Why You Should Use The .com For Your Domain

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JoeUddeme

JoeUddeme

Why You Should Use The .com For Your Domain

.COM for Business

Using a .com domain for your identity offers several significant advantages that can positively impact your brand’s identity, visibility, and long-term growth. Here’s why a .com domain registration transfer is often the best choice for a new domain registration and purchase in your desired price range.

The purchase can be daunting and less secure without the proper knowledge of the transfer process. Price range is a major factor when it comes down to buying-or a potential sale of your URL.

Global Recognition and Trust

Most Recognized Top Level Domain: The .com domain extension is the most widely recognized TLD globally and connects the World. When users see a .com domain, they immediately associate it with a legitimate organization. It’s the default extension most people think of when typing a domain name or securing one for ownership and transfer.

Trust Factor:

Buyers tend to trust websites that have a .com domain over other top level domains. Most International registrars support the transfer of .com and offer additional features.

Since it’s the most established and widely used domain extension, it adds an element of professionalism, security and reliability to your marketing plan. This helps visitors with peace-of-mind and more likely to engage with your entity and feel more secure.

Memorability and Ease of Use

Easier to Remember: A short, catchy .com domain is easier for people to recall. People are conditioned to associate websites with .com, making it more likely that they’ll remember your complete domain name when searching for your business or product suite.

This improves free direct visit traffic, where users type your domain into their browsers, leading to higher engagement and conversions on your site to protect your brand and keep you covered.

Fewer Mistakes: Because .com is the default TLD, potential individuals are more likely to accidentally type yourbusiness.com even if your actual website is on a different extension (e.g., .net or .org). Owning the .com prevents you from losing traffic to other sites and allows your client to complete the navigation.

Customer Expectation

.COM:

Customers often expect businesses to use .com for both websites and email addresses. If a site uses yourbusiness.com for its website but an alternative domain like .net or .biz for its email, it could create confusion or even raise questions about the their legitimacy even if its catchy.

A professional email address ending in .com adds security, simplicity and attracts more visitors to the domain to achieve success.

Using the same .com domain for both your website and professional email helps create a cohesive brand identity for your new domain and keeps you protected and ready to continue to build your organization.

Other TLDs:

If your website is hosted on a .com domain but your email use different domain extensions (e.g., [email protected]), it can lead to confusion and undermine the consistency of your brand. Clients may accidentally send emails to [email protected] because they assume your email matches your website domain.

Credibility with Investors and Partners

Perception of Success: Having a .com domain is often seen as a sign that a brand is more established, successful, and serious about its online presence.

Investors, acquisition partners, and other account stakeholders may view your brand more favorably if it has secured a .com domain, especially if you’re targeting a global audience, or providing services or support.

Domain as a Digital Asset: A .com domain purchase can also become a valuable long-term equity play. Premium .com domains tend to appreciate over time, adding value to your organization if you decide to sell or expand services to maximize the best price for transfer.

Register top keywords that identify with your services or product offerings or answer questions. Purchase a .org for your non-profit, or a .net for your network platform.

Alternative TLDs such as .net and .org may each hold value to the domain name owner and may be attractive to the buyer as an cheaper alternative based on availability of domains.

SEO and Search Engine Benefits

Higher Click-Through Rates (CTR): A .com domain will ensure greater click-value in search engine results. Since users trust .com websites more, search engines like Google may favor them in search rankings, especially for advanced searches.

Even if a domain extension doesn’t directly impact SEO, user buy behavior (like click-through rates) does, and .com domains tend to perform better in this area.

Backlink Value: When other sites link to you, they may be more willing to link to a .com site due to its perceived authority and security. High-quality back links are essential for SEO performance, and .com domains tend to naturally attract more of those links according to search tools.

International Appeal

Global Acceptance: If your org operates globally or plans to expand internationally, a .com domain is universally recognized and accepted across borders and everyday life.

Country-specific domains (like .co.uk or .de) can limit your reach or cause confusion in markets outside that specific country. They can also cause transfer issues.

Consistency in Branding: As your organization grows, maintaining a consistent identity across different regions is essential. A .com domain helps establish a unified web presence, making it easier for customers worldwide to find and recognize your branding and url.

Competitive Advantage

Competitor Safeguard: Owning the .com version of your entity name prevents competitors from using it. Even if you currently use a different extension for your account, a competitor could purchase the .com and use it to divert traffic, confuse clients, or dilute your message or image and hurt security.

Professionalism: Many well-established businesses, particularly in competitive industries, prefer .com domains. If a competitor has the .com version of a similar name, they may be seen as more professional or legitimate than a business name using a less common extension. Having a .com gives you an edge in appearing professional and trustworthy.

Versatility to Ensure Growth

Future-Proof:

As your network grows, the .com extension is flexible enough to accommodate expansions into new products, services, or geographic markets. Unlike some niche TLDs, which may be associated with specific industries (like .tech or .store), a .com can grow with your entity and remain relevant in any market.

Resale Value:

Premium .com domains can become valuable assets if your organization is ever sold or merged. The high demand for .com domains, especially short, brandable ones, means they often increase in value over time and make them an easier sale for the seller in a reasonable range.

Avoiding Confusion

Preventing Traffic Loss:

Customers may assume that a business’s website ends in .com, even if you use a different TLD like .net,.org, .co, or .biz. But of course, if you don’t own the .com version, users might end up on a different website, which can lead to confusion, loss of traffic, or even customers landing on a competitor’s site as an example.

User Expectations:

Since most websites prefer .com, users naturally expect that a professional, well-established site will have this domain extension. If you use a less common top level domains, a customer might view them as less credible and professional domain extensions.

What other TLDs Are Good Options?

Clients ask regularly if there are decent top level domain alternatives to the .com for transfer. There are many including, .org, .net,.co, .io, .ai, .xyz and .club domains that hold lots of power and authority.

Top Extensions:

These extensions are popular for use in the crypto and web 3 space.There are many organizations that capitalize on the generic value such as the banking industry with the .bank top level domain.

With more than 2500 new GTLD domain extensions, you can now register and transfer anything from .legal to .top, to .car for your domain names.

Here are a list of some top extensions and how they’re often used:

  • .ai: artificial intelligence, machine learning support, reasonable renewal cost
  • .net: internet infrastructure sites, more technical, fairly reasonable renewal cost
  • .co: abbreviation for commerce, corporation and community
  • .org: non-commercial org and non-profits
  • .io: tech sites, business or commercial use support

You definitely don’t need to use a website builder for every domain name. Make sure you forward any additional domain names you register to your primary site and add a secure server to protect your organization.

The Dot-Com Domain Should Be Your First Choice

When we talk about long term investing and ROI, we think about the stock market, commercial or residential real estate investing, gold bullion and Forex and certainly domain investing. Domain names hold value and add instant equity to the branding strategy and ownership in the purchase and sale of domains names.

There are hundreds of thousands of prime opportunities to invest in the domain space and as the last 30 years have shown, the .com is the most credible TLD on the market, both domestically and abroad. This holds true if you are buying your domain for your business or to hold and transfer at a later date.

Whether this is your first domain, or you own many domains, the .com creates easy accessibility for consumers and brands alike.

Brand Protection:

Companies work hard to protect their domain brands, account and marketing tactics. They invest millions of dollars and countless resources at building that beach front real estate and maintaining their Internet presence in the world. As experts in the domain space, we continue to recommend the .com as the superior domain with considerable upside and long term equity potential.

Case Study: Tesla.com domain acquisition

Here’s a case study of a .com domain acquisition transfer that highlights the importance and benefits of acquiring a premium .com domain for a business. The study involves Tesla’s acquisition of Tesla.com.

Case Study: Tesla’s Acquisition of Tesla.com

Background:

For many years after its founding, Tesla (the electric vehicle manufacturer) operated under the registered domain TeslaMotors.com. Despite its growing success, the entity didn’t own the highly sought-after Tesla.com domain. TeslaMotors.com was functional, but having Tesla.com would better align with the company’s image as it expanded beyond cars to include energy products like solar panels and batteries.

The domain Tesla.com was originally owned by a man named Stuart Grossman, who had registered it long before the organization existed. Grossman wasn’t actively using the domain, but he also wasn’t interested in selling it easily, making the acquisition a challenging and lengthy process.

The Acquisition Process:

  1. Need for Rebranding: As Tesla grew and became a household name, the organization realized that TeslaMotors.com was limiting its branding. The “Motors” in the domain name suggested a narrow focus on cars, whereas Tesla’s long-term vision encompassed energy solutions, solar products, and batteries. The organization needed a simpler, cleaner domain—Tesla.com—that reflected its image as a leader in the broader tech and energy sectors.
  2. Complex Negotiation: Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, revealed that acquiring Tesla.com was a difficult process, taking over 10 years of negotiations. The domain owner, Grossman, was reluctant to sell the name for many years, leading Tesla to offer a significant amount to finally secure it. Musk later hinted that they had paid $11 million to acquire the domain, though exact figures weren’t officially disclosed.
  3. Hands-on Approach: Tesla’s approach to acquiring the domain involved:
    • Patience: Tesla waited until the domain owner was ready to sell, all while continuing to build their company.
    • Persistence: Tesla remained in contact with the owner over a long period, signaling ongoing interest and ensuring the owner knew they were serious buyers.
    • Strategic Timing: Tesla finally closed the deal when they were ready to reposition their entity from just a car line to a broader energy and technology company.

Outcome:

In 2016, Tesla successfully acquired and completed the transfer of the Tesla.com domain and immediately rebranded their website and digital assets. This acquisition allowed Tesla to secure its concept and image across all its product lines and simplify its online presence and customer support tools.

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The Best Places to Buy and Sell Domain Names

1. Sedo Sedo is a dedicated domain marketplace (similar to GoDaddy) with millions of users. It has been around for over two decades, making it a trusted marketplace for buying and selling domains. Any domain name owner can sign up for free and list their domain for sale on the website, and prospective buyers can easily contact them through the platform to buy domains. On Sedo, sellers can set a fixed price for their domain, put it up for auction, or indicate that they’re entertaining offers with an unspecified price range. When buyers come to the site, they can search for any keyword and check if anyone has listed a related domain name on the market. Sedo Search Sample: The first three results are bikes.org, bikes.co, and bikes.biz, which are premium domain names and Sedo also includes other domain names that are closely related to your search phrase to sell domains. 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Observing this, the owner of the forum launched an official domain marketplace section for buying and selling domain names. On NamePros, any registered user can list the domain names they have available in a forum post. To make the domains easy for prospective buyers to find, NamePros has formal categories that users can attach to their posts to find the perfect domain. How much is it worth? Namepros can also share pertinent details of recently sold domains that are similar in nature to your domain search. Because it is a forum, NamePros only helps buyers and owners find each other and it’s up to them to negotiate and decide how they’ll handle payments for the domain. This is unlike Sedo, which facilitates payments and domain transfers for its users among other services. When using NamePros to buy a domain you should be more careful about your purchase. Set specific terms with the seller before proceeding on any deal and use a trusted online escrow service (e.g. Escrow.com) to ensure that the payment goes through only after the seller has transferred the domain name to your preferred registrar. You can find a large variety of domain names for sale on NamePros, making it one of the best domain marketplaces in the World. 3. Flippa Flippa is a marketplace competing with Godaddy for buying and selling online properties, including websites and domain names. The platform has facilitated millions of dollars in domain name sales since its inception in 2009 and has built a reputation as one of the most trusted domain name marketplaces to find the perfect domain name. The most expensive domain name deal arranged on Flippa was StockPhoto.com, which sold for $250,000. Any domain name owner can sign up on Flippa and list their domains, but it requires a payment; $29 for a base listing and $99 for an enhanced listing. Sellers often pick the second option because it makes their domains more visible to potential buyers looking for the perfect domain name. As a buyer, you can create a free account on Flippa and find domain names matching your taste. You can then search for a specific keyword and find related domain names listed by domain owners to buy domain names based on cost, features and budget. Easy to use: To demonstrate, we searched for “cars” and got the results displayed in the image below: The first three results were OldCarsForSale.com, acars.com, and fastsportscars.com, listed for $5,000, $100, and $1 respectively. OldCarsForSale.com is a premium domain worth its higher price. It’ll be a very good domain for anyone who wants to sell used cars online with a specific destination. Fastsportscars.com seems like a good generic domain name, but it can easily be mistaken for fastsportcars.com, giving it a disadvantage. It’s likely why it’s listed for an very low price and shows that you can find a good deal on a domain name, for personal use. When you’re ready to make an offer or buy a domain on Flippa, the platform handles the entire process for you. They have been around for over a decade and built a reputation on the Internet as one of the most trusted domain name marketplaces to find the perfect domain name on the net. 4. Namecheap Namecheap is one of the most widely-used domain registrars, serving over 2 million customers and giving Godaddy a run for its money! It also has a premium domain marketplace as well as business resource and forums support for its customers. Popular Domain names Internet marketplace where domain name owners can connect and manage potential buyers. Only domain names registered on Namecheap can be listed for sale on this marketplace and owners can list their domain names at a fixed amount or put them in auctions. If a seller lists their domain at a fixed price, you can purchase it immediately just like you would purchase a new domain on Namecheap. Auctions: If the seller puts their domain up for auction, you’ll have to participate in a timed bidding process for all auctions. If you are selling your domain, Namecheap collects a 10% commission on each sale. You must have a Namecheap account to buy domains from its marketplace and after buying any domain it is automatically transferred to your control. The convenient sale process makes Namecheap one of the easiest domain marketplaces to use over other domain marketplaces. 5. Atom.com (formerly Brand Bucket) Quality Assurance: Each premium domain is carefully reviewed by branding experts to ensure it meets high standards of originality, pronunciation, and memorability when selling domain names. Business Identity Professional Logo Designs: Top designs for your org and branding strategy. Visual Identity Package: Every premium domain listing includes a professionally designed logo for your org, providing a cohesive domain brand package for your business resources and companies identity. User-Friendly Search and Navigation Advanced Filtering: Search domains by industry, point, style, length, and other attributes to find the perfect match.   Where can I sell my domain name fast? If interested, you can quickly sell your domain name on any of these marketplaces. A large platform such as SEDO, GoDaddy, Afternic or Namecheap offer great options for buying domains quickly and a fast transfer process. Where can I sell my domain name fast? If interested, you can quickly sell your domain name on any of these marketplaces. A large platform such as SEDO, GoDaddy, Afternic or Namecheap offer great options for buying domains quickly and a fast transfer process. How fast do domain names sell? Domain names take anywhere from hours to days, months, or years depending on the demand for them. The amount the domain is listed for also plays a role in how quickly it will sell. If the price is too high relative to its value, there may be no interest from buyers, especially for a premium domain. If a domain is listed on the wrong marketplace, it may not sell. Use a large marketplace like Godaddy for your companies success. Where do I buy expired domain names for sale? Many domain registrars host auctions for expiring domain names, including GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Network Solutions to buy domains. There are also websites specializing in auctioning expired domains, such as ExpiredDomains and DropCatch market services for other domain name sales on non-active domains. How can I build or develop my domain? Select a registrar, select and pay a hosting company to host the domain and a web builder interface to develop the site. 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Name Experts offers personalized domain brokerage services, assisting clients in buying or selling premium domain names with expert appraisal, negotiation, and complete transaction management while ensuring confidentiality.

Some of our most
successful stealth acquisition and sales

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Link.com

Loop.com

Programs.com

Claim.com

Quince.com

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Rest.com

Humani.com

Max.com

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