And if you want a .com name , you should have done it yesterday! According to a recent study there are over 105 million.com names being held. But only around 25-30% of these are active. The rest, if you are cynical, are probably held by someone happily sitting on the name waiting to sell if for an inflated price.
This has happened to me. I was interested in a certain domain name looked it up. It was taken but there was no website. I contacted the owner and asked if he was willing to sell it. He was. For £10,000! I declined and went for a name that was free. I wonder if he will ever get that price. He may well do as meaningful names become ever more scarce.
If you are set on a name that is taken but not active there is little that can be done apart from buying the name. You could consider using a domain name broker who will aim to acquire the name for the best price, but of course this is not free and you will have to pay for the name as well as the services of the broker. It is up to you to decide if the price is worth paying. When you acquire the name you then own it for as long as you want providing it is maintained.
Not that I condone this in anyway but the reason there are so many names occupied by cyber squatters is that it is extremely good for business. In 2012 the top sale for .co.uk sites was webhosting.co.uk which sold for $500,000. This is way behind the top .com sale (and world record) sex.com which sold for an amazing $13 million. Not far behind was hotels.com selling for $11 million.
One way to avoid paying extortionate pay-outs of a domain name is to dispute ownership. The number of domain disputes has risen sharply in recent years with 2012 being the highest recorded ever. The problem is these cases are rarely successful for unprotected names and work mostly with trademarked names.
Steps are being made to make naming fairer with ICANN the organisation that oversees the assignment of domains introducing the option to apply for a custom top-level domain such as .google. A great idea, the price tag of $185,000 (without a guarantee you will get the desired name!) has put off a few of the smaller businesses! The question is would this idea take off even if it were cheaper? Or would .com still be preferred as it is so ubiquitous now.
Nominet, the intent registry for the .uk domain names are looking at shortening the .co.uk to just .uk and scan sites for viruses. This would certainly increase security but would only be for those sites with the new .uk. A whole sale shift of name would be needed to reap any benefits.
So everyone who is anyone will be chasing their desired domain name and there is little protection for your desired name. So the answer is be quick and if the name has gone it is worthwhile becoming a bit creative and imaginative with the naming of your website.
What are your thoughts? Have you had to come a bit more creative with your website name? What did you come up with?
