Coming up with a good name for a startup is hard enough, but finding one with a matching .com domain is almost impossible.
Especially if you’re bootstrapping and living on ramen noodles already.
So should you restrict your brand’s name to something where the .com can be acquired?
Should you spend your limited resources to buy an expensive premium domain for the sake of vanity?
Can your startup succeed without a knockout domain? Or will a five-six figure domain give your product a significant edge to get more customers, attract investors and build that billion dollar brand?
Read on to get our take on what you should do.
Great Domains are a Class Above
Top notch .com domains are extremely powerful — they get people to start trusting the brand even before engaging with the product or company.
There’s simply a wow factor. And that’s hard to achieve just from the sight of a few letters or the sound of a few words. But an outstanding domain name can do that by design.
Among other things, they help to open doors, increase email open rates, improve click-through rates, assist with search engine rankings, get you second looks and make you stand out from the crowd.
That’s priceless for any business.
Is It Worth the Investment for a Startup
Acquiring a top tier .com that’s a perfect match for your brand/product is hard. It takes a lot of time, money and know-how.
It’s a distraction busy startups don’t need. But it’s a critical part of the journey that needs a solution.
A name can make or break an unknown entity trying to make its mark in a highly competitive market. The product matters most of course. But the name is a lot more important than most startup founders think.
Good brand names are valuable assets that play a key role in various parts of an organization — from product and marketing, to recruitment and funding.
Getting a meaningful and appealing name is definitely a worthwhile investment for startups needing to establish solid foundations.
Resources allocated to find and acquire the right domain name will generate ongoing returns that compound to help the business succeed.
In short, yes it’s definitely worth investing the time and money for startups to get a great name and the matching .com domain.
Is it a Realistic Goal to Get Something Decent
It depends on how much money you’ve got and what you consider to be a decent name.
The absolute best domains are pricey. Like 5, 6 and even 7 figure pricey. This is shocking to anyone who’s not familiar with the upper end of the domain name industry.
Domain buyers should have realistic expectations when setting out to identify and acquire premium domains. These one-of-a-kind assets don’t have precise valuations and transactions are often done on a willing buyer willing seller basis.
A good way to get a fair idea of the market is to look through recently reported domain sales to review the quality vs prices paid. On the whole, you’ll probably discover that good domains are far more expensive than you initially thought.
With the new insights on top domain values, if you adjust the size of your budget upwards and dial down your expectations for what you can get, you should be in a better position to purchase something decent.
Inferior Name to Get .com Domain
The problem with obsessing over the need to have an exact match .com domain is you may end up compromising your startup or product’s brand name.
Instead of making decisions based on the strength and suitability of the name itself, the primary requirement ends up being if the .com domain is available. Or whether it can be purchased for a reasonable price.
This inevitably leads to a weaker name.
In fact, this is a seriously limiting naming strategy that should be used carefully. If at all.
Better Name Without Matching .com
The process of naming a startup becomes a lot easier if there isn’t a need to have a perfectly matching .com domain name.
You can focus on the name itself and the qualities it brings to complement your product. Undivided attention can rightly be placed on the name’s meaning, relevance, messaging, and suitability.
By going with a non .com domain or using a .com with some sort of modifying word (ie get[name].com) you can get a far better name for your SAAS, app or product.
This is a very real and significant decision to make.
If you’ve got a limited budget to buy your startup’s domain, you should think about the tradeoff between having a mediocre name with a dotcom versus a great name that uses a different extension.
Or stick with the great name but settle for a .com that isn’t a perfect match. This is what a lot of startups do, until they have the funds to buy their ideal domain.
Focus on the Brand Name First
Ultimately, you should focus on choosing a good brand name for your startup, and not let domain naming considerations dominate the decision-making process.
A great name helps define your product. It has so much more of an impact compared to the domain name. So get your priorities right.
Not having the matching .com isn’t such a big issue, especially when you’re just starting out. Lots of startups with a top notch name don’t own their perfectly matched dotcom. Not in their early days anyway.
Using a slightly modified domain is quite common. Internet users are used to it, so don’t sacrifice your name for the sake of your domain.
Get the Ideal Domain ASAP
There will be different needs and expectations depending on the stage of your startup’s growth.
During the pre-funding and early stages, an imperfect domain may be enough. But when larger investments are made to really scale the venture, having the best possible domain becomes much more important.
This is why startups and established companies upgrade their domains as soon as they can, or when they realize the significance of having a brand matching .com domain.
So, while it’s okay to make do with a passable domain when you’re starting out, the eventual goal should be to secure the exact match .com as soon as possible.
Conclusion
If you’ve identified a great name for your startup where the .com can be acquired at a reasonable price, that’s fantastic. You’re one of the lucky ones. Go ahead and buy it now.
For the rest of you who searched tirelessly for good .coms and only have a shortlist of second or third-rate options, you may be frustrated and confused.
Naming can be an overwhelming experience, especially if you’re obsessed about getting that perfect domain but don’t have the budget.
Faced with a seemingly impossible situation with conflicting priorities, you should put the brand before the domain name.
Get the right name for your startup even if you can’t buy the brand matching .com immediately. Then grow the business, get well funded (or actually make some money!) and use some of the proceeds to acquire the ideal domain.
In the meantime, you’ll find good insights in this post about How to Find Good .com Domains for Startups.