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- Mar 7, 2017
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Well I suppose we are all after that .com extension but with the internet growing as it is these days that perfect extension is not always available. so just how important is it too have a .com domain these days?
Does the domain extension really matter?
- Thread starter OldTimer
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2006
- Messages
- 221
Depends....
If you are marketing a product, then .com is critical....no one will automatically type "nike.biz" into their browser bar....the .com is a must. But you are marketing
"nike" as the product and brand, not "nike.biz".
For a service (forum), it's dependent on how you brand. If you are pushing "priusforum.auto" as your brand, AND include the extension in your branding, then owning the .com is not a huge deal.
Preferred? yes....but good marketing and branding won't care.
If you are marketing a product, then .com is critical....no one will automatically type "nike.biz" into their browser bar....the .com is a must. But you are marketing
"nike" as the product and brand, not "nike.biz".
For a service (forum), it's dependent on how you brand. If you are pushing "priusforum.auto" as your brand, AND include the extension in your branding, then owning the .com is not a huge deal.
Preferred? yes....but good marketing and branding won't care.
https://moz.com/blog/cc-tld-domain-study
With trust perception TLDs do matter, with .com winning the trust perception versus alternate non.EDU/ORG TLDs (but not necessarily against country TLDs for local markets).
With trust perception TLDs do matter, with .com winning the trust perception versus alternate non.EDU/ORG TLDs (but not necessarily against country TLDs for local markets).
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2009
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- 784
Depends highly on the target audience, so yes and no. Normally I'd say yes, the .com is important. But in many, many cases it won't make a difference. I always prefer having the .com though, but I'm also the type that prefers having www in the domain name. Old school.
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2016
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- 1,165
The length matters more.
Bit ly has to be an example.
T.co is another (Twitter)
Goo.gl
Etc etc
Bit ly has to be an example.
T.co is another (Twitter)
Goo.gl
Etc etc
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2006
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- 221
Excellent point on length....shorter IS better...and easy to remember as well...
A friend had a 4wd shop....Ultimate 4 Wheel Drive Performance.... ultimate4wheeldriveperformance.com...ridiculously long. Still remember his commercial spots "ultimate, the number 4, wheel drive performance dot com" Yeah...
My main site is IH8MUD.com - using "h8" in there will get confusing for those typing it in (but 6 digits fit on my license plate in 1992)....FORTUNATELY, after 5-6 years of emails, I got MUDD Jeans to give up the domain "ihatemud.com" and I redirect that.
A friend had a 4wd shop....Ultimate 4 Wheel Drive Performance.... ultimate4wheeldriveperformance.com...ridiculously long. Still remember his commercial spots "ultimate, the number 4, wheel drive performance dot com" Yeah...
My main site is IH8MUD.com - using "h8" in there will get confusing for those typing it in (but 6 digits fit on my license plate in 1992)....FORTUNATELY, after 5-6 years of emails, I got MUDD Jeans to give up the domain "ihatemud.com" and I redirect that.
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Doesn't matter how good your domain is if you can't market it.
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- Feb 28, 2017
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It could make a difference. Start up forums are usually small, not well known, and people are not proactively googling for them.
Strange spellings and extra punctuation signs don't help either, like "_", "-", extra ".", etc.
Strange spellings and extra punctuation signs don't help either, like "_", "-", extra ".", etc.
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2016
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- 142
Dot Com will always be king, however many are choosing an alternative route of TLD's, if you can ofcourse get a hold of the .com, go with it, if not, pick a very good keyword domain in another extension. Google will be kind.
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It's very important if your trying to rank in google.
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Organic traffic from returning visitors is the real gold, and for that you only really need a memorable brand whose url clicks.
The TLD doesnt really matter, but in china urls as short as possible are highly sought. the TLD doesnt matter for websites, link shorteners, apps and backend services (some being regionally restricted or otherwise deliberately limiting their own availability).
Some TLDs (typically national ones) are avoided because of practices from their assigned registrars, which artifically limits their visibility on search engines. If its not discriminatory policies, its poor services (like offering no whois privacy at all, and poor retention policies for domains - good luck transferring them away). They are desirable, and are supposed to be more popular regionally but might not be due to self-sabotaging policies not consistent with those for the mainstream TLDs like .COM
The TLD doesnt really matter, but in china urls as short as possible are highly sought. the TLD doesnt matter for websites, link shorteners, apps and backend services (some being regionally restricted or otherwise deliberately limiting their own availability).
Some TLDs (typically national ones) are avoided because of practices from their assigned registrars, which artifically limits their visibility on search engines. If its not discriminatory policies, its poor services (like offering no whois privacy at all, and poor retention policies for domains - good luck transferring them away). They are desirable, and are supposed to be more popular regionally but might not be due to self-sabotaging policies not consistent with those for the mainstream TLDs like .COM
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2017
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- 7
I always prefer .com domains, as the other extensions kinda make me cringe. I do however like .co.uk & .info.
When I was gonna register a domain for my forum using my YouTube name "Thunder Tech", it was pretty obvious that thundertech.com was gonna be taken, so I took thunderte.ch which uses the .ch extension but it makes it look like the full name, lol.
I've managed to snag a few cool domains though, such as youtubeforums.com (used to be a cool unofficial youtube forum back in the day), scammer.info (which is a Flarum forum for posting... scammer info... lol). Me and a friend are also thinking of turning scambait.org into the community forums for scam baiting, might actually redirect my forums to that.
So to be honest you don't REALLY need a .com, if it's a cool & memorable domain such as scammer.info, then you're good.
Also, don't get hyphens in the domain as it really makes me cringe and I'm sure other people hate that too haha.
When I was gonna register a domain for my forum using my YouTube name "Thunder Tech", it was pretty obvious that thundertech.com was gonna be taken, so I took thunderte.ch which uses the .ch extension but it makes it look like the full name, lol.
I've managed to snag a few cool domains though, such as youtubeforums.com (used to be a cool unofficial youtube forum back in the day), scammer.info (which is a Flarum forum for posting... scammer info... lol). Me and a friend are also thinking of turning scambait.org into the community forums for scam baiting, might actually redirect my forums to that.
So to be honest you don't REALLY need a .com, if it's a cool & memorable domain such as scammer.info, then you're good.
Also, don't get hyphens in the domain as it really makes me cringe and I'm sure other people hate that too haha.
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- Mar 13, 2017
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Too bad .gov is only reserved for US official agencies, I would love to have something like "secretagentforum.gov" just for fun.
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Let me have the email address: Max@secretagentforum.gov
and for my colleague: 99@secretagentforum.gov
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- Apr 10, 2016
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You have .Ink
Which becomes l.ink very quickly
Which becomes l.ink very quickly
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- Mar 22, 2017
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My next forum will be a .com (no clue what yet, but no rush)
I'm new to all this, and am lucky to own a tiny forum with extremely active members, but it has a wonky extension.
I just joined here today. I will soak up your wisdom.
I hope to attract older members at new site, members that grew up with the .com
".chat" ".forum" etc will not be remembered.
I'm new to all this, and am lucky to own a tiny forum with extremely active members, but it has a wonky extension.
I just joined here today. I will soak up your wisdom.
I hope to attract older members at new site, members that grew up with the .com
".chat" ".forum" etc will not be remembered.
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2010
- Messages
- 221
No, that's total BS.
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- Sep 14, 2006
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Appears my post didnt go through... I go .com and then .info and with current pricing .xyz is not only available but fitting for new generation top lvl imo