Need some help with domain issue

Stella7d · June 22, 2010

I need some help with a domain and © name issue.

I found the name I want to use but it will require me to add a -- dash mark in between the two title words.
Which is ok with me for website addy....but I don't want my watermark to include those dash marks. Is that an issue I need to be concerned about??? I want my watermark to be ©my name........but without the dash marks in it. Does that make sense??? :dunno

My intention is to use my biz name as my watermark.

Perhaps this has already been addressed here on the forum, but I've searched these threads for hours and I can't find an answer anywhere and my eyeballs feel like they are on fire, due to them many hours of searching. Plus it's crazy after 2:00am in the flippin morning! :help

I would really really appreciate any help someone can spare!:bow

Thank you so very much!!:):

chrisjohnson · June 22, 2010

Good idea to have your watermark to be the same as your web address but then it needs to be the SAME.

Changing your domain name is not that complicated. You would be surprised what domain names you can buy for a couple of hundred dollars - try contacting the owner of the name you really want.

Stella7d · June 22, 2010

goldenballs wrote: »

Good idea to have your watermark to be the same as your web address but then it needs to be the SAME.

Changing your domain name is not that complicated. You would be surprised what domain names you can buy for a couple of hundred dollars - try contacting the owner of the name you really want.

Thanks Goldenballs for your quick reply! Yeah I'm still up searching and need some sleep so I can get up and work tomorrow morning!!
Actually I tried contacting the name owner and there's no interest in selling the domain. Just As an example, lets say I want the domain Jill Smith.com......but I can only get it as Jill--Smith.com.

So do those dash lines have to be printed as part of my biz name and on my watermark?? I can still get the name I want but it requires those dashes for the web address, which is fine. I don't mind them being in the web address at all..I just don't want those dash marks as part of my name on my printed material.

Does that make sense

Thanks again for the help!!

chrisjohnson · June 22, 2010

Yes, it makes sense.

Your name is your brand. It should be the same every time you use it. It should be easy to remember and easy to type.

I don't like the look of dashes either. If you need to use them then you should highlight the dashes - easier to remember.

Otherwise, change your name!

There seems to be a mature market for Domain Names. I own a good one and was alerted to this when I got a call offering $500 for one of mine. Seems like the rough pricing is 500 for a runner and 1500 for a stunner. For Dot Biz the prices are lower.

I still regret not having registered Philips.com and Sony.com when they were available - I would have made more than 1500.

denisegoldberg · June 22, 2010

Stella7d wrote: »

...an example, lets say I want the domain Jill Smith.com......but I can only get it as Jill--Smith.com.

And you expect your potential customers to remember that your site name has two dashes in it?

Also - before you use your web site name as your copyright, make sure that is a legal entity, and one that you intend to keep. It seems like it would be better to register the copyright in your name. Your signature doesn't indicate where you live, but if you're in the United States you might want to check http://www.copyright.gov/.

--- Denise

Stella7d · June 22, 2010

Thank you, goldenballs & denisegoldberg, your help is very much appreciated!

I spent a fair amount of time reading through all the copyright info. I'm still confused, and feeling like such an idiot!

Perhaps I'm confusing copyright with branding. As an example, if you google 'a slice of life photography' you get a page full of various people using that name, and the domain in one form or another. Is each person required to register for copyright?

I'm just a soccer-mom with a passion for photography and wanting to have my own dot com. Am I making this more complicated than it needs to be? Or is it really this complicated?
I was told one of the first steps to setting up a biz is to buy your domain. Maybe I am putting the cart before the horse?

TIA for any additional help!

Have a great day!

Hikin' Mike · June 22, 2010

Stella7d wrote: »

Thank you, goldenballs & denisegoldberg, your help is very much appreciated!

I spent a fair amount of time reading through all the copyright info. I'm still confused, and feeling like such an idiot!

Perhaps I'm confusing copyright with branding. As an example, if you google 'a slice of life photography' you get a page full of various people using that name, and the domain in one form or another. Is each person required to register for copyright?

I'm just a soccer-mom with a passion for photography and wanting to have my own dot com. Am I making this more complicated than it needs to be? Or is it really this complicated?
I was told one of the first steps to setting up a biz is to buy your domain. Maybe I am putting the cart before the horse?

TIA for any additional help!

Have a great day!

Interesting....I designed the logo from the one in Oregon...

!

You really don't have to register it as a copyright. I didn't. If you want to use 'A Slice of Life', then you need to figure out how to spell it (for the domain) and buy it. It would be nice if your business name AND your domain/website is the same, but it doesn't have to be. Make sense?

rsquared · June 23, 2010

To boil the copyright thing down as simple as possible, unless you have a registered business under the EXACT name you are putting in the copyright info, the copyright is not likely to hold up in court. If my business name is R Squared Photography, but I want a credit or watermark to say © rsquaredphotography.com, it doesn't count.

Now I can promote myself under either or both, but only a LEGAL ENTITY can own a copyright, therefore unless I register a business under the name rsquaredphotography.com, the copyright is owned by either myself or my actual registered business name.

Stella7d · June 24, 2010

Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate for your help Hiken'Mike & rsquared !!!

I'm happy to learn it's not so complicated!

Stella7d · June 24, 2010

Hikin' Mike wrote: »

Interesting....I designed the logo from the one in Oregon...!

You really don't have to register it as a copyright. I didn't. If you want to use 'A Slice of Life', then you need to figure out how to spell it (for the domain) and buy it. It would be nice if your business name AND your domain/website is the same, but it doesn't have to be. Make sense?

Small world! Very cool you designed the logo!

Photog4Christ · June 24, 2010

My two cents: Don't go with a domain that has dashes.

Think about it. If you're having a conversation with someone and you say "Well, you can visit my web page, my dash domain dot com". You want to make it easy for people to visit your web page, not confusing.

"mydomain.com" is a whole lot easier to remember and to type than "my-domain.com" (or is that "my_domain.com"????) See what I mean. You don't want to eliminate visitors to your site!

Hikin' Mike · June 24, 2010

Stella7d wrote: »

Small world! Very cool you designed the logo!

Yeah, really!!

Photog4Christ wrote: »

My two cents: Don't go with a domain that has dashes.

Think about it. If you're having a conversation with someone and you say "Well, you can visit my web page, my dash domain dot com". You want to make it easy for people to visit your web page, not confusing.

"mydomain.com" is a whole lot easier to remember and to type than "my-domain.com" (or is that "my_domain.com"????) See what I mean. You don't want to eliminate visitors to your site!

I would rather have a non 'dash' domain too, but depending on the keywords/business name (nature-photography.com), dashes are better than just a string of text (naturephotography.com) for SEO.

Regardless, you should have a small stack of business cards.....I keep some in my wallet.

Photog4Christ · June 24, 2010

Hikin' Mike wrote: »

I would rather have a non 'dash' domain too, but depending on the keywords/business name (nature-photography.com), dashes are better than just a string of text (naturephotography.com) for SEO.

Meta-tags

Regardless, you should have a small stack of business cards.....I keep some in my wallet.

I always have cards.

Angelo · June 29, 2010

rsquared wrote: »

To boil the copyright thing down as simple as possible, unless you have a registered business under the EXACT name you are putting in the copyright info, the copyright is not likely to hold up in court. If my business name is R Squared Photography, but I want a credit or watermark to say © rsquaredphotography.com, it doesn't count.

Now I can promote myself under either or both, but only a LEGAL ENTITY can own a copyright, therefore unless I register a business under the name rsquaredphotography.com, the copyright is owned by either myself or my actual registered business name.

quite right!!!

if you are the photographer of record, regardless of the name of the legal business entity you own, you should always copyright your work under your own name.

if your business is a legal entity (ex: incorporated) it can own copyright but you relinquish that protection personally. what if that corporation fails someday? technically corporations never die, they go into a weird state of limbo and unless legal steps are taken to "sell" the assets, in this case the copyrighted images, they retain forever.

so yes, branding and copyright ownership can and should be mutually exclusive.

as for your URL. If your name is Susan Smith and you want SUSANSMITH.com but it's already taken what makes you think any potential client will understand they have to add a (-)? You are instantly diluting your brand by a factor equal to the number of others with similar domain names.

is there a different domain registry other than (.com) you can use? can you come up with an easy to remember name? SUSANPIX.com? remember URLs are like telephone numbers, they are just a means of getting to your presentation (site)

People suffered the same dilemmas when, early on, it was popular to publish telephone numbers in name format (1-800-CocaCola). Sometimes the associated digits (1-800-262-2265) were already assigned to another party.

.

Photog4Christ · June 29, 2010

Angelo wrote: »

is there a different domain registry other than (.com) you can use? can you come up with an easy to remember name? SUSANPIX.com? remember URLs are like telephone numbers, they are just a means of getting to your presentation (site)

People suffered the same dilemmas when, early on, it was popular to publish telephone numbers in name format (1-800-CocaCola). Sometimes the associated digits (1-800-262-2265) were already assigned to another party.

.

Despite what all the advertisers (GoDaddy, etc...) say to convince you otherwise, .COM is the place to be. If you don't have a .COM then you face a losing battle to convince your potential customers that they need to look you up on .ORG, .NET, etc.... It used to be (but not anymore) that .COM was reserved for commercial businesses, .NET for networks (ISPs, AOL, Comcast, ATT, etc...), and .ORG for non-profits. Today anyone can register a .NET or .ORG.

Same with 800 numbers. After they started issuing 888, 877, and 866 numbers it took a great deal of marketing to convince people that these numbers were TOLL-FREE. Most companies today will actually pay a premium just to get an actual "800" number.

Also, for those that are tech savvy. In most browsers (IE, Firefox) all you have to do is type the domain in the address bar and hit CTRL-ENTER and the "www." and the ".com" will be entered automatically. So if you type "nealjacob" and hit CTRL-ENTER, then you'll be taken to "www.nealjacob.com"

Need some help with domain issue

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