Hi there! I had this concept of a content based website. I already hired a developer to work on it and its done. So far i've spent around $800 on the development and hosting. I've shown this concept and design (created by myself, I'm a web-designer) of this website to several people and they all said this concept has a lot of potential. My concern is related to the importance of the website extension. I currently own the .org, .net, .info but unfortunately I do not own the .com domain. As we stand right now I will go with the .org extension. I have contacted the owner of this domain and he asked for $1,000. This sum would be my marketing budget for the first two months after the release. So my question is: How important is the .com extension from a marketing/branding perspective for a international content driven website? Should I spent my marketing budget on the .com extension? Thanks in advance.
Wow, you are spending a lot. Extension .com is really important nowadays. I wouldn't certainly give $1000 on any domain but it is your choice. Try finding some other domain as you are giving really to much for a domain.
It is your choice how much to spend on the domain. If you have a great domain then stick with it and go after the .com Is there a site built on the .com currently? Does the .com have backlinks or any marketing done already? How hard would it be for you to switch domain names, meaning have you done any marketing already on the current domain? If there is no marketing done yet and you think you could come up with another domain, then do that, because rebuying 4 domains and having 3 unused is much cheaper than $1000. On the other hand, if the domain name you have is a keeper, then you may have to spend the money. I'll tell you this. Now that you've contacted the person and they've said $1000, I can only assume that as your company is more successful, their price is going to go up accordingly, because it's only costing them $10 a year to wait you out.
Thanks for the reply. Finding another domain name is out of the question, this one is very catchy! Its either buying the .com or using my .org extension. Hey threehundred, currently there is no website built on the .com domain. Its just there, registered and waiting to be bought (that's what the owner told me). I haven't done any marketing on my .org website, there is no content or anything. Just the website itself, designed and ready to start. Like I said above, coming up with another name is out of the question, this one is really good and very catchy (that's why the owner asks for a sum like 1k), plus I own all the social media names perfectly just like the name of the website (facebook/name, youtube/name, twitter/name and pinterest/name). The name goes perfectly with my concept, I can't come up with another one that's as good and relevant as this one. P.S. The owner is not a company but a guy who thought this domain name will sell good someday.
For a site that it just starting, I would wait before spending $1000 on your .com domain. It would be beneficial, but you need to weigh the costs and gains.
I'm thinking if you could just build your site on another extension before moving to the dotcom when your brand is more recognized. You can at least spend that $1,000 on marketing first. But yes, .com is definitely preferred. my $0.02 Cheers!
The more successful your .org and .net become, the more valuable the domain becomes, even if YOU don't buy it. I'm not saying spend $1000 on it, but if your site ends up with one million uniques per month or becomes a well known brand or something, that $1000 price tag is going to go up.