Just Add “The”

I went to the post office the other day to buy stamps. I had a brief conversation with the person working at the counter, and he asked what I do. After telling him a little bit about my business, he told me he had a funny story to share with me.

He is an artist and he created a cartoon character. He told me he tried to buy a domain name matching the name of the character, but the owner wanted $2,000 for it. He then pulled out his phone and told me he wanted to show me something funny. He found a screenshot of the email he sent the owner telling him he added “The” to the domain name and bought it for $.99. He also told me he turned down a $1,000 offer for that domain name from someone else.

This is what a lot of people do when they can’t afford to buy their desired domain name. They append something like “the” or a call to action keyword in front of their brand name. For a smaller business – or even a local business that doesn’t have an ecommerce presence, this can be perfectly sufficient for them.

In keeping the conversation brief, I told the postal worker that there’s no MLS with domain names so the owner can price it however he or she would like. I told him he probably made the right move and can go back and try to buy the matching domain name in the future if he wants.