Domain Name Conundrum
I can't believe I'm making this post. There's a domain I want to purchase. The ".com" is available, but costs $511. Literally every other domain extension is available at regular rates ($30 for .co, $60 for .io, etc.)
I'm of the mind that the extension doesn't matter enough to pay aftermarket prices for it, but until this particular example, every aftermarket price I've seen was outrageously expensive. While $511 isn't cheap, it's also in the realm of, "I can justify this if I really want it."
What do y'all think?
Trending on Indie Hackers
I also faced something similar when I bought a domain name a couple months ago. My goal was to test an idea at the minimal cost possible, so I definitly went with the cheapest option, e.g., even if the TLD was not the one I was targeting at first. Just speaking about my own experience here of course.
Maybe it depends what your domain will host? I know that for tech things, ".io" seems to be pretty common.
I was in a similar scenario last time I bought a domain name a few months ago... As you say, I feel that most users don't think about the domain extension these days and would say it's unlikely to cause any confusion on your customers part.
What I've done in the past however, is either prefix or append another word to the original domain name I wanted. Cruise ("getcruise.com") is a good example. Verbs tend to make good prefixes ("try", "get", "go") and nouns tend to make good suffixes ("hq", "app", "live", "cloud", "base") - but there is absolutely no rule here, it's just an observation!