Developing VCVC.net or LongKeywordRichDomain.com

We are confused between choosing a domain for our small niche website. We've following options:

VCVC.net domain (V = Vowel, C= Character)
It is 4 letter, pronounceable, and abbreviation of our keywords
It's .com is registered and redirects to some Chinese tourist website.
What bothers us is .net tld and not .com
Long Keyword Rich Domain Name dot com.
It is easy to remember but long 21 characters. It has SEO benefits.

Please suggest if it is okay to develop with 4 letter .net (abbreviated, pronounceable) or go with a .com (long) which has keywords in it.

Thanks.

Getting Started

asked Mar 2 '13 at 21:37

Oneblueearth
21 points

What's the question exactly? – Littleadv 11 years ago
To develop VCVC.net or long.com? – Oneblueearth 11 years ago
Any answer you get will be subjective. Examples of similar questions with answers can be found [here](http://www.brightjourney.com/q/non-com-domains-really-affect-branding) and [here](http://www.brightjourney.com/q/branding-vs-domain-name-availability-consequences-creative-solutions). Review all questions tagged [domain](http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/tagged/domain) and make a decision. – Jim Galley 11 years ago

2 Answers

Mostly, i think it depends on your type of visitors and how they reach you:

if they are one-time vistors who find your website on google, searching for those-keywords(.com - your domain), then what you need is definitely the keywords domain.
if they read about your website in a blog or heard about it from a friend rather than simply searched for it online, AND they'd make most value to you by getting back to the website, or spreading the word, i'd go with branded one for sure.

it all depends on your specific business and marketing strategy.

either way, keep in mind that its not a life-or-death decision. many companies change their domain name as the company grows anyway.

answered May 14 '13 at 07:42

Uri Abramson
199 points

People rarely type URLs: they mostly click from link to link (when was the last time you actually typed a URL?). So if you agree with that then you're better off choosing something that's memorable and that has SEO benefits. That's just my opinion but I think that's all anybody can give you because there's no definite answer.

answered Mar 2 '13 at 22:46

Frenchie
4,166 points

Thanks frenchie, Keyword Rich domains looks spammy sometimes. Also Google has suggested that it will make adjustments to its algorithm which currently favors keyword rich domains. It was this announcement that caused the confusion. – Oneblueearth 11 years ago
that's undervaluing domain names... I type domain names ALL THE TIME... facebook, google, dropbox, 9gag, stackoverflow, etc. – Itai Sagi 11 years ago
@ItaiSagi: don't think that the way you do things is the way everybody does it. For instance, I never type stackoverflow or facebook: it's all on my Chrome most visited page and I just click tabs to get there. – Frenchie 11 years ago
@frenchie same could be said on your usage patterns, where does that get us? nowhere. the idea here that brand names are important, that's why the url for amazon is amazon.com and not thebiggestecommercesiteintheworldyipeeyipee.com – Itai Sagi 11 years ago
@ItaiSagi: this is a business decision where there's no definite. For every point and example, there's going to be a counter-point and counter-example that works just fine. In the end, if the choice is A) vcvc.net that's already used by a company in China an B) justmynicecompanyname.com (21 characaters) that's available in .com, that's easy to remember and that has some SEO benefits, then my recommendation is B). If YOU had to make the decision, what would you recommend? A or B? – Frenchie 11 years ago