question .com is unavailable, should I prefer a .net or .co domain?

Just one of the domains will be for a project. The other ones will be for sale. So I think your comments are still relevant.
I prefer a short domain because it will be easier to remember for the users.
The name of the domain will the brand.

I now understand that to build my project I should use a .com. I will review my expectations down and consider acquiring a slightly longer domain name. It will be too difficult to acquire a brandable and easily pronounceable LLLL.com for a low $xxx range.

Personally I prefer a hyphenated .com instead of .net or .co

"keyword"domains.com is easier to remember than "xxxx".com, since you are selling domains, and your customers are buying domains. It looks more professional, as well, from a naming point of view.

An example (only). Would you be more likely to shop for a domain on HugeDomains.com or on Huge.com?

Agree that a CVCV.com is going to be way beyond your budget of low $xxx. So you should take that off your list of possibilities.

Yes, the only viable business model i have seen so far, is becoming a "third-level reseller" of domains.

This means, you buy from the cyborgs, and then resell it to end-users.

Because profit margins with domains are high, there's enough room for jacking up the price tag. The benefit here, is that you managed to cut down the time you would have spent sifting through the drops or fighting in the auctions. Just pay the gadem cyborg, and pass-on the cost to the end-user.

Forgive me for assuming. But if your budget for a domain is low $xxx, then how much is your budget for website development and promotion? You'd need at least mid $xxxx to brand and promote your website. Probably a lot more. So I feel there is some kind of mismatch between you naming expectations, your plans and your budget. Which is why I keep harping on "keyword"domains.com, as your best bet. Then after you make your first million you can re-brand to something you can afford to buy, develop, and promote, properly. That is, if you haven't come to love your "keyword"domains.com

One suggestion for you. Go to Name.com's Nabber and filter your search results to suit your needs. You might find something to your liking there for regfee. Of course most of the better names will be gone. Snapped up by the drop-catchers.

Another suggestion would be to watch GoDaddy's (Pre-Release) Auctions. Also SnapNames/NameJet Pre-Release Auctions are good places to be watching.

I probably misspoke, so allow me to rephrase.
My project has nothing to do with the sale of domain names. I am just looking for a domain name for a project. All brandable and pronounceable LLLL.com exceed my budget. So .com domains are unavailable for me, so should I consider a .net domain (3 or 4 letters) as an alternative to a .com domain? Or, should I focus on a longer domain (5 or 6 letters) which would be a .com?
For website development and promotion, I will have no problem of budget.


I would like also to build a domain name portfolio. This is another project. It has nothing to do with the other one. For this project, I'm not looking for a domain name to build a website. I'm just looking to build a portfolio of domain names in order to sell them after listing them on the marketplaces.
Do you think buying LLLL.net would be a good idea? LLLL.net are very affordable, and I can purchase CVCV.net for $8, for example.

I really want to thank you for all your help. I really appreciate!

What is the project related to? I take it this is probably going to be a completely brandable domain. If you have no problem with your budget for website development and promotion, excuse me for asking, then why so stingy on your domain acquisition budget? Just asking?

I would probably focus on a longer .com. For me personally, I could go from 5-10 chars. But of course the shorter the better. But longer is preferable, if you get a better domain. Don't be so hung-up on it having to be only 5 or 6 letters. Branding a .net, you need to be very skilled. I can think of ThemeForest.net as an example.

Personally, I would not be putting my project on a .net of any kind. Stick with .com. If it's going to be just a website shared with a few friends, then a CVCV.net would be just fine. But if you hope to attract a wider audience, perhaps your whole country or the world, you should be on a .com.

You should still visit those auctions I mentioned earlier. And at Nabber too, but you are going to hit a wall searching for previously registered available 5/6/7/8/9/10 character .coms

If you are looking for 2 keywords, then www.leandomainsearch.com, is a pretty good place for finding available .coms. It might give you some ideas too.

Or. Just add a prefix/suffix to the subject of your project. theproject.com or projecto.com for example

There are still so many questions. Is this going to be a small or big project, subject matter, target audience, etc, etc. We are kinda stretching at straws, having to guess all these things.

Thank you @stub for your replies.
The website will be related to the fashion industry. My budget is pretty low because I'm young. I am 21 years old.
I will ensure the website development. I have all the required programming skills. So it does cost me nothing.
The rest of my budget will be dedicated to the promotion. The first half of it will be dedicated to SEO. The other half of this budget will be allocated to marketing resources, mainly on the social networks.
The largest part of the audience will be targeted through the promotion done on social networks. At term, I hope to get about 50,000 visitors per month.

Your third paragraph was very interesting and relevant.

Thank you for the link, I will check it out. It can be very useful.
Otherwise, I visit daily those auction websites you have mentioned earlier.

Many thanks again!

You are welcome. Happy hunting

go for .co

I've had great luck with single work .co. Never had much luck with .nets

My suggestion would be go after .com

It means that whoever owns the domain probably isn't using it. If this happens, you'll likely be able to buy the domain for a relatively low price. It's best to contact the site owner directly if you can

I would be net and only consider co if net keyword was very popular and taken in other extensions. I do think net might make a bit of a comeback in years to come and dot net is still way above dot co in my eyes.

This thread is completely outdated and should not be discussed anymore. There is no doubt that the era of net has passed. Only .COM is the most durable choice for enterprise brands, not to mention that enterprises now choose .IO far more than .NET and .CO.