Pay attention! This is an urban legend, but I have heard this one a lot.
Word on the street is that when you’re going to buy a domain, you make a LIST before you go to your favorite registrar. And if you find the domain you want -your first choice- BUY IT IMMEDIATLY.
Lots of people go first to check if a domain is available, then take some days to “think about it.”
Well, except that according to some people (I include myself, by the way, even if I have no way to confirm this is actually a fact) there are bots checking out what domains are wanted by people, and if you don’t buy them right away, they will snatch it from your hands and then try to sell the domain to you for an obscene amount of money. You have probably heard of this people… they are called domain squatters. They have no use for the domain but they will buy it so they can resell.
So next time you search for the domain of your dreams, be sure you hit the enter button with the right hand while your left one nurses your credit card.
Happy Domain Buying! (Thanks a lot to ziRta of http://www.oseano.net for reminding me of this)
A diamond is forever. No, wait, that’s not it. I meant: a DOMAIN is forever. Or at least until you stop doing your comic.
Thing is, your domain is your name on the intertubes. People will remember (or forget) you because of it. Every domain name, when starting fresh, is easily interchangeable. But as soon as you start promoting and the spider webs start crawling, changing your domain will probably kill at least half of your referrals. So, choose wisely.
A quick tip when chosing your domain name: don’t use hyphens or underscores. Why? Because people will constantly mistake one for the other. And no, I don’t care if Penny Arcade uses it. I read PA, and whenever I’m not on my computer and have to type it in the address, I make that mistake and it takes at least two tries. And well, Penny Arcade has all the visitors in the world and anexed galaxies, but when you’re starting, this kind of confusing thing is another loop for the reader to jump through in order to read your comic.
Another quick tip: if it’s not .com, .net or .org, don’t even bother. It’s not worth it, IMHO. Might as well buy tryitthreetimesandgiveup.com.