I am going to start a blog related to weight loss to promote some products, and I wanted to do this completely free. But then I thought about it, and maybe blogger.com wouldn't be the best way if I wanted to get into PPC or other paid ads. So I was thinking, would a .info lose customers just because of the domain name? Or in the customers mind, is it the same a .com? I'd prefer to get the .info because it is by far cheaper, and still a small investment if I do not succeed ($8 is small to, but with a .info I can get 8 for that price). So pretty much, is there any reason I shouldn't get a .info (personal blog type site) or any reason a .com is better? Thanks
In my opinion, i don't see much difference between those two. I think if your title and description in serps are appealing, I doubt anyone will be questioning why it is .info. The one minor problem you may face is if someone wants to return to your site and has to remember it was a .info and not .com.
Truth is, there's a big difference in the Serps and in customer perception. It's well documented across the web that if you wanna play the Google exact match trick you need .com .net .org and even the .net and .org don't get remembered by the human mind as often. You'd see lower rankings and lower direct entry traffic, but if you're planning to be mostly viral/social/email marketing and google adsense/adwords advertising you won't need to worry much, but a .com pay's for itself over time. Dan
- there is some believe that .com are better than .info - for same result work needed will be more for .info than .com - if you dream to make 1000s then why not invest $8?
.com is known for ranking better than any other (.net, .org, etc.) Also you have to think of it in the eyes of your users. Naturally you think the name of the company then .com
I'm not sure remembering my company would matter much, as it's not going to be an updated blog. I'd just go in and change the dates every day or every other day. Something like this, but in a different niche. http://jerrycashedin.com/?cid=MFD170455 And of course $8 is nothing when your dreaming of thousands, but then it feels better to invest money you make. I'd still go for the .com if people think its better.
Personally, I wouldn't use a .info for my sites unless I am registering variations (.info, .net, misspellings, etc..). I really don't know if there are ranking penalties, but it just seems more professional to use .com. On a recent site I registered, all the good domain names were taken. Just about every decent name I tried was taken. But, there were .info versions available. However, I chose to register a .com even though the words weren't exactly what I was looking for. Like I said, it just seems more professional. .info and others like .us just seem a bit noobish for a commercial site.
I dont know if it really matters. I have never studied it, nor have I ever seen a report that someone else researched (studied) that shows .com is better than .info. What I will tell you is when I find a new site I bookmark it, so it doesnt matter whether its a .com .net .org .info or .anything as long as I like it I will bookmark it. And a lot of people do the same thing these days. The only thing is if people recommend the site to their friends they may say "I visited somethingsomething.com" when the name of the site is somethingsomething.info. That is because most of the websites are .com and .com is more recognizeable than .info. I would say as long as you have a good idea people will remember the name whether you use .com or .info.
Google's computers were not designed to favor one extension over another. It goes by popularity (incoming links). This is a perfect example on why I give some dumbass posters here a hard time. ... Stupid statements like that. No, of course not. Having a shitty site is what loses customers. Hell, in most cases, after they click on a link, be it an ad, or whatever, they don't even know what extension it is, since they don't look in the address bar. *shrugs shoulders* Then do it. I got the FM extension, and that extension is unheard of to a lot of people. I got it only because I wanted the TheList name. All the othe extensions were taken. All extensions are the same. What makes a difference is your site, and, your advertising/promotion.
So (.info) is a noobish domain? I've heard it all now. What does it matter what the friggin TLD is, a blog/website is judged on the quality of content from the viewers and from links with Google. The (.info) TLD has an intended purpose for informational sites and there's no restriction on this. If you create blogs that get freshly updated with information around the clock, surely (.info) is the ideal option. Yes they are cheap at the moment, but I'd call that a good reason to pick one up considering the (.com/.net's) have already been done to death.
Some will view .info differently than .com. Considering that most commercial sites use .com as their primary domain should give you an indication as to why. I'm not suggesting you can't go with a .info domain or that everyone will see it that way. But in business it can look like someone who isn't paying attention to what the general trends are. Think of any large commercial site and put a .info as their extension. Think of all the online and possible offline marketing using .info as the extension. Every time the domain is spoken to customers in person or on the phone, it would be .info instead of .com. That can leave an impression. Perhaps it's only a small factor and maybe a non issue depending on the site and business, but it can look second rate. And I'm glad I could contribute to the completion of 'what you have heard' ryan6.
Thank you, Ryan At least there are a few here who actually uses their brain other than filling the space between their ears. I'm a business owner. A very good one. Should I do what other business owners do? Sorry, but I, for one, think outside the box. Many good names are taken, and I am sure more and more webmasters are also using other extensions, and, with success.
If you were aiming to build a big commercial site, I would recommend a .com extension simply because most people seem to automatically think ".com" when they think of a website. Heck, when I am listing some of my OWN non-.com websites, I often fall into that trap. Even if people don't think less highly of your site because of the TLD in the URL, you almost certainly will people who will type in .com. Moreover, to get the bulk of your visitors to remember how to find your website, you will need to emphasize the .info extension as part of the domain name. Twitter, Flickr, Google, Facebook, MySpace - none of them mentions the extension. Why? Because the extension is .com. On the other hand, if you only expect people to find you through search engines, my personal experience is that the search engines do NOT rank one website over another based on the extension. The statement that "It's well documented across the web that if you wanna play the Google exact match trick you need .com .net .org" is, in my opinion, hogwash. I have never seen it documented and I can tell you that I have some .info domains that do rank for what I believe must be due in large part to being a direct match on a search term. Still, if you can get a .com name that you like, I would go with that. You will put in a lot of work on marketing the name, just to save $7 (most registrars charge about the same price for .com and .info domains after the first year, so you are looking at a one-time saving).
I guess it's a know when to jump in the bandwagon type of deal - when the big corporate companies start using ".info" and we see it on Television than people will start buying them. it will happen.
I think .com is much better because it looks more professional and even more genuine. I've seen too many spammy sites that use .info to the point where it's become a stereotype for .info sites (at least in the eyes of most of the people I talk too.) .com is, overall, more trusted. -Danielle
I think it is a myth for google to favor .com over .net, .info, etc. Personally I would go with .com when ever possible. People tend to remember .com over any other extension, plus in my opinion it looks more appealing and professional.
I've seen info and net sites look just as good. I can't think of the board's name right about now, but it has a net extension, and they have a lot of daily traffic. I guess the owner wanted that particular name, and the com was taken. Members there could care less. People with limited thinking, brainwashed with old ideas don't get very far. But all that aside, if the com extension doesn't cost that much, why not get it?
.info is as legit as .com but users see it more as a reference point for the actual .com stuff. That's why .info domains are usually used for arbitrage...
Maybe I'll just go for the .com domain then. Hopefully I make some sales from it when I get it running though.
People using the internet have a mindset and they always enter .com at the end so its better to have that