Entrepreneur Cody Schneider recently sparked a fiery conversation with a simple, powerful statement: “buy the .com. Just literally, always, buy the .com.”
Why such unwavering trust in .com domains? Because, as Schneider emphasies, “.com” carries “30 years of trust built into it”. Trust that you immediately inherit the moment you launch your brand on this established extension.
Entrepreneurs who initially hesitate due to cost soon discover the hidden price of choosing alternative domains. Jonathan Courtney, founder behind facilitator.com, confesses that acquiring a Strategic-Grade domain “seemed like a VERY stupid move,” yet it ultimately simplified marketing and paid dividends he never anticipated.
Greg Isenberg echoes this sentiment unequivocally, calling his decision to buy ideabrowser.com the “best money” he ever spent.
Antony Duchars humorously highlights the paradox many founders face: investing lavishly in branding yet skimping on their domain name, the cornerstone of online identity.
The credibility inherent in the .com extension was aptly summarised by Umer Asim, noting that with a .com, “you start ahead before you’ve even done anything.”
On the flip side, Joseph Blaze provides a cautionary perspective when he says, “There’s no way I’m spending 6 grand on a random project that might fail in 2 months.”
Ironically, that’s precisely the message conveyed by choosing a subpar domain: It signals to your audience, investors and business partners (…and perhaps even to yourself?) that you’re hedging your bets, unsure of your project’s longevity.
If you don’t invest in your vision confidently, how can you expect others to believe in it?
As Max Write succinctly puts it, “It takes so much effort to get other domain extensions to stick.”
Or, in the blunt words of Gregory Tresler, picking a non-.com is often just setting yourself up for “regrets later.”
Choosing your domain is a lot more than a technical decision. It’s a branding, marketing, and psychological one. The trust, legitimacy, and built-in credibility of the right .com domain can mean the difference between scaling your vision or signalling uncertainty.
So, is your domain name truly aligned with your ambition, or are you quietly signalling doubt in your own success?
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