Buying Domains

[Steve5001]

I have been running e-commerce websites for the last three years and have always purchased .coms and because I'm from the UK .co.uk domains.

Some of the new domains I am after have already been registered in these formats. Would people recommend that I should stick with the names I am after but register .net or .biz or should I look for alternative names so I can get the .com name?

Also, would potential 'international' customers/readers be put off by a .co.uk domain and would more likely click a .com or .net?

[mikeinasia]

I would prefer to go for the .com unless you are targeting only the UK. The domain discussion on webmasterradio.fm is great listening if you are into domains.

[Jan]

I'm from the US and I don't avoid .co.uk when I click....good info is good info.

I'm new to this, so keeping that in mind.....I like the .info for information sites

[Jaro]

Steve, .com domains are of the greatest value. When you look at websites that do domain business you will find out that .com domains go for the highest price.

When building a website, my first choice is always a .com domain but when I have a really good name in my mind I go also for .net, .org or .info. I think the extension doesn't matter for the common users, they click on the headlines on the search results page and are not so much interested in the domain name. Also Google ranks websites with they keyword in the domain name higher.

Matt Cutts from Google recently denied the rumours that Google puts higher value to the links from the .gov domains. .gov domains have simply higher trust rank/page, that's why their links are of higher value.

So in my opinion, if you came up with a domain name related to your business go for it no matter if it's .net or .info.

[TeamGrowth]

.com is undoubtedly the most popular and recognized TLD all over the world. So for commercial purposes and to target the global market, .com is usually the best. If you are targetting only the UK market then .co.uk is fine.

If you register the .net or .biz versions of the names you are after then it is possible that you might lose some traffic to the .com version of the same names, so I would suggest you to go for alternative names with .com

[Aitch]

Hi Steve.

I agree with what everyone else has said in that dot com is the most recognised and respected domain. .biz, .org, .net, .co.uk. .co.th, .us etc all have their place too. Personally, my rules when selecting domains are to go for a .com, no dashes, and as short as possible. It can be done but requires a little playing around.

Here's a real quick domain checker: Instant Domain Check

Aitch

[Brazilian83]

.com is the best option always, even if you have lots of good content on a .net you risk that people will get confused and try to re-access your site through the .com version

[icesar]

Go with the .com, even if you don't get your first choice name or keywords. One reason is that people will often remember your domain name, but not the extension, so the .com always gets typed in first.

As for the .co.uk, it does suggest that your site would be uk-centric. If I have a choice between two very similar sites and one is a .com and one is a .co.uk, guess which I'll pick?

That's my 2 cents.

[Vlad]

Originally Posted by Jaro

.... Also Google ranks websites with they keyword in the domain name higher....

I do not believe this to be the case. I think people confuse and mix in PPC strategies into this one. While it is true that in PPC advertising on AdWords you ad stadns out if a keyword is found in title of the ad, description and the display url. These ads have much better clickthrough becuse generally keywords are bolded in search results.

Just take my website for example. URL is a combination of my name and last name yet it ranks quite well for a phrase "My Affiliate Journey" in the big three.


Don't sweat over keyword in your URL, make sure you market and promote your site well.

[truth2befree]

I been using new domain that is mean totally a website domain which is .WS thats were using for all type of online Business specially promoting products and services. .WS is applicable to all type of domain names world wide.