Summary: If you do not own a dot-com domain name (example.com), do not start using the same name with another extension (example.something). If you have been using a non-dot-com domain name (example.non-dot-com) for years, and the corresponding dot-com domain name (example.com) is owned by another registrant, try to buy it (example.com) over as soon as possible.
Better not settle for a second-class domain name for your business
You might have been using a country-level domain names such as domain.cn or domain.uk for your business for many years. Your business may not be an media platform like facebook.com or twitter.com, so you may have mistakenly thought that it is okay that you do not use a top-level international domain name, which is domain.com.
The fact is, you would be better off using a top-level domain name, the dot-com domain.com, for your business if you can. Your business could still be business-as-usual even if without a top-level domain name, but a top-level domain name, the dot-com domain name, can support your already good business.
Dot com domain names are the king for all sorts of business
A dot-com domain name is particularly important for companies whose business has global reach. A country-level domain name gives your customers or clients an impression that your business is regional. Dot-com domain names are still the best valued, and regarded as the king of hundreds of other domain extensions. World famous companies all use a dot-com domain name, google.com, amazon.com, alibaba.com, facebook.com, twitter.com, apple.com, microsoft.com just to name a few!
But not all dot-com domain names are created equal
You got a dot-com domain name for your business. Check and see if it is a good domain name. A good domain name should have the following characters:
- Easy to remember. This is the most important. If a domain name cannot be remembered, no matter how beautiful it looks or how short it is, it would be a bad domain name.
- Easy to easy. In a sense, this means that it is a short name (some long domain names are good for catching traffic, howtobeacriminallawyer.com, but not good for returning customers). That is why no big company would use a long descriptive name which is easy to remember but not easy to type in your browser or cell phone.
- Looks good. You may not think of this. But looks do matter. emailcom.com looks better than netitall.com. Some letters do not look as good as others. Some letters are more popular than others.
- Be descriptive. A domain name that describes a line of products or business can save you a lot of advertisement. nuts.com was sold for $750k. Personal names are less popular because they do not describe products or services. They can be best for creating new brands, they can also get you lots of traffic. Domain names of this type are very expensive.
- Avoid some types of domain names, hyphenated domain name (ya-hoo.com, ali-baba.com), hybrid names, particularly when the names are long (short hydrid names are still valuable like H8.com, TM7.com)
- Use single common word or almost a combination of two words. Single words cannot only easy to remember, easy to be accepted, but also potentially get some traffic (intrinsic value that come with the name). Short pronounceable names (benb.com, jonu.com) are also desired.
- For audience from non-English speaking countries, number domain names like 5089.com are good. But some times, they are hard to remember unless they are very short. For the Chinese audience, pinyin domain names like yangwei.com are highly desired. pinyin initials like jkzx.com (health center) can also be valuable.
A country-level domain name leads to loss of prospective customers, or damages your brand
Your regional domain name (local.cn) might work perfectly fine for your regional or local business. But be aware of the potential risk: Your prospective customers may go to local.com. You may think that is not a big deal as you do not expect to acquire customers from other countries anyway. But keep in mind that even for a local business, reputation and brand recognition are important. What if the owner of local.com uses the domain name for an adult entertainment business? Do you want your prospective customers to potentially associate your business with an adult entertainment business?
Domain names are not just web addresses. They often times are brand names. If you are using a country-level domain name while the corresponding dot-com domain name is available for sale, buy it in no time to protect your business.
如果可以，為什麼要購買更好的域名？
總結：如果您沒有 .com 域名 (example.com)，不要開始使用帶有其他擴展名的相同名稱 (example.something)。 如果您多年來一直使用非 dot-com 域名（example.non-dot-com），並且相應的 dot-com 域名（example.com）為其他註冊人所有，盡快嘗試購買（example .com)。
最好不要為您的企業選擇二等域名
您可能多年來一直在為您的業務使用國家級域名，例如 domain.cn 或 domain.uk。您的業務可能不是facebook.com或twitter.com這樣的媒體平台，因此您可能會錯誤地認為不使用頂級國際域名domain.com是可以的。
事實是，如果可以，您最好為您的企業使用頂級域名。即使沒有頂級域名，您的業務也可以照常營業，但頂級域名可以支持您已經很好的業務。
.com 域名是各種業務的王者
.com 域名對於業務遍及全球的公司尤為重要。國家級域名讓您的客戶或客戶覺得您的業務是區域性的。 .com 域名仍然是最受歡迎的域名，並被視為數百個其他域名擴展中的王者。世界知名公司都使用 .com 域名，google.com、amazon.com、alibaba.com、facebook.com、twitter.com、apple.com、microsoft.com 僅舉幾例！
但並非所有 .com 域名都是平等的
您為您的企業獲得了一個 .com 域名。 檢查它是否是一個好的域名。 一個好的域名應該具有以下特徵：
- 容易記住。 這是最重要的。 如果一個域名不能被記住，無論它看起來多麼漂亮，多麼短，它都是一個糟糕的域名。
- 容易容易。 從某種意義上說，這意味著它是一個簡稱。 這就是為什麼沒有大公司會使用一個很長的描述性名稱，它容易記住但不容易在瀏覽器或手機中輸入。
- 看起來挺好的。 你可能不會想到這一點。 但看起來很重要。 有些字母看起來不如其他字母。 有些字母比其他字母更受歡迎。
- 具有描述性。 描述一系列產品或業務的域名可以為您節省大量廣告。 nuts.com 的售價為 75 萬美元。 個人名稱不太受歡迎，因為它們不描述產品或服務。 它們最適合創建新品牌，它們還可以為您帶來大量流量。 這種類型的域名非常昂貴。
- 避免使用某些類型的域名、帶連字符的域名（ya-hoo.com、ali-baba.com）、混合名稱，尤其是在名稱較長的情況下（短的混合名稱仍然很有價值，如 H8.com、TM7.com）
- 使用單個常用詞或幾乎兩個詞的組合。 單個詞不僅容易記住，容易被接受，而且還可能獲得一些流量（名稱帶來的內在價值）。 還需要簡短的可發音名稱（benb.com、jonu.com）。
- 對於非英語國家的觀眾，像5089.com這樣的數字域名是不錯的選擇。 但有時，除非它們很短，否則很難記住。 對於中國觀眾來說，yangwei.com這樣的拼音域名非常受歡迎。 jkzx.com（健康中心）等拼音首字母也很有價值。
國家級域名導致潛在客戶流失, 或損害您的品牌
您很滿意您的區域域名 (local.cn) 非常適合您的區域或本地業務。但要評估潛在風險：您的潛在客戶可能會訪問 local.com。您可能認為這沒什麼大不了的，因為無論如何您都不希望從其他國家/地區獲得客戶。但請記住，即使對於本地企業，聲譽和品牌知名度對企業也很重要。如果 local.com 的所有者將其域名用於成人娛樂業務怎麼辦？您是否希望您的潛在客戶將您的業務與成人娛樂業務聯繫起來？