Avoiding Problems When Purchasing
a Domain Name

As one of the largest sellers of premium domain names in the world - we have seen where customers fall into the same pitfalls time and time again.

The following are from our expertise and experiences; hopefully it will help you in purchasing a domain name.

First and most importantly, find a domain you like and acquire it

If it is on HugeDomains or somewhere else – if you find a domain at a reasonable price – you are only hurting your business by not buying the domain and moving on to the next step. Concentrate on building your business. Don't get stuck at the very first step of purchasing a domain. We've seen too many companies lose 2 or 3 MONTHS looking for the perfect domain. This is precisely where we come in and offer highly memorable domains at reasonable fixed prices.

Most companies have gotten stuck sending out emails to ideal domain owners for months. Waiting for replies and not getting them. Expecting a $1,000 to $2,000 cost and being shocked at a $500,000 price.

In all irony - in 2005 our company got stuck in the same pitfall. We wanted to allow people to buy high quality domains at fixed prices. But we could not find a domain. After many months of searching, we wound up with HugeDomains.com. And it is HUGELY BRANDABLE. Dozens of domain names could have worked, but at almost $1,000 it worked just fine. We now love our brand name, and one day soon you will too.

Second, remember you will come to love your brand if you choose wisely!

You will not have to do any advertising - just working on your company you will start to fall in love with the name you have chosen. You will brand the domain in your head more than Coke-a-cola - because it is what you care about the most.

If the domain has a good ring to it – you will wind up falling in love with the domain. Your brand will grow on you, and this is why most domain owners won't ever consider selling their domain name – because they are too much in love with that unique brand.

Third, do not pick a business name until you own the domain

Too many people get caught developing “project x” under the name YouGottaLoveThis. (pure example). After months of work, they only have one option and that is to buy YouGottaLoveThis.com.

Unfortunately a lot of companies develop the brand WITHOUT owning the domain – and this winds up being a major headache literally costing tens of thousands of dollars just for the time involved.

For the business owners to figure out if they should rebrand or “settle” with something else. It's never an easy position to be in.

Fourth, buy a .com extension

Some companies think it's a good move to spend $10 today and build their business on a .biz or .info. This is one of the worst decisions you can make. You will lose traffic to the .com of your business name. People won't be able to find you as easily. You will lose repeat traffic. And then when you start to grow – you will find the price of the .com domain is somewhere between $25,000 up to a million dollars!

You will never be recognized in full without owning the .com to your business name. You won't be global if there is someone operating on the .com of your business name and you are not!

Fifth, you can always rebrand, but you probably won't

You are starting a business to become successful – right? If your product / service is as good as you are envisioning – you can always rebrand or “upgrade” to the ideal domain. You probably won't be able to afford a premium one word domain which can run into the millions of dollars to buy – but you can afford something memorable and catchy.

In almost all situations you will fall so deeply in love with the domain you chose right now that you won't ever consider that one word premium domain in the future. The rebranding option is extremely expensive and you need to be an extremely large company to pull it off successfully.

Sixth, time picking a domain should be 1 to 3 days max

If you do not already know the domain you need - you should pick 10 domains. 5 of them will be unrealistic and unachievable. Ski.com or Boots.com. You won't get these domains – but make yourself happy and send each of these owners a quick email. Just do this and get it out of the way so that you can be happy with your purchase.

Next, put 2 or 3 great generic domains on your list. Things like BlueSky.com and OnlineServices.com and ProtectionAgency.com. Send emails to these domain owners asking if they would be willing to consider selling and that your range is under $[insert price here].

Unfortunately when you undertake this process like we do - you will realize how difficult finding a great domain is. You probably won't get a response from 9 out of 10 people above and when you do the price will be “outrageous”.

In the process search for aftermarket domains at HugeDomains – and find one or two you like and are within your price range. But from a business perspective – start telling yourself you like the one at a fixed price with the catchy ring to it. You will brand it to yourself, and within a month or two you will love the domain you picked.