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SEO/Web Experts, I Would Like Your Expertise On A Quick Question

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

Devampre

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So I found a doimain I like, let's call it 'X.com'

Now, if I can't get 'X.com' at a reasonable price because the owner wants a ridiculous price, but I could get 'TheX.com' at a more reasonable price...

Is it worth it? And could I outrank them? Especially since the owner of 'X.com' isn't doing anything besides trying to get someone to pay him a crazy amount for the domain?

Like I could get the jump on a niche business this way correct? The only real competition is people squatting domains rather than trying to actually deliver a service to people.
 
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Devampre

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Go for the .co
The .com boom has passed.

Is this actually true? The .co is available at $2.99 :oops:

What’s a ridiculous price?

Well, I don't want to spend more than $100 as this venture currently has zero customers. I have yet to get a response for the exact domain I want, but another that is similar is at $8000+

I can either choose a different extension or add 'the'
 
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Last edited:

Charnell

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Go for the .co
The .com boom has passed.
Wrong. Maybe very niche tech & SaaS companies can get away with using .io, but the vast majority of users default to using .com still. If the .com is taken and you have a similar product and go with .co, you're going to be sending people to your competitor by default.

Does adding "the" at the beginning make sense? As a potential customer or someone you just talked to on the phone, am I going to "get" why it's called theX.com?
 

Inuc

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So I found a doimain I like, let's call it 'X.com'

Now, if I can't get 'X.com' at a reasonable price because the owner wants a ridiculous price, but I could get 'TheX.com' at a more reasonable price...

Is it worth it? And could I outrank them? Especially since the owner of 'X.com' isn't doing anything besides trying to get someone to pay him a crazy amount for the domain?

Like I could get the jump on a niche business this way correct? The only real competition is people squatting domains rather than trying to actually deliver a service to people.
The .co extension is another option, have had similar issue before and on getting the .co had tremendous result with it.
 

Silver shadow

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The .co extension is another option, have had similar issue before and on getting the .co had tremendous result with it.
From an seo perspective, does the . co extension have any drawbacks? I understand it's not very smart if your website depends on a lot of direct traffic (since lots of visitors would inadvertently type the .com variant instead). But if you rely on organic search engine traffic how does this play out? Does anyone have any experience with this?
 
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Inuc

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From an seo perspective, does the . co extension have any drawbacks? I understand it's not very smart if your website depends on a lot of direct traffic (since lots of visitors would inadvertently type the .com variant instead). But if you rely on organic search engine traffic how does this play out? Does anyone have any experience with this?
NONE that I know of, funny enough since the .com is just a parked domain... You have a leverage over it since you will be pushing content on it
 

Devampre

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Wrong. Maybe very niche tech & SaaS companies can get away with using .io, but the vast majority of users default to using .com still. If the .com is taken and you have a similar product and go with .co, you're going to be sending people to your competitor by default.

Does adding "the" at the beginning make sense? As a potential customer or someone you just talked to on the phone, am I going to "get" why it's called theX.com?

I think it makes sense. Or at least enough sense at this stage...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I might get the .co and get the 'theX.com' and have them redirect to one site. Maybe I'll be able to purchase the other domain in the future anyways.
 

evgeney

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NONE that I know of, funny enough since the .com is just a parked domain... You have a leverage over it since you will be pushing content on it

Further, once you build a brand on the .co then you can trademark your brand the the .com owner would be potentially infringing on using that domain.
 
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Xavier X

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@Devampre
Before going with .co, brainstorm all possible options for a good .com alternative.
Save yourself the future regrets. No, the .com era has not passed.

The attempt to move away from it by making a crap ton of craptastic new extensions available did not take hold. There are still many unregistered 5 letter .com names available, you just have to be creative with it. Sure, domain names are very important, but not nearly as much as what gets put on it.
 

Devampre

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I got the .co and the 'the'.com just in case.

I actually think 'theX'.com will sound good for what I am doing. It directly relates to the type service I'll be providing and would not cause any confusion as to what the service is.
 

alexkuzmov

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So I found a doimain I like, let's call it 'X.com'

Now, if I can't get 'X.com' at a reasonable price because the owner wants a ridiculous price, but I could get 'TheX.com' at a more reasonable price...

Is it worth it? And could I outrank them? Especially since the owner of 'X.com' isn't doing anything besides trying to get someone to pay him a crazy amount for the domain?

Like I could get the jump on a niche business this way correct? The only real competition is people squatting domains rather than trying to actually deliver a service to people.

The domain name is very important and doesnt matter at the same time. Here's why:

SEO has nothing to do with the domain name. Google doesnt care what the domain is so long as your website is optimized. Think fast load time, use little to no JS on your indexed pages, small HTMl structure, small CSS files. On the info side think title, description, meta tags, open graph tags, no more than one h1 tag, proper 404 handling, google microformats.

All of this and more gives you the real SEO, in this case the domain name doesnt matter.

Here is why its very important at the same time:

The domain name should be short, easy to remember, max 3 words, preferebly separated by dashes. It should be hard to misspell and it should be easy to type, forget about number in the domain unless you are a sportsbookie or something like that. Single word domains are always best.
 
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Devampre

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The domain name is very important and doesnt matter at the same time. Here's why:

SEO has nothing to do with the domain name. Google doesnt care what the domain is so long as your website is optimized. Think fast load time, use little to no JS on your indexed pages, small HTMl structure, small CSS files. On the info side think title, description, meta tags, open graph tags, no more than one h1 tag, proper 404 handling, google microformats.

All of this and more gives you the real SEO, in this case the domain name doesnt matter.

Here is why its very important at the same time:

The domain name should be short, easy to remember, max 3 words, preferebly separated by dashes. It should be hard to misspell and it should be easy to type, forget about number in the domain unless you are a sportsbookie or something like that. Single word domains are always best.

Well it's between 2 to 3 words, but I think it's perfect for now.

If I were to say the domain name, one can quickly understand the services that I would likely provide.

I kind of like this as opposed to something like "Schmoogle.com" because then people can paint a picture in their head about what it is that I do and/or what my website will pertain too.

But, who knows. Maybe I'll find a one word domain I like in the future.
 

Pratik_ITpro

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So I found a doimain I like, let's call it 'X.com'

Now, if I can't get 'X.com' at a reasonable price because the owner wants a ridiculous price, but I could get 'TheX.com' at a more reasonable price...

Is it worth it? And could I outrank them? Especially since the owner of 'X.com' isn't doing anything besides trying to get someone to pay him a crazy amount for the domain?

Like I could get the jump on a niche business this way correct? The only real competition is people squatting domains rather than trying to actually deliver a service to people.

Does your Business belong to IT? Website will be informative or should have Application/portal?

Number of visit will make value to the Domain and your Domain compatibility will enhance the SEO magic.
 
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DaRK9

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In my experience, unless you are branded as such people tend to forget "the" in a URL.

If you are building a brand, bite the bullet and pay, or think of a new name.
If you are sending paid traffic to it and you don't need return customers get the .co.
 

Real Deal Denver

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In my experience, unless you are branded as such people tend to forget "the" in a URL.

If you are building a brand, bite the bullet and pay, or think of a new name.
If you are sending paid traffic to it and you don't need return customers get the .co.

I agree. But I also think the "the" is a brilliant move - except, as you stated, it can be easily forgotten.

Try THIS on for size then - BEST. Oh yeah - they are not going to forget that one.

I think the "the" modification is genius - but I like something with more punch, like best, or the best, even better.

Great thread. Added a new dimension to my thinking.
 

TommyG

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You're worrying about something irrelevant.

Domain name is not a ranking factor. And for branding it doesn't matter. eBay, Google, Etsy etc - do any of these names mean anything on their own?
 
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DaRK9

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I agree. But I also think the "the" is a brilliant move - except, as you stated, it can be easily forgotten.

Try THIS on for size then - BEST. Oh yeah - they are not going to forget that one.

I think the "the" modification is genius - but I like something with more punch, like best, or the best, even better.

Great thread. Added a new dimension to my thinking.
Until people forget and you have customers going to the wrong page which I have seen with clients in the past.

The Best can easily come off spammy though so be careful.
 

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