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Ask HN: Worth spending $6000 on this domain?

2 points by timhargis ↗ HN
We're a startup developing a video builder platform to automate high level production videos for small businesses. We currently own the domain promostudio.com that I bought aftermarket. Now we're considering switching it viddio.com because it's shorter, one word, phonetically is easier to pronounce, and IMO shorter domains look more authoritative and credible. Guy was asking $15,000 but got him down to $6000. I know it's pronounced "video" but it's spelled different but it doesn't appear to be a problem with sites like tumblr, flickr, reddit, although I realize they are on a different scale.

Is it worth it/that much better than what we have? Thoughts?

18 comments

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Rust
I would lean towards 'no'. Adding letters to a common word is currently much less common than removing vowels or combining consonants, so will be slightly harder for people to remember.

The exception might be if you have social curating, in which case a play on Digg might work out - vidd.io would be a good domain for that :)

Personally I would look for a word that is related to video, but is not a direct step from misspelling it.

pmtarantino
No, I wouldn't pay for it. A domain is important, but I think, in this case, your product is much more. A different domain name wouldn't make too much difference.
timhargis
Do you think the main reason it's not worth it is because its B2B instead of a social sharing video concept?
pmtarantino
Yes, it may be a reason. You don't need something "catchy". If you are useful, people will work with you no matter what. You are there for money, not for fun.
Dnguyen
I say no. Focus on your product and once you take off and makes loads of money, you can get a better domain name if you want.
incision
I'd say no.

It seems easy to worry entirely too much about a name or logo. I think a great product makes its name and great name can't save a bad product.

I think your current domain is fine, better even.

Say I'm a small business owner who used your service and I want to recommend it to a peer, I'd wager that my reccommendation is going to stick better as "Promostudio.com" than "V-I-D-D-I-O. No, it's like video, except it has two Ds and I in place of E. No, V-I-D-D-I-O."

timhargis
Good point. Certainly the product matters most but I can see how it would be very confusing when explaining to a peer. Thanks!
shazow
Definitely stick with promostudio.com. Sounds like a word-of-mouth kind of business, unlike tumblr/flickr/reddit which spread virally by link sharing so verbal spelling is less important.

I tried to find some more domains, but I was surprised how saturated the domain space is with anything to do with "video". Best I've found is:

pitchproduction.com

hypespotlight.com

(more here: http://wedomainsearch.com/#/dYVtJ0zS)

Though promostudio.com is probably better.

timhargis
Ya, it's crazy that almost everything related to video is taken. I like promostudio.com a lot which is the reason I got it just wasn't sure if it was a little long. But since this isn't the type of thing to have social sharing and being B2B, that angle probably doesn't matter.
pushkargaikwad
viddio.com is not even worth $600 imo, if you are really looking for spelling hacks, do some searching on domain finding tools, you can better hacks for free but like as others said, in your case, I don't think the domain name doesn't matter that much.
staunch
Promostudio sounds way better. Domains should try to stand up to the phone test, and viddio most certainly does not even come close.

I've bought/sold a number of domains and have a pretty good idea for pricing. I wouldn't pay $100 for viddio.com

Promostudio is excellent (assuming it's not trademarked already). Very professional and easy to spell. Worry about your product, your domain is plenty good.

timhargis
Ya I checked uspto.gov before I bought it and the name was available which was the reason I got it. Glad to hear the consensus is that we got a solid name that is good which means I don't have to drop $6000 on another :)
Andrenid
Another vote for "No."

I'd expect Viddio.com to be a $100-250 domain, not thousands.

PromoStudio also looks/sounds more professional to me, is easier to say to people via word-of-mouth without having to spell it and hope they remember the spelling, etc.

centdev
It's worth $6k if it means that much to you. Regardless of if others think its worth it or not or even if $6k is a good value for it. If you can justify it for $6k then get it.
kissmd
you could try vidd.io or something similar.
kissmd
you could try with another domain. when i launched my site, the .com was for sale over 15000$ but .eu was not yet registered so i went with that.