Domain name

[beast01Participant]

Hi again , I have a couple of questions before registering a domain for the Symbiostock network :

– does it have to be a .com ? The name that I chose is not available with that extension

– is it ok if there is already a company with that name but has no internet presence other than a short info ?

[ChristineParticipant]

No it does not have to be .com it is your choice.

Company with chosen name – I would guess it depends what they do and whether their name is registered

http://kerioakimaging.com - trying to reopen
http://nail-art-at.kerioak.com - Art and Nail Art

[beast01Participant]

They’re in stock market , underinvestors ( whatever that means ) . They don’t have a site

[JoRodriguesParticipant]

I would avoid any confusion with existing companies. It’s a two way street if you use the same name. Your customers may land up there, or theirs at your site. Even though they may not have an active web presence they may already have registered the domains so check.

I’d advise going with a short memorable name that is descriptive of what the site is about. It’s not a hard and fast rule but it helps to get noticed and searched. The only reason to get a dot.com is that it is the first choice.

If you are planning a local business then I would say to use your own country domain. If you are just trying to get the name you insist on I would say it may work against you if you register some far off country domain just to get the name.

Think of what the buyer would expect to find the name of your site as and register that. Your domain is your calling card to customers. You can use a catchy domain but have your name on your site. No rules against that as long as it isn’t confusing to the visitor.

Jo

[beast01Participant]

Every other extension is available but .com . And the .com site is showing an empty page with :

“This domain may be for sale. Backorder this Domain
This Domain Name Has Expired – Renewal Instructions.”

I’m using iFastNet for checking .

Thanks for the heads up , Jo . That’s exactly why I raised the question . I was really hesitant registering right away

[JoRodriguesParticipant]

I would just keep coming up with various options that aren’t registered and then choose between them.

I couldn’t believe no one had registered StockyImage. There is a StockyImages.com though. I wanted PixelPerfect but that was taken. It took me half a day of trying variations and domain names till I decided on mine.

Personally I am against very long domains. I know people like them but people have a short attention span. So StockyImage.com is far easier to remember and to verbally repeat than photography.jorodrigues.com

Some people use REALLY long domain names. It just leads to more and more likelihood of incorrect spelling.

I also STRONGLY recommend against using H@©K3R type names. It’s too hard for people to remember correctly. Similarly I avoid using non numerical or alpha characters. People will forget that it is My-Site.com and not MySite.com

Domain names these days (with most taken on dot.com) is about catchy or memorable than the actual names. If you can come up with a nice catchy one it will work in your favour over a long one with your name in it unless you are famous of course 🙂

Jo

[JoRodriguesParticipant]

Oh and for me I wanted the words “Stock” and “Image” in the name. A lot of searches executed on line either start with or include those two words. StockyImage at a quick glance reads as Stock Image and contains both words as relevance in an image search.

So think about those things when you choose a domain. 😀

Jo

[marthamarksParticipant]

@jorodrigues wrote:

I couldn’t believe no one had registered StockyImage. There is a StockyImages.com though.
Jo

That’s like my experience too, Jo. I went looking for something like naturestock.com or naturephotos.com, but of course both were taken, as were others I had in mind. But by playing around, I discovered bestnaturestock.com was available, so I grabbed it.

Sometimes, you just luck out.

[JoRodriguesParticipant]

You’ve got three good words in the domain search wise 🙂

Jo

[beast01Participant]

Ok , better safe than sorry . It was a short and simple name but it’s not worth the risk

[JoRodriguesParticipant]

No one really knows what will work. Domain name guides are just that. Choose a name you are happy with. Besides, there is no hurry to rush into a domain name. The goal is to have it around for a LONG time hehe 🙂

Jo

[cascolyBlocked]

another factor to remember is that most people will find you thru your images, not your domain, unless you plan to do a lot of print & tv advertising. domain names themselves are less important than they were 10 years ago – consider pond5, dreamstime. eg

[beast01Participant]

I scrapped the first choice and found a name that’s even better AND available . Now I can finally do the site’s branding . Thanks , everybody

[HodagMediaParticipant]

@cascoly wrote:

another factor to remember is that most people will find you thru your images, not your domain, unless you plan to do a lot of print & tv advertising. domain names themselves are less important than they were 10 years ago – consider pond5, dreamstime. eg

Examples are names that have nothing to do with the business, but we can find many people associating them with a particular site: Google? Yahoo? Bing? Amazom? Zoosk?

Sure having the name stock or photo or what you do, in the name makes sense, but it’s not absolutely necessary.

Also if checking for .com, .net and .org registration, WHOIS.COM is a pretty reliable source.

Also consider hyphens in a name. It used to be a debate if they were searched, ignored or a buried, not to being found at all. That’s been resolved. They should be about the same as an all character name. One site claims they have an advantage.

[JoRodriguesParticipant]

Hyphens are an issue in the real world while not so much online. If you bump into a potential client in person and you don’t have a card with you it becomes cumbersome and potentially lose the client while trying to explain the hyphen and where it is in the name. You also need to make it clear that it is a – not an _ or an –.

As always this is just a personal opinion and I always think to the future with possible issues. I like to keep things simple for clients. The most important thing I learnt in my education was to assume that the client knows nothing and is ignorant (not in a bad way). This way you explain everything to him/her and make it easy to access your services.

Jo

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