[SpecialK]

I would buy it only if you plan on doing some non-photographic endeavors with it.

[alamo5000]

The email address IS awesome but I don't know if I would drop that kind of coin for a web address. The real question here is is about marketing.

Who are you going to be marketing to? What is your target? What kind of jobs and work are you hoping for? Do you want to have a 'brand' associated with your work or are you going to be a service provider? There are about 20 other questions I would ask as well.

By and large though unless you're named Steve McCurry I don't know if I would try to brand yourself and your work with your name. Doing it that way makes a lot of assumptions and leaves a different impression on people.

Basically you really need to think through your branding and who you are targeting and for what reasons.

My vote on the subject though is largely a no, mainly for cost and also for branding purposes. Putting your name as the brand screams over the top "Las Vegas" showmanship. Is that what you are trying to do?

Do you want it to be just you and your name out there, or is it something bigger than that?

I think you need to define what your purpose is first and what your long term business model will be. You have to be careful from a marketing standpoint as to what kind of impression you want to leave with clients or potential clients.

[btnapa]

I would buy it only if you plan on doing some non-photographic endeavors with it.

I agree with SpecialK and Fenwoodian. They both have excellent points. Your photography website name is perfect. Yes it is a little long but it includes your name and photography. Most people should not have any problem spelling the word photography.

You mentioned an MBA. If you decide to do anything with your MBA that involves consulting work you may want to use your name. Even then you may have to add the words consulting, associates or something of that nature to your name anyway.

[Kerrowdown]

Aye... I'd just go for it my man.

[southlander]

In my mind the answer depends on how keen you are to protect your 'Alex Jansen' brand in the digital domain over the long term. If you have future commercial aspirations, then if someone else grabbed alexjansen.com at some stage, and worse tried to market photo images piggy backing off your future fame, could the commercial harm to you (lost sales, reputation damage) possibly be significant? If you think it could be, taking alexjansen.com out of reach of cyber squatters may be a good long term move.

[mattb123]

Ouch that's steep. I bought mattb.net in 1995 based on a hunch this internet thing just might catch on. I think it was about $30 IIRC. Even at that time mattb.com was taken, much to my chagrin.
But if it's worth it to you then it's worth it. I guess I'd say just do it if you have the cash handy and it won't put a strain on your finances.

I'm terrified I'll forget to renew and lose it one day but so far, so good. I have auto-renewal set up but it would still really bother me if something failed and I lost it.
If you want to discuss it with me further, I have a nice easy to remember email, matt@mattb.net.

[biz-engineer]

So yea..........thoughts?

Do you also plan to invest in Nikon or Canon camera and lenses. I've seen you are selling the K1 and a number of lenses all together.

[bertwert]

'm terrified I'll forget to renew and lose it one day but so far, so good

Like this?
A guy bought 'Google.com' for a minute - Business Insider

Do you also plan to invest in Nikon or Canon camera and lenses. I've seen you are selling the K1 and a number of lenses all together.

What has that got to do with the topic at hand?

[csa]

Your name is long and I would spell it with an son, not sen

I disagree with this. No one wants their name, especially their business name misspelled!

[BrianR]

I disagree with this. No one wants their name, especially their business name misspelled!

He means it's easy for a potential visitor to misspell. If you verbally tell someone your website is "alexjansen.com" they might type in all sorts of things, like "alexjanson.com" or "alexjensen.com" or "alexjamesson.com" or "aleksyenzin.com".

Even if they're typing from a business card or you verbally spelled it out for them, the longer it is the more room for user error. Shorter is generally better, for example "alex.com" would be awesome. It looks to be available, but will be way more than $1000.