

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

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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charliepark
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.

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benologist
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.

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WillyF
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.

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AndyParkinson
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.

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dholowiski
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.

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fjabre
$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.

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brk
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.

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komlenic
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).

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rooshdi
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. :)

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agnesberthelot
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.

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brk
$12.50. Maybe less.

