It’s always good to see/hear a company actually taking more than 5 minutes to finalize their brand/domain name(s). It is truly amazing how many companies simply do not understand the complexity of a “brand” and online exposure, traffic, and marketplace acceptance.

I agree 100%, you will be spending a tremendous amount of money on initial marketing and advertising, so first impression is key.

Although I agree, “Alice”, sticks out like a sore thumb, I do not agree that it provides you with “instant credibility”. In my humble opinion, the “instant credibility” comes from a strong logo alongside a superior website. I usually think of “instant credibility” in the domain world as generic domains covering an entire product, service, or industry. (Example: Pets.com, or Jacksonville.TV, or USAPolitics.TV). Alice is a females first name.

I agree about the price of the domain, it’s all relative, especially in the world of e-commerce. I am curious however, did you acquire the domain name personally, or through a private broker?

I agree with you that prices for “category killer” domains aren’t coming down–especially in this situation, “You want what they own”, so you have to pay.

I do think it would be a wise proactive investment to own the “.TV” domain for a video and multimedia platform to host your product reviews, testimonials, company intro, career availability, etc.

I agree that millions of people still search for websites using the “ignorant and default” type-in method, but the key factor you are failing to comprehend is, those people are not naturally typing in Alice.com to find trash bags, toilet paper, and tooth brushes. They are typing in the generic words, or going to Google/Yahoo. These items are very small ticket items, so I highly doubt the keyword/generics have a substantial amount of traffic to begin with. As time passes, you have to understand over the past decade those “direct navigators” were in that position because of two factors: a) lack of Internet comprehension/knowledge and b) the search engines were not even 1/10000000 of as mainstream and powerful as they are today. Point being, with time, the next generation of “consumers” and Internet users are NOT idiots, they understand search, and search engine much more than previous generations. They also have learned and been exposed to other domains (TLD’s) that actually have a meaning. (DOT TV), video/broadcasting/multimedia/onlineTV, etc…

Overall, I think you made a very wise decision going with Alice.com over Boxi.com, however, I think you could’ve acquired the domain much cheaper. In the end, I am very impressed with the brainstorming and “outside the box” thinking–and action.

1) get a great logo, marketing materials and press releases!
2) spend the money to get a “wow” web 2.0, user-friendly site!
3) adwords, adwords, adwords!

Thanks for reading.

Ps: To learn more about DOT TV (.TV) visit: http://www.Verisign.TV, http://www.TV, and http://www.NLVmedia.TV

I’m looking forward to watching your business come to life. Hopefully in a year or so Brian will be giving another AccelerateMadison presentation on it.

i guess it was a steal haha!
i could take a company public with $250K & a $6 domain form godaddy.