is .info any good? Bit of advise please.

Hi there,

What about the .org and .net, are they available? Snap either up if you can as they are almost as good as the .com in my experience.

All the best.

As far SEO concern, you don't need to worry about the extensions. However, the only problem is that people would find it difficult to remember your domain name if it is not in .com.

If you work hard on it you can make any domain name memorable. So if it is your desired domain, grab it irrespective of what it ends with.

If you search the forum threads for .info you'll see a HUGE variety of opinions here. I've used them and never had any troubles because I have people click on the link to my .info and not type it in so that doesn't really matter to me. Also, some people will say that .info equals spammer sites in many people's eyes since its so cheap and has been used in past for crappy sites like that. It really depends on your market and what you are going to do with it so I don't have a definite answer either way...but hope some of that helps you think through things with it a bit.

I would stay away from it...here is why:

- Many years ago you could get TONS of .info domains for free. This was during the autogen boom of 5 years ago, so people crammed these domains full of spam/junk content

- Searchers got used to seeing JUNK on .info domains

- So now, a person is searching for "blue widgets" and just doesn't even click on the .info from the search results.

don't risk it...these domains are not top tier.

If .info sites were priced at $20 they would have a perceived higher value. However, with everyone saying they are rubbish, people stay shy of them and they do not sell as well. In this case, to make them sell, they are offered at a sale price.

Since many people expect when they type a name directly as a URL (omitting the spaces) to add the .com extension expecting a website to have been built for that word phrase can often strike lucky but then you could easily end up at a rubbish parked domain with nothing more than links and adsense on it. The enlightened could also try typing the .info extension as a second attempt. Admittedly the .com will be tried first of all.

I expect those who have built successful .info sites and are earning off them will say that the price of the .info for the following year if bought at the low price initially is still worth it.

.info domains which have tanked and not re-registered will become available again and so there will be opportunities to get really good domains in the future and hopefully the market will become educated by then to give as much importance to .info domains as a .com

The extensions have implied meanings and therefore to have a very good information site on a .net domain for example is not going to get direct traffic by typing in the URL and adding the most recognized extension (.com). If I am after information, I am not as likely to type a url in the address bar and add the .net as I would type the url and add .info

We are talking about technicalities here which the general public who are not internet savvy will know about. So to play safe, if you have a choice of buying a good domain for a keyword phrase and the .com is available, the .com will be the preferred option in the long run if the website is built with the long-term in view in mind. However, as the public become more educated you might expect them to add .info rather than .com when specifically looking for information in the future.

As others have testified any .extension will rank above another if the website has better content and relevancy and backlinks etc. as far as the search engines are concerned unless they have good reason to tar all .extensions of a certain type with the same brush, which I doubt will happen.

I think it is important to realise that not too many people are typing URLs directly these days - in fact LOTS of people don't even know how! You should think about how you are going to market the site and also if the domain name actually makes any sense. Some examples I've seen recently include: http://who.unfollwed.me and Wholesale - UK Wholesalers & Free UK Dropshippers Directory - Guide & List

Both are logical and marketable IMO.

T

Hi Jacqui,

The .info is definitely cheaper. But for some reason or another, customers view .com or .org or .net as more reliable domain.

Here is a cool twist...

If you want handsome.com for example and you can't avail it, why not add words to it.

You can try thehandsome.com or handsomebuddy.com.

Hope this helps.

Yes .info does works, but it depends on what your products and is there any market that wants your offer, but it gets a little harder to rank well at the search engine.

If I can't get the . com for the keyword, I will go for the . net and then the .org. If they aren't available then I will add a word after the keyword.

I would only use hyphens if I can get the . com

If I can't get any of the above then I would find another keyword.

I use . info for website when I'm not interested in high rankings as extra work will be needed.

Good Luck!

This is a guess, based loosely on my own search habits and people I know. Not the most reliable source but...

When I search online for something, I very rarely look at the domain name. Just the title as listed in the search engine.

When I do click on a site, if it's full of flashing junk or is obviously trying hard to sell something, I don't even bother reading it (obviously other people do, or those long wordpress pages selling clickbank ebooks wouldn't make any money).

If it looks like a OK site, I stick around and read it.

If it's a really good site, I bookmark it.

So whether it is .com, .org, .net, .info doesn't bother me.

However

When I haven't bothered to bookmark it, I do often forget whether it is .net, .org, .info, etc.

I would get the .com first, then the .co.uk (cos I live in the UK).