A Domain Name Story With a Happy Ending

I struggled with it for almost a month.

Because I’d be marketing myself as a copywriter, I felt extra pressure to come up with a great name for my copywriting/internet marketing company.

So I created a spreadsheet with about 50 possible company names along with their plusses and minuses, had scrap paper with yet more possibilities littered all over my desk, and my head was constantly swirling with potential names for my company.

I had it in my head that whatever name I decided on, the .com domain name had to be available. And that belief made me cross a lot of good possibilities off the list, cursing every time I did, because others had scooped up the .com name before me.

Then one day I had that “Eureka!” moment. I was mulling over the list of candidates yet again and the perfect name came to me – Words That Click. While I had liked other names on the list, none had struck me like this one. As I wrote the name down, saw it on paper, and said it out loud – everything about it just felt right (dare I say, it just clicked!).

The Moment of Truth

After the initial excitement over the name faded a bit, it was replaced by the nervous anticipation that it was time to go to InstantDomainSearch.com and see if wordsthatclick.com was available.

I typed it in, hovered my mouse over the “Search” button for a moment, and clicked . . . it was taken.

Damn!

Wordsthatclick.com was not an active site and I couldn’t tell if it was owned by a domain squatter, possible competitor or what. I tried to contact the owner of the domain using the administrative contact information on WHOIS, but didn’t hear back.

I liked the name so much, however, that wordsthatclick.net was available so I quickly scooped that up along with the .biz and .info extensions. Getting over my .com bias, I made peace with using wordsthatclick.net as my company’s main domain, backordered wordsthatclick.com on GoDaddy just in case it became available, and moved on. That was two years ago.

An Email From a Stranger

A few weeks ago I got an email from someone I didn’t know with the subject “Adam – got something for you.” The message said that she was the owner of wordsthatclick.com and she’d like to transfer that domain to me if I want it.

Naturally a skeptical person, I wasn’t sure if this was someone who wanted to sell the domain to me, give it to me, or some sort of scam artist.

So I did some checking and found that the person who emailed me did appear to be the rightful owner of the domain. Still a bit skeptical, however, I emailed her back saying I was interested but wanted to know how much she wanted for the domain.

Her response was not at ALL what I expected.

She explained that she once had a site on that domain, business had taken her in another direction and she has no use for it any more. She went on to explain that she had found my site and blog, had visited them both a few times over the past month and found them “way impressive.” So she decided that I just ought to have wordsthatclick.com.

There were only two things she asked for in return:

1. I cover any expenses involved if the domain had to be renewed in order to transfer it.
2. She has some business she’s looking to pursue and said that if I help/mentor her once in a while, she’d be very appreciative. But, that was not a requirement.

Needless to say I thought that was more than fair and was quite thrilled and flattered!

So a few weeks later I’m now the owner of wordsthatclick.com (though it just directs to wordsthatclick.net).

And I’m Facebook friends with Susan, the woman who generously transferred the domain to me and who I look forward to talking with about her business ideas soon.

Thank you Susan!

2 Quick Lessons From This Story

1. A lot of people say that you have to have a .com domain for your business. At one time I would have agreed with that, but not anymore. I’d rather have a great company name/domain name with a .net, .biz, .whatever extension than a crappy .com one.

People have had no trouble finding me at wordsthatclick.net and I get lots of compliments on my company’s name.

2. While it may sometimes seem hard to believe (especially on the Internet), there are truly some good, generous, kind-hearted souls around who aren’t motivated by greed and money. You never know when one might find you!

Related posts:

1. The Marketing Power of a Domain Name
2. Warning for Entrepreneurs: Save Yourself and Your Business Before It’s Too Late!
3. Residual Income Opportunity for Experts
4. Internet Marketing Tip To Save Your Money, Time and Sanity
5. Why Most Websites Have It Wrong: It’s Not About Us, It’s About YOU!

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