For the past year or so, I have been registering the first / last name .com domain names for some of my friends and family, with their permission (and appreciation). As surprising as it is with all the Godaddy Super Bowl commercials and other technological advancements, some smart people don’t really know where to register a domain name. A simple Google search would yield the results, but many people don’t really think about buying their .com domain name anyway.
As almost anyone who is reading this blog knows, owning your personal domain name is important for many, and even critical for some. Politicians, for example, build a brand around themselves, and they should have their .com domain name if possible to help market the brand – and of course keep it out of the hands of competitors. Other people who aren’t politicians should try to have their .com domain name for business or personal blogs, and many lawyers, doctors, and other professionals market themselves much like politicians.
Unfortunately, many people don’t realize the importance until it is too late, and the domain name is owned by someone else and the asking price is either too high, or the site is already fully developed. I don’t own my domain name in the .com, although I would like to own it, and my wife does, courtesy of a gift from Rick Latona & Co. I know that it sucks to not have my .com domain name, and I don’t really even need it, so I can imagine what friends of mine would feel if they actually needed their .com domain name for business reasons.
That said, I have been buying their .com domain names when available to keep until they are needed. To be clear, my friends know I am buying the names, are very good friends of mine, and they can have the names at any time with no expectations of anything. It might get expensive at $8/year if there are numerous domain names, but they’re my closest friends and I am happy to help them out.
If you have good friends that don’t own their .com domain names, maybe you should ask them about buying them on their behalf, or strongly recommending that they go out and buy them. They might not need the names now, but they will certainly be happy to have them down the road.