Choosing a Domain for User Profiles

16 replies
Let's say you're a member of a site, and it was the type of site where you'd like to share your profile with people.

The default URL would be something like this:

www.domain.com/users/profiles/yourname

That's a bit unwieldy. But, I can use my own URL shortener, and these are the options I have available:

a) mydomain.com/yourname

b) domain.me/yourname

c) domain.biz/yourname


If you were putting your profile URL on your business cards or flyer or whatnot:

For your personal profile, which would you prefer?

For your business profile, which would you prefer?

In my opinion, "c" would likely be the choice for most business users. Where I'm less sure is for personal users. I cannot decide between "a" and "b".

Thanks!

UPDATE: Please see clarification here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post3301748
#choosing #domain #profiles #user
  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Personally, I wouldn't buy a me or biz domain, so A would be my choice for all.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      Personally, I wouldn't buy a me or biz domain, so A would be my choice for all.
      Why wouldn't you buy a .me or .biz domain?
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert View Post

        Why wouldn't you buy a .me or .biz domain?
        It's a personal preference but here's one reason. When I search for a really hot keyword domain name, it is frequently available as a biz but not in any other extension, meaning that is a pretty unpopular extension. I've found some truly awesome domains that would be worth a fortune in a .com or .net, that were available as a .biz.

        I rarely ever see a .biz listed in the search results.

        The same can be said for .me. It's an extension that never really took off too well, and other than the obvious fun domains like love.me, etc., I don't take the extension very seriously.
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        • Profile picture of the author TrishMullen
          I would agree that .com has the most kudos rather than the others. Although I'm from the UK and obvious choice would be to go for a .co.uk I always opt for .com.

          I tend to kind of dismiss others, rightly or wrongly but that's just me (or should that be .me )

          Good luck anyhow but I definitely prefer Option A for everything
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  • Profile picture of the author I.M.Retired
    I wouldn't buy a .biz or .me domain either. People have been programmed for .com, .net and .org - of which I now only buy .coms. Just a personal preference.

    As for your choices - I prefer 'A.'
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  • Profile picture of the author Gene Pimentel
    I wouldn't ever register a .biz or .me. For all the reasons mentioned above, but mostly because it'll peg you as a "wanna-be". You'll come across as an amateur.
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    • Profile picture of the author Warrior Markets
      Originally Posted by Gene Pimentel View Post

      I wouldn't ever register a .biz or .me. For all the reasons mentioned above, but mostly because it'll peg you as a "wanna-be". You'll come across as an amateur.
      I agree; it appears very amateurish. But I'm not sure if that's because we (in the IM field) are more sensitive to this.

      -WM
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
        dot com. Could be I am just prejudiced, but I suspect many people simply think dot com, no matter what the extension really is.

        I don't like the way dot me or dot biz look when they are written out, so I would definitely not want those on my business card.
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      • Profile picture of the author Gene Pimentel
        Originally Posted by Warrior Markets View Post

        I agree; it appears very amateurish. But I'm not sure if that's because we (in the IM field) are more sensitive to this.

        -WM
        Even if that's the case, that's enough of a reason for me. But I don't believe that's the case.

        People gravitate to .COM when trying to remember your domain name. They may read it on your business card or other material as .biz (or other TLD), but when they sit at their computer will type in .COM. It's just not worth losing even one prospect to your competitor.
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        • Profile picture of the author Sandor Verebi
          Hi all,

          Some sensible reasons above that I don't want to repeat.

          If I were you, I'd go for dot. com, both in personal and business case.

          People are accustomed to using .com - according to my experience - and have an aversion to the biz, me, etc. variations.

          I observed the increasing usage of .org, in latter frour years.

          My 0,02.

          Sandor
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          • Profile picture of the author SamirSM
            I can recall to my mind at least 4 popular sites which have non .com domains, and I have used the .com multiple times for each.

            So, I would vote for .com.
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            • Profile picture of the author Ralph Moore
              Hi Dan,

              I would go with .com or in a pinch dot com or even daht com

              For all of the reasons above.

              What I might do is find a short domain something like icucme2 dot com or whatever works for the intended use.

              The problem, of course, is all of the easily remembered and short for print names are long gone and when you try to get tricky people aren't going to remember it.

              If, however, they are looking at the card or flyer, you just hope they know how to type.
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  • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
    I also vote for "A" - the dot COM.

    Other than the reasons mentioned above, I still believe that most people looking at my cards, hearing me tell them, or them reading my info somewhere, when I mention a domain name, they always assume and remember it as a dot com. I can say a dot biz or a dot me or a dot net, but subconsciously all they here is "dot com".

    If you mention dot biz or dot me, you will often get the "deer in the headlights" look from people and they will have NO clue what that is or means.

    Now that also may depend on your target audience as well. Us domain/internet professionals here may all now the difference, but a typical 'outsider' is not familiar with those other domain types. They are just now catching on to dot nets and then dot orgs.

    If your audience was just people clicking hyperlinks online, then it wouldn't matter either.

    Just my 2 cents,
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    Greg Schueler - Wordpress Fanatic... Living The Offline Marketing Dream...

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  • Profile picture of the author iSoftware
    This is one of the smartest things you can ever do. I can even articulate the magnitude for this.

    All those people buiding 5 trillion followers to facebook and twitter. IF they were just smart enough to drive traffic to a domain they own (i.e. get people use to going to JohnDoeOnFacebook.com).....THEY WOULD CONTROL THE TRAFFIC. So, if something went wrong and they closed an account, you could still have traffic because you put people in the habit of surfing via Direct Navigation.

    About .0001% of your competitors understand this - count yourself lucky you DO.....
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Okay, let me clarify my question using an example.

      Let's say that I own Facebook. (Disclaimer: I don't.)

      Now, let's say the default URL for users is something like this:

      www.facebook.com/users/profiles/yourname

      That's a long URL, and I'd like to offer my users something shorter, but it cannot be on the main domain. It has to be among these options:

      a) myfacebook.com/yourname

      b) facebook.me/yourname

      c) facebook.biz/yourname


      If you were putting your profile URL on your business cards or flyer or whatnot:

      For your personal profile, which would you prefer?

      For your business profile, which would you prefer?

      Thanks!
      Signature

      Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

      Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gene Pimentel
    Same answer, as I would not want to send anyone to anything but a .com, especially if it's going on my business card or flyer.
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