Posted by Dan Slagen on September 9th, 2015
You’ve finally discovered what you want to name your startup/company/rebrand/new website. You rush to GoDaddy to search for domain availability and…your ideal domain is either taken or available. Every company in the world can relate to this scenario.
If the domain you want is available, you respond like this:
But what if your domain isn’t available?
This is another scenario that the majority of companies find themselves in at one point in time. If the domain you want isn’t available, you think to yourself…do I change the name? Do I find a misspelling like Lyft? Or, do I keep the root name and select a .co or .net?
For those that cringe when thinking about selecting a domain not ending in .com, we have some good news.
Crayon recently analyzed the domains included in Alexa’s Top 1 million U.S. sites and found that 33% of domains end in something other than .com.
The top 100 domains are listed below, and while .com is clearly the dominate domain, there are plenty of others that have all broken into the traffic rankings elite.
Our own story rings true
One case study we can highlight in regards to selecting a domain name is our own, here at Crayon. When the name for Crayon was first agreed upon by its founders, they went through the exact same process described in this article.
After the initial excitement of selecting a name for the company, disappointment soon set in once they realized Crayon.com was taken…
After taking a few deep breaths, however, and acknowledging all the success of non .com websites…crayon.co was born.
In the end, it’s your product that matters. Having a short, memorable URL and root name certainly helps, but it’s ok if your website doesn’t end in .com…just ask any of the 33% of companies that are sitting pretty in the Alexa top million!
Looking for more website inspiration?
Check out Crayon!