Fat Cats and branding help please!

**AndyP** · 23-08-11

Morning all - I'm a long time lurker on this forum but a first time poster and I'd really appreciate any views on a domain name and brand I'm thinking of developing.

What do you think would be the best choice out of the following domains (these are just examples and not the real domain name!):

www.fatcats.co.uk
www.fatcats.net
www.thefatcats.com
www.fatcatsdirect.com

- www.fatcats.com would be my first choice but is unavailable

The site would be soley targeted at the UK market and there are no keywords in the domain so the only real reason I'd want a .com is for perceived brand value but is this really that important?

I guess the real question is should I crack on with www.fatcats.co.uk or would it be better in the long term to use something like www.thefatcats.com

The brand would be based around these fictional 'fat cats' characters who go out and find the best prices for you so I think www.thefatcats.com could work but you don't see many brands around starting with 'the' - is there a good reason for this?

As an example would www.moonpig.com have been as successful had it been called www.moonpig.co.uk or www.themoonpig.com or does it really make little difference?

Many thanks

Andy

**Webber** · 23-08-11

Hi,

As you most likely seem to realise, .com is well known and popular the world over.
However, .co.uk should be fine for your purpose as you are aiming for UK market.
Also, there is nothing stopping you from redirectling users to your desired site from either .co.uk or .com (assuming you have bought them).

It might be worth approaching the .com site owner and making and offer or wait till it nears expiry.

A lot of the companies purchase .net, .co.uk, com, .au etc of their brand to prevent
cyber squatters.

Regards

**AndyP** · 23-08-11

Thanks for the info Webber, I have approached the .com owner and they want over $50k for this random, non keyword, unused domain with very few inbound links! Every other variant of this domain (.co.uk, .net, .org etc) was unregistered so I don't know how they can attribute such value to it... Thats why I'm thinking of sticking 'the' in front of it!

Cheers

**Webber** · 23-08-11

Hello,

It could be a case of some individual or one of those pesky domain name brokers (squatters) that want to charge a small fortune for a domain name. I think I read that a domain's age (ie the longer it has been registered for) the more it helps improve somewhat when it comes to SEO/google rankings. Some people appear to overvalue domains. There are a lot more TLD (top level domains) being introduced.

I would buy the domain with 'the' and other variations.I would also use the website name without 'the' as the main one and maybe redirect the others to it. Prefix with 'the' is not really necessary - a short snappy name is one to go for eg facebook was originally called thefacebook but changed later on.

Regards

**Finch** · 24-08-11

Go with FatCats.co.uk.

If you're only interested in the UK market, there's no need to have a dotcom. From my experience, having the UK domain can actually improve your search engine rankings in that particular region.

I don't like domains prefixed by "the"... It's summed up quite well in The Social Network when Zuckerberg is told to drop it from TheFacebook.com! But then, I'd never pay 50k for a domain either...

**Webber** · 24-08-11

Just to add to Finch's comment - if you host in a UK based server then it can also improve chances of your uk site appearing in UK search listings.

**WebTrust** · 24-08-11

It is annoying idiots who choose to sit on domains then want stupid prices for them.

I wouldn't use "the" i would just go fatcats.co.uk

**AndyP** · 25-08-11

Many thanks for your advice chaps - it all makes good sense.

I've just checked up on the holder of the .com and they have over 200,000 other domains registered so they must be one of those pesky domain name brokers. God knows what planet they are on if they want that much money for domains like this!

Andy

**Webber** · 25-08-11

Yes!

There also some websites that list soon to be expired and expired domains. If your lucky and spot a ideal domain you could grab it before someone notices eg if they forget to renew.... it can happen !

Regards