Ok so when your looking for that great name, but someone has it already?

What is an ok method of getting what you want.

Is there like a moral rule?

Like is it ok to put a "the" in front of it or use the ".net" or what about using it pluralized?

I do not want to cheat someone, but I like the name I had picked out.

So I wanted to see what you think

I'm afraid there's no point cheating, imagine you've made a successful site using the plural form, you will simply send all your visitors to the site with the singular form. Think of some other ways out, what about a completely different word?

It's not illegal to use another form of the name, and morally, well, you have to decide! But as Jeyce said, if you make a close copy of someone else's domain name you will likely send them a lot of your own traffic.

Like it or not, the .com is still the most commonly recognized, and many people will automatically type it in. If the site that owns the .com of the name you want has nothing at all to do with the type of site you are planning, it can still be worth getting the name you want with another extension - .net, .info, or one of the others. You will just have to work a bit harder at establishing your identity, and your marketing needs to make it obvious what domain extension you are using in a way that people will remember. If your site and the other one are similar, you will just be sending them business.

My personal opinion of using 'the' or some other pre- or suffix to distinguish you is that if the name of your business can easily be identified with it (The Shoe Store, The World's Best Pizza), you're ok with it. But if I am trying to find your shop, which is normally called Blue Mountain Bikes, and I type in 'bluemoutainbikes.com' and get some other site, I will just be annoyed trying to figure you out at 'thebluemountainbikes.com'

These are just my opinions, of course!

Thanks for the advice

I think I may look for a good short phrase maybe

go to thesaurus.com and look for similar terms. short names are always the best.

Shorter names are better.Must be catchy yet must be something that people will easily remeber and relate to your product / service.

Go for .com.

Christie

With the great variety of suffixes, you can always make a small change in the spelling or presentation of your root name and then add a new suffix. The change in the root would help insure that less of the traffic you want would go to competitor sites. On the other hand, by having a close name, you may be setting yourself up for some close competiton or lawsuits. People are funny about copyrights and what belongs to them, even if there are some cases where you don't feel it would apply.

Captarbell, thanks for the link!

You need to be careful that the domain name you are 'modifying' is not trademarked, copyrighted or belongs to the owner in any legal way. Registering a domain which is for example trademarked will usually end in you receiving a C&D notice from the domain owner requesting the domain be dropped or transfered.

When choosing a domain i check for phonetics, ease to type in, OVT, length and many more aspects.

Be very careful about copyrights!! DOuble and triple check them

Christie

You can also make an offer to the current owner or hire a specialized domain broker if its a high profile domain.

Or visit a domain name aftermarket and search your preferrred domain, there are many bargains out there.

shopperx