closed This one has "THE" Word

[Duke]

I have never registered a name with "The" as a prefix but went ahead and took one from the expired list this morning because I think it might have some actual potential.

TheWedding.net

So you're getting married? Congratulations...you've come to the right place - The Wedding Network!

The wedding is the most important event in most people's lives (though some might argue it is The Divorce! - oh and don't bother looking, someone already has thedivorce.com and .net).

I can see selling it or putting up a site with links to the other businesses in the multi-billion dollar wedding industry.

All other TheWedding domains are registered. Certainly I would have preferred Wedding.com for my $8, but the guy wasn't selling!

So, what do you guys think. a smart buy, or should I not haven broken "The" rule.

 

[IPatlas]

Great name and THE works well imo. I would 've gotten this one too (I think) TheWedding sounds better than Wedding I think but I know it is technically worth less. Women dream about *The*Wedding since they usually only have one big one (smaller ones in case of divorces). Men just go along...

 

some "the" domains can work, but i think to be of any significant value it needs to be in .com - otherwise the double lessening effect removes pretty much all the value.

 

Yep.. I like the name but the fact its not .com makes me not even think about getting it.
But I'm kind of crazy like that and love .com

Who ever said .ws was the new .com was out of their mind!

 

[Frenchie]

Duke, I like it but agree with others about .com. By the way, did you ever see about MyWedding.com (I did'nt look)? What do you think about, or what is better: Wedding (.com), The Wedding, MyWedding, OurWedding, or even YourWedding ? This question may be important, because if you are able to hierarchise, the rule can be extrapolated to other names, of course.

 

[morel]

Excellent catch Duke.

My appraisals:
$75 for reseller
$500 for an interested party

There are plently of wedding sites on the internet to sell this one to, especially sites of wedding photographers. The domain is sufficiently generic, yet it can be used to establish a clever brand identity as other have pointed out.

But as Frenchie has noted, there are slightly better variants.
I think that OurWedding.Net is better than TheWedding.Net.

 

[Duke]

There are plently of wedding sites on the internet to sell this one to, especially sites of wedding photographers. The domain is sufficiently generic, yet it can be used to establish a clever brand identity as other have pointed out.

Yes, of course OurWedding.net would be better, but it is not available in ANY domain (nor are the other variations Frenchie mentioned).

One of my pet peeves on the appraisal board is that people always say, "Well, yadayada.com would be better" when in virtually every case the superior name they suggest is not available. There are always better names but if they are not available it makes no difference whether they are better or not. Let's appraise names on their own merits since that is the name before offered up for criticism - not something else that is not available.

Having said that (and everyone does what I am complaining about above so I am not singling you out Frenchie or dmorel), I think dmorel is correct that this is such a big market that there is plenty of room for thewedding.net in it. Not for a lot of money, but for a decent return on the investment.

I am as much of a .com fan as anyone, but the idea that there is one and only one valid extension doesn't make sense to me. Surely it is the superior extension with the biggest market demand, but I think you can make money with some of the others too. Some terms are so strong, there is going to be a demand for the name beyond only the one .com that usually isn't available anyhow. I also think that .net will always be the solid #2 choice when people have to look for an alternative.

 

[morel]

Originally posted by Duke of Earl

Yes, of course OurWedding.net would be better, but it is not available in ANY domain (nor are the other variations Frenchie mentioned).

One of my pet peeves on the appraisal board is that people always say, "Well, yadayada.com would be better" when in virtually every case the superior name they suggest is not available. There are always better names but if they are not available it makes no difference whether they are better or not. Let's appraise names on their own merits since that is the name before offered up for criticism - not something else that is not available.

I think that pointing out slightly better domain names (whether or not they are available) on this appraisal board is an appropriate and constructive activity. It is my assumption that this late in the domain game (2002), almost all domains that are available to register have a significant flaw in them. Whenever we register what we think is an amazing name, we should ask ourselves: Why was this domain overlooked?

To illustrate, Frenchie once wanted the domains SpainMade.com and HollandMade.com appraised. I told him that SpanishMade.com and DutchMade.com were better alternatives (neither of which was avaiable) because they made more grammatical sense. I think that this was a good evaluation because I helped him to realize that his domains were not as great as he thought they were; I helped to deflate his ego a bit.

In your case, it would have been inappropriate for me to suggest that Weddings.com is better. Instead, I suggested that OurWedding.net is better. My goal was to help you realize that, while you do have a good name, it has a flaw. That is, "The Wedding" is too impersonal, too abstract. "Our Wedding" is not.

In general, the purpose of thoughtfully supplying a slightly better domain name, especially one that is unavailable, is to show that while a domain may seem to have good value at first glance, it in reality has less value under further scrutiny.

-David

 

[Duke]

David your points are well taken but I never thought that TheWedding.net was in any way an amazing name. It looked like a serviceable name that some small business might find worthwhile, which you acknowledged.

I already knew the name had a flaw, in fact I pointed that out in my opening sentence. It actually has two with the .net extension. Most people on DNF know all of this and are smart enough to look for better alternatives before registering.

It was a good idea to correct Frenchie's grammar to save him from making similar mistakes in the future, but you really only need to tell him what the correct form of the word is, not suggest he could or should have registered something that isn't available to begin with.

To me I still view it is pointless to say "This name is better". So what? It's not the name I have nor is it a name I can get, so what does it have to do with appraising my name? If my name is worthless (which it sometimes is), then just say "The name has no value because the grammar is wrong or whatever".

Again this is just a pet peeve of mine - it probably doesn't even bother most people. Thanks for your reasoned input as always!

 

[DropWizard.com]

Its a good name but the flaw is this. There are virtually no good affiliates in that area. I have traffic from weddingowns.com and nuptuals.com going to waste because I can't find a decent affiliate and the ones there can't convert. I have seen a few good wedding names drop recently and haven't touched them for that reason. If you can build a site that would be great. Or resale to a small bridal business would be good also.

If anybody knows of a good affiliate I would love to hear about them!

 

[Duke]

Thanks gmartfin - that is great information (though not good news for me!). I had affiliation in mind and I don't really want to develop a site on this theme as I have many other ideas that rank far higher in priority. I will try to sell it to a small business.

I have often preached to register what you know. I broke my own rule on this one, thinking weddings were a universal theme that would be hard to go wrong with. Every instance like this is a great learning experience so I'll just look at it as another small payment toward tuition!

 

Originally posted by IPatlas
Great name and THE works well imo. I would 've gotten this one too (I think) TheWedding sounds better than Wedding I think but I know it is technically worth less. Women dream about *The*Wedding since they usually only have one big one (smaller ones in case of divorces). Men just go along...

If I could find the BIG ONE I would marry it.... um .... him.
LOL

 

[DomeBase]

Originally posted by HippieChick


If I could find the BIG ONE I would marry it.... um .... him.
LOL

LOL :laugh:

 

[DropWizard.com]

Thanks gmartfin - that is great information (though not good news for me!). I had affiliation in mind

If it has traffic or you can develop it don't let my experience stop you from trying. Affiliates are funny. One source of traffic dies and another converts great. You never know.

The only conclusion I came to was developing the site or waiting for somebody to get smart. At the moment I'm waiting. There's big biz there. The main sites all rep goods or sell their own. Somebody could clean up with a good affiliate program

 

[Duke]

Thanks GM - For now I will put it on my for sale list but I may revisit it and see if I can develop anything with it. Maybe the divorce.net would have been better! Anyone else have any ideas on tapping the wedding market?

 

[avs162]

the lack of any good afl programs on a industry thats that big could mean oportunity and you may be able to actually bring a non web based wedding company onto the web with a pay per click or flat fee basis.

there a quite a few companies that do nothing but act as a general contractor for wedding handleing all the services need.

video
flowers
catering
limos
rice (jk)

might be an oportunity

just my opinion

 

[Frenchie]

David, I appreciate very much your critics (as for Spain/Spanish). Indeed, critics without valuation ($) are always better than valuations ( ex abrupto) without justification criteria.

Nobody here is entitled to make THE evaluation (otherwise, the forum disappears !). Thus, a good appraisal is elaborated in the heads of everyone after the last post is written (following Hegel's "thèse-antithèse-synthèse")