Domain name extensions

S

sartay

Registered User
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Just wondering what people's thoughts are on the various domain names that are available and what the consequences of opting for one over the other might be. Are the main differences just purely in what people's perceptions of your site might be depending on what domain you choose?

I've had an idea for a website that I'm considering. It would mainly be an information service. There would be a forum for people to chat and share info etc but also articles and other information on the subject matter. I had a quick look on godaddy.com to see if the name I was thinking of is still available. I didn't realise quite how much choice there is out there.

.com .ie .eu .info .biz .net

The .com I'm looking for would be available for $11 but the .info is only $0.89. I thought .info might be ok as the site would mainly be an information sharing website. But are there are other implications? e.g. search engine rankings etc? Or negative perceptions of the site? Are there any commercial implications? If the site were to become popular I'd consider seeking advertisers for the site.

Just wondering what the conventional wisdom is on this! Thanks a mill!
 
Short answer , always use the .com or .ie if you want your site be taken seriously.
 
Ok, that's cool! Short and sweet! It's going to be targeted internationally so I'd go for a .com rather than a .ie
 
jhegarty said:
Short answer , always use the .com or .ie if you want your site be taken seriously.
Click to expand...

Why is that by the way? It is because the others are too newly established? Or because they are cheaper or something?
 
sartay said:
Why is that by the way? It is because the others are too newly established? Or because they are cheaper or something?
Click to expand...

People have a look a site address and think , $11 was too much for this guy to spend , can't be much of a site.

It's like when you see a business add with an 087 contact number and eircom.net email address, you just won't take it as seriously as a business with a landline and business email address.
 
sartay said:
Why is that by the way? It is because the others are too newly established? Or because they are cheaper or something?
Click to expand...

I think you hit the nail on the head yourself in the original post - its a perception thing. People (certainly I personally) would trust a .ie much faster than a .biz, simply as its more established. Also with a .ie you must show that you have some logical connection with the name to be allowed to purchase it.
 
I had a similar problem when I wanted a website, because my business name doesn't relate in anyway to me or the business I'm in, my web designer thought i may have trouble getting a .ie, even though the name is registered etc. I did get it, which was nice.

As J has said the dot,.com is cheap, the dot IE , you have to prove you are the business so people may take it a bit more serouisly.
 
I would always go for the dot com and dot ie domain names.

If you go for the dot biz or info theres nothing to stop a competitor from coming along and setting up their own site with the same name as yours and a .com address. Its a little harder for them to get the .ie one as you have to prove a business connection to the domain name.
 
Thanks for all the input everyone. I knew that .ie is more expensive and more difficult to register. I don't want a .ie address as I'll be targeting people from all over, but I wasn't sure if that meant I should necessarily go for a .com or not. Think I definitely will now. Was just curious if there was anything more than perception involved in picking one over the over. But perception is as important as anything else in trying to get people to your website so I'll go for the .com
 
I believe when the extensions were first proposed, they did have a specific meaning.
.net = sites to do with internet and its administration (I think)
.org = organisations.
.com = commercial, international business
Then there are country specific sites
.ie = Irish sites

Here's a more comprehensive list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains

Incidentally, always thought it strange that AAM should be .com and not .ie, since it's Irish finance. As its popularity increases, there are sure to be more posts from people thinking it's international finance.
 
My opinion about domain names is that most of them are overated because if you do a search in register365 and see the rates of extensions of countries like latvia, its about 165 euros or something....thats kinda ridiculous...
 
If you can you should register:
- com
- net
-org
-info
-biz
-ie
-eu
-co.uk

Why?

Because if you don't someone else can easily come along and grab them. While you can lodge disputes with WIPO etc., it's lot more economical to just have the domains

As for pricing - it varies widely between registrars and by domain extension. Unless you're selling into Latvia there probably isn't that much to be gained by registering a Latvian domain
 
When searching on google for an Irish supplier, I always look for .ie as opposed to .com which I find all to often its linked to a foreign site usually USA
 
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