we keep developing names?
Before answering to this questions, we should understand the .coms’ situation.
In March 2017, there were a total of 330,7 million registered web domains worldwide, of which 130.8 million were .com (source: verisign.com). Almost any existing word is already registered as a .com domain, nowadays. So, you can imagine how problematic finding a free .com is.
Of course, there can be ways to get a free .com, especially with invented words or by modifying the existing ones.
Going back to our question, the answer is: it depends on business type!
If the internet is not your primary means of sales and your website is just an informative one, you should reconsider this criterion of exactly .com. In this case, a .com is more a nice to have than a need to have.
Do not reject brilliant options just because there is not a free .com for them. Is it better to have a great brand name and different web extension? Or is it critical to have a .com and a mediocre brand name?
On the other hand, if your whole business is online, then you should consider prioritize the domain name, in order not to lose traffic that could arrive on another website.
If you still are willing to have a .com for your brand and, in the same time, you like a name with no free web domain, take into consideration to use a descriptor. Instead of being upset you can’t have www.xyz.com, be open to take www.xyzCorp.com
Though, when choosing a composed domain name, be careful not to get a result that you do not want.
For example:
- WhorePresents.com, instead of WhoRepresents.com
- PenisLand.net, instead of PenIsland.net
- ExpertSexChange.com, instead of ExpertsExchange.com
- LesboCages.com, instead of LesBocages.com
- WinterSexPress.com, instead of WintersExpress.com
To sum up, opting for a .com domain or another extension when establishing you brand name, depends on your business type, if it is an online based business or not and on your future developing plans regarding territorially expansion.
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