Ask HN: How much should you spend on a great domain name? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How much should you spend on a great domain name?

10 pointsemilepetrone12 comments

For a startup or individual looking to launch a new site, how much are you willing to spend on the domain name? $10? $100? $1000? More?

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It's best to prove there's market demand for your product before investing in the domain name. A great domain name can do a lot for a service, but it's not going to make a site successful if the site has little else going for it. Also, if you discover that you need to pivot your offering, you don't want to have a domain name that locks you in to your old hypothesis.

If you're looking for a number, if I really believe a domain has potential and it's currently available, I'll drop the $10 to snag the domain. If the domain is currently held by someone else and the expiration is coming up, I mark it on my calendar and check back later. If the domain is being held, has been held for a while, and doesn't look like it's coming up for air in the near term, I move on.

That's really solid advice. When I began my startup I had a domain that was really, really limited in scope, it took just 6 months for me to realize what a terrible mistake that is and to start sniffing around for something more versatile.

To answer the OP: unless you're after something ridiculous like word.com you should pay $8 - $10, domains aren't a brand until you make them one.

I always try to find a domain that is available for under $10....There's no point in dropping $100 on a domain for a website that doesn't have a proven market yet.

If SEO is going to part of your strategy and it's an exact match domain, then you could reasonably spend 4, 5, or even 6 figures. Internships.com is a good example of an expensive domain that was bought for a startup - here's a Mixergy interview with the founder that tells part of the story: http://mixergy.com/robin-richards-interview/

I also wonder why startups never seem to consider buying existing sites. Yes, your app is different from what's already there, but you could stand to gain a lot from the existing content, traffic, and incoming links that the site already has.

I bought http://properprocess.com for $900 from squatters because it was an exact match. I don't think I'd pay much more than that.

I was going to go with http://properprocesshq.com (which I also own) until I spoke with some clients that use our Basecamp and Campfire. They say its near impossible for them to remember where to go. They know its (someword).campfire(something).com but have difficulty remembering someword and something if they ever need to access from home... Right then and there I bit the bullet and paid up.

For a startup or an individual, $10 (maybe $30 for a fancy TLD), minus coupon code. I'd wait until you have mad profits, or funding to spend anything more than that.

Chances are you'll re-brand or pivot between now and then anyway.

$7.49 for 1 year. Just prefix it with a "get" or append it with an "it" or "hq" etc.. be creative. You can usually "get" any domain you want this way.

Successful examples: GetDropbox.com and Highrisehq.com.

Not sure why this comment was originally downvoted because its very good advice.

Your domain is your brand.

Your brand is whatever you make it into.

Who would have thought that "Apple" would be synonymous with high-end laptop designs and innovative products?

Would "eBay" be your first thought when looking for an online auction?

Is "craigslist" the word that conjures up hookers and apartments (or now, just apartments).

And so on.

The short answer: it depends. For a personal one-off without any chance of profit? $10 (or whatever a 1-yr reg is). For anything else, it would be some spectrum depending on how profitable/viable the idea was, balanced against how important the domain name in question might realistically be to success.

But usually, it seems that the domain matters far less than just about everything else (so long as it is usable, reasonable length, etc).

There are plenty of good domain names you can build into great brand names once you build an awesome service. You could pick up a potentially awesome domain name right now for only $4.95 at NetFirms. Just use promo code PROMO495. And no I am not affiliated with NetFirms in any way. Just thought I would help. :)

My experience was that if the name we wanted was taken, it is worth spending time thinking of another catchy name instead of spending extra bucks. At the end, it's the quality of your service that contribute to your success, rather than your domain name.

$12.50. Maybe less.

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