Need advice ASAP - picking new biz's domain ending .biz .net .us - or append name for a .com

For me, getting the right business name is like 90% of my stumbling block to getting my business rolling, last time I didn't like the name & I was not at ease when I promoted it, it left too much room for people to complain b/c a word like "quality" "excellence" "superior" "supreme", etc was in the name - but it basically pointed at the quality of service provided - then I had personal friend & big customer gas-light me over a big contract, used my name mockingly against me, and after that, I was hesitant - it really sucked.

SO I found a name I like, it is a fairly recognizable phrase (slightly altered w/ play on word), shortish and easy to remember. The problem is that the domain name I want with the .com ending is owned by an internet slum lord (buys interesting/popular names in bulk at CHEAP - then sits on them till someone buys from them.

I really hate choosing these things. A lot of people are going to find the web address from a package, container, label, advertisement and/or flyer/handout/samples - so these factors should be considered. There is one thing I have going for me, I've seen no other sites with my domain use in use, other than the parked sites, so when my domain name/company name gets spread around it should automatically point to my domain, no matter what - it's just the browsers automatically fill in .com's now..

SO I have the option of a few TLD other than .com which are as follows:
So I can get MyDomainName.xxxxxxxx with the following extensions
.biz
.net -
.ltd
.online -
.us
.store
.co
.group
.global

Other options are the hyphenated option
MyDomain-INC.com
MyDomain-LLC.com
MyDomain-LTD.com
MyDomain-LLP.com

Finally, it's the same as above, but w/o the hyphen. I've seen businesses use this and I don't think these look bad, but I don't know how to organize my company yet (LLC, LLP, LTD, INC, etc)
MyDomainINC.com
MyDomainLLC.com
MyDomainLLP.com
MyDomainLTD.com

a reply to: DigginFoTroof


Honestly, I remember speaking to website developers when I was going through the same thing.
They were very clear that .com is what you want...for traffic and memorability.
This was 15 years ago...but I have a feeling it holds true today.

Dude

.store just grabs the eye as does .online.....big time

Gotta have .com......am I right

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

.com is the way to go if your doing commerce.

I've struggled with choosing domains in the past. I would say this....choose a .com. If you buy a lower level and then build a brand around it someone will eventually come along and buy the .com. If you're like me....that will drive you crazy. Add a little something on in order to get a .com. Even if it's not perfect. Trust me...I get hung up on these things too and what I've learned from other entrepreneurs is not to let these little details hold you up. Pick something and then get on with doing real business. Good luck!

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

YourDomain.com is ideal, but can be expensive.

But whatever you do, do not include LLC, LLP, LTD...

YourdomainINC.com is tolerable, but again not ideal.

I just ran into the same thing. I added the word “gear” to my business name and it works since I do sell gear! Next time I will purchase my domain name before I register my business. I guess others make a business of scooping them up as soon as we register

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Depends on your targeted clientele.

If you are targeting the 40-65 people, a .com is the way to go.

Looking at the younger market?

A .biz, .us or .store is perfect... they think the .com died with the 40-65 year old people.

A .net is if you are looking for the techie market...

Anything with a hyphen is the devil.

Anything with an INC, LLC, WTFeva won't work.

If you need the .com. like another poster said, add whatever you are selling as a descriptor.

MyBusinnessWhatISell.com.

HobbitPetsLizards.com if you can't get HobbitPets.com, for instance.

Or MyBusinessGO.com... or MyBusinessNOW.com...

And stay away from hyphens.

It's worth repeating.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

The best TLD is .com to this day. ICANN authorized something like 1700 new TLD but i will tell you a secret... in some mail servers that i run, i use a negative lookahead regex to block anything that is not in .com .net .org .gov .mil .us .edu and a small handful of others because i take no one seriously using a .win or .bid or other cheap TLD as they are largely bought up by spammers.

I would avoid the hyphen. Appending your business registration to a domain name is a safe bet. I often see company initials followed by inc or pc. Private practice physicians and attorneys regularly use these domains. If you can get them cheap enough you might consider buying them to forward to your main domain on your host using a 301 permanent forward redirect i your registrars DNS. Ive done this to pick up common mispellings of competing sites with a lot of success. e.g.) sbovetopsecret.com or something.

I own a hyphenated domain but its for personal use only. Development testing etc so i can switch lan ip in my firewall and not have to wait on dns to test something via a remote connection.

Go for .com if you can. I think .biz and .me are catching on pretty well but its hard to beat com.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

agreed on the .co m. this post is a few months old. I'd be curious what you ended up doing. I think every business should have multiple websites and the domain names and the content should reflect their sales strategy.