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.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

4 COMMENTS

  1. I notice “The” is usually associated with journalism domains, so i already placed a premium on these. But your story made me see them in a different light. $99 was also priced right.

  2. Some dotcom domains are too Premium to afford.
    E.g.
    Worlddesign
    Coolpage
    Bestcorp
    Speeches
    LifeIsBeautiful
    So I added THE and grabbed them on drops.
    I think those domains with THE are kinda cool..

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