Hot or Not How important is a .com to a brand in 2014-2015?

[SmutGiant]

Not too long ago I wouldn't even think twice about the value of having the .com.

I'm looking at launching a project on a category specific extension. My "this is 2014" self tells me that its all about the right marketing strategy. My old school webmaster self is stuck in .com or nothing mentality.

Acquiring the .com would eat up most of the financial resources available to me right now. Ideally I'd launch on the category specific and buy the .com eventually as capital becomes less of an issue.

Thoughts?

[PornDiscounts-V]

Completely depends on your marketing. Bit.ly and many more didn't seem to care about dot com.

[RummyBoy]

If you start building and start sending traffic to your other domain URL, the person who owns the .com will start to pick up a proportion of your traffic. That will translate into higher perceived value (assuming it doesnt also generate revenue for them). Hence, taking that strategy means you will end up paying a lot more for the dot com unless you acquire it before hand.

[Klen]

How exactly acquiring com domain which cost like 9.25$ would cause a financial problem?What if you would buy an expensive domain extension like xxx which cost much more? Value of com domain is now even bigger as we there is tons of different domain extensions now.But in the end it all depend on marketing activity,which is why i find buying premium names complete nonsense and that money can be much better use into marketing.

[aka123]

Originally Posted by KlenTelaris

How exactly acquiring com domain which cost like 9.25$ would cause a financial problem?

Someone already has that domain, so it's not just about registering.

But to the question in hand, it really depends about the target group, is it domestic, international or what. I have national domains and area domains (like EU) and if I want to make sure that people land on the right page, it is better to advertise the domain with the domain extension aka brand it to be "something.com", etc.

[TeenCat]

if you have specific name, depends if .com is active and running website, if not, buy the rest of free extensions, brand the name, take the important serps and problem solved, people will tell themself its about .net and not .com if it doesnt matter so much about name, just get another one

[suesheboy]

.com is about the branding.

I must assume that not having the .com is a huge traffic leak for people not sending traffic via hard links. If the .com is a competitor, even worse.

[Barry-xlovecam]

thelastnameyoucanget.com

[Klen]

Originally Posted by aka123

Someone already has that domain, so it's not just about registering.

But to the question in hand, it really depends about the target group, is it domestic, international or what. I have national domains and area domains (like EU) and if I want to make sure that people land on the right page, it is better to advertise the domain with the domain extension aka brand it to be "something.com", etc.

And you can even trademark it as domain.com.

[Barry-xlovecam]

Originally Posted by KlenTelaris

And you can even trademark it as domain.com.

Saw that one coming ... If the trademark is uncontested and granted ... Then you may have an infringement case registered v. common law trademark, that can be tricky ...

[SmutGiant]

Originally Posted by RummyBoy

taking that strategy means you will end up paying a lot more for the dot com unless you acquire it before hand.

Exactly what I was thinking. If the business becomes successful I could end up paying a huge premium for the .com.

If this was 10 years ago, maybe even five years ago, I would say .com should be at the top of the list in terms of priority.

I've been trying to work them down on the price but no luck yet.

[mineistaken]

Other extensions are joke, just icaan's way to profit.

[mineistaken]

Originally Posted by SmutGiant

If this was 10 years ago, maybe even five years ago, I would say .com should be at the top of the list in terms of priority.

So you are saying that com's are not or even might not be on top in terms of priority now?
Ridiculous statement. Maybe the "distance" between com's and other extensions are shorter now compared to 5-10 years ago, but com's are still on top 100.00%.

[arock10]

Non .com is a waste of time for something you want to brand

If you wanted brand.xxx since brand.com isn't available, I'd still prefer brandxxx.com over brand.xxx any day

[Klen]

Originally Posted by arock10

Non .com is a waste of time for something you want to brand

If you wanted brand.xxx since brand.com isn't available, I'd still prefer brandxxx.com over brand.xxx any day

There is one nice trick if a com domain.com which you looking for unavailable,try it with adding "a" or any other characters, so you can get something like amilfporn.com .There is still such variations available.

[aka123]

Originally Posted by Barry-xlovecam

Saw that one coming ... If the trademark is uncontested and granted ... Then you may have an infringement case registered v. common law trademark, that can be tricky ...

Do you mean against same name with different domain extensions or what? Usually domain extension doesn't make identifiable trademark, so common law trademarks usually get into account when registering. They know how to google at the trademark office.

If you meant that instead of the .com you take other extension because the other one is taken, that can of course lead into problems. But it doesn't have to be .com, it can be .so too, or whatever is the domain for Somalia. And it doesn't need to be registered trademark to be problem, it could be common vs common too.

But this all requires that you are exactly enough on the same business and operate in same areas.

However, the extension might not be identifying factor when registering trademark, but it can be it later (more or less), as there are different criterias used when these things are fought in court.

[SmutGiant]

Originally Posted by mineistaken

So you are saying that com's are not or even might not be on top in terms of priority now?
Ridiculous statement. Maybe the "distance" between com's and other extensions are shorter now compared to 5-10 years ago, but com's are still on top 100.00%.

If capital wasn't an issue I'd be all over the .com. I understand not having the .com can be a traffic leak when it comes to type-in traffic, but with limited resources one needs to prioritize.

Logically, I know I can make sales without the .com. My sentiments attached to going that route are stuck in 1999, and not having the .com keeps me up at night.

[Barry-xlovecam]

Originally Posted by aka123

Do you mean against same name with different domain e ....

Under paragraph 4(a) of the Policy, the burden of proof lies with the Complainant to show each of the following three elements:

(i) the Domain Name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights; and

(ii) the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Domain Name; and

(iii) the Domain Name has been registered and is being used by the Respondent in bad faith

It would be a rough row to hoe or maybe a waste of time ... BUT if you were granted the trademark and not the dot com, they would not have any claim against you if you leach traffic from them -- the sword cuts both ways ...

[aka123]

Originally Posted by Barry-xlovecam

It would be a rough row to hoe or maybe a waste of time ... BUT if you were granted the trademark and not the dot com, they would not have any claim against you if you leach traffic from them -- the sword cuts both ways ...[/INDENT]

This is more complicated than that because this goes beyond domains aka extending to trademarks. It can for example be possible that trademark owner cannot stop you aquiring or keeping some domain, but can prevent using it.

And the dot com owner can always make claim against your trademark, succeeding is a different matter as in any battle.

The best layer of protection can be aquired by registering critical domains, extensions and misspellings, trademarks and registering domain as your company name alias (you can have as many aliases as you want).

[suesheboy]

Originally Posted by aka123

This is more complicated than that because this goes beyond domains aka extending to trademarks. It can for example be possible that trademark owner cannot stop you aquiring or keeping some domain, but can prevent using it.

And the dot com owner can always make claim against your trademark, succeeding is a different matter as in any battle.

The best layer of protection can be aquired by registering critical domains, extensions and misspellings, trademarks and registering domain as your company name alias (you can have as many aliases as you want).

This....

[InfoGuy]

When you use .com, it has instant recognition because it has been and remains the defacto standard for 20+ years. Billions of dollars have been spent in the last 2 decades by millions of companies to promote their .com sites. Other than ccTLDs to promote local markets, whatever post-2000 alternative TLD extension you pick is going to pale in comparison to .com.

Your decision to pay up and use a premium .com or not pay up and use a cheap alternative TLD comes down to how much time, money and resources you are willing to commit in perpetuity to marketing that inferior alternative TLD site. Granted there have been a handful of successful sites on alternative TLDs, but the odds are heavily stacked against you. Even Yahoo's Delicio.us now redirects to Delicious.com

The more new TLDs get added, the more confusion will grow and the more the .com sites will benefit from traffic bleed. For example, how many people are going to remember whether a site ends in .cam, .cams, .webcam, .webcams and assume it's .com?

[CurrentlySober]

i just take a shit on the floor...

[xpimp]

.com is still the best option, unfortunately many good domains are still retained by those scum domain brokers which want to sell them highly overpriced.

i still remember the other day, trying to buy a .com domain a from broker, the domain very clear didn't worth more then a couple of k but they wanted to sell at tens of k

[Barry-xlovecam]

You are thinking like a domain squatter -- I am not talking about using the name in bad faith.

I am not talking about trying to use someone else's tradename.

I am talking about keyword or some short memorable (6char or less) domain name using the gTLD as part of the branding factor -- like handjob.pro.

Mark Image
Word Mark HANDJOB
Serial Number 77180373

Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date June 22, 2009

You could get the Trademark ''handjob'' and use that name until the cows come home. Furthermore, this prevent the registration further of that name in the new gTLDs. The only caveat would be the pre-existing name in other TLDs would stand under most circumstances.

The internet is exploding in namespaces now with the new gTLDs -- adapt or die or be smart enough to hedge your bets. If you have any domain that makes you over $10K a year you are a fool not to trademark it.

[InfoGuy]

Originally Posted by xpimp

.com is still the best option, unfortunately many good domains are still retained by those scum domain brokers which want to sell them highly overpriced.

i still remember the other day, trying to buy a .com domain a from broker, the domain very clear didn't worth more then a couple of k but they wanted to sell at tens of k

Since you didn't buy it and aren't going to either, spill the details.