How important is a .com extension?

13 replies
Originally, I purchased a .info extension to use as a landing page. I felt that was fine because any traffic sent there would be through a link, so the extension was irrelevant. However, recently I started blogging as well. I still only have the .info extension, and have begun to wonder how much that will negatively affect people's ability to find my blog. The .com version of my site's name is taken as is the .net. The best available would be .org or .co. Is this a big enough deal that I should switch over to a better extension, or am I making too much of a deal out of this?
#extension #important
  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    You will get lots of opinions on the subject and you can search for and find many, many threads asking the same question.

    IMO, dot com is the only way to go for commercial businesses.

    I don't buy the argument that all the good domain names with a dot com extension are already taken . . . there are wonderful names available in every niche right now. There are tools like Lean Domain Search and Impossibility that you can use to find great dot com names.

    Dot com is the preferred extension and the one that is the most professional and desired for business.

    If, or when you go to sell your business, you will be glad you own a dot com name, as all other things being equal, it will likely be the most valuable extension you could own.

    Others will tell you the extension doesn't matter - they are the ones that settled for less than the optimum. I'm sure you wouldn't be asking the question if you didn't think dot com was the preferred way to go.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author salegurus
    Please use the search function....
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  • Profile picture of the author CPABeyondNetwork
    In general people will believe .COM extension much more then any other domain but if your site is real quality and provides people what they really want you won't have any problem with .INFO domain. You will need to test your CR with both .INFO and .COM (similar domain).


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    CPA Beyond
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  • Profile picture of the author Tsnyder
    Originally Posted by Bryan Ebert View Post

    Originally, I purchased a .info extension to use as a landing page. I felt that was fine because any traffic sent there would be through a link, so the extension was irrelevant. However, recently I started blogging as well. I still only have the .info extension, and have begun to wonder how much that will negatively affect people's ability to find my blog. The .com version of my site's name is taken as is the .net. The best available would be .org or .co. Is this a big enough deal that I should switch over to a better extension, or am I making too much of a deal out of this?
    The .info extension will have absolutely no negative effect
    on anyone's ability to find your blog.
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    If you knew what I know you'd be doing what I do...
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  • Profile picture of the author bangwhosnext
    In general, if you don't have the .com of the domain name you want, I would sugggest to go for something else where the .com is available. The .com is always the most valuable and sought after domain extension.
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  • Profile picture of the author SupplementTalk
    .com and .org miles ahead of .info.
    really you are fine to go with .com .org or .net for ranking purposes don't use .info. Not to say you cant rank a .info but the other extensions are proven to rank better and faster so why not give yourself the best chance at ranking. I would make the switch for sure.
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  • Profile picture of the author wavemaster
    I started buying domains in 1995 .com .net .org I dont own any .info ones. IMO The extension never seemed to matter that much. Even the name ?? All that really mattered was content, if you have good content, relevant content that serves a certain market or community you will reach your goal.
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  • Profile picture of the author pookiepal
    Stick with .com, .net, or .org

    .com is best for branding purposes. When you say to someone that your website is called mywebsite.com, it will instantly register in their head as a website. But when you said mywebsite.info, they wouldn't immediately know what that is.
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  • Profile picture of the author Write W@rrior
    A .com is best whenever it's possible, however. I have found great success in hacked ccTLD domain names and in the current new general TLDs. It's in how you can brand the name and if your audience can remember to type it in correctly.

    As for SEO... who knows. Just make sure you provide great content within the actual website and you will get indexed properly.
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  • Using a .com is in your best interest. If you register a .net or a .org and someone else has the .com, you stand to lose type-in traffic.

    When people think of a domain, they think of a .com.

    For a commercial website, .com is the way to go. I would never use any other domain extension.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rory Singh
    Com seems to be the the most 'dominant' on Google Searches.
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  • Profile picture of the author Slade556
    The .info domain will rank and will be found just as well and as fast as the .com would. It's a misconception that the .com domains are "the best", it's true that they look more professional, but other than that it really makes no difference. What's important is you don't have an extension that can be considered "spammy", so you're good to go.
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