Is .info looked down upon by traffic

9 replies
This question is not the normal how does .info do with the Search Engines.

What I am bothered here about is whether visitors to your articles may feel put off if its a .info in your sig or ven anywhere else.

Do .com have a high clickthru rate than .info
#info #looked #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author webfighter
    I can only hope that someone out there has actually took time to split test .info and .com to measure click through rates. If you're talking about signature links - I would not care whether the link goes to a .info or a .com domain. What matter more is the anchor text. If that text interests me, you've got my click.

    But I can see how some people will relate .info to cheap redirects to affiliate products.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by webfighter View Post

      I can only hope that someone out there has actually took time to split test .info and .com to measure click through rates.
      I haven't done that (and wouldn't consider that, in itself, worthwhile doing, for myself).

      What I have done, though, is some pretty detailed research by asking my own customers for their opinions on this subject, which was very helpful to me.

      Among the key things I learned from doing so was that (in all the niches in which I did so), customers prefer .info domain-names to .com domain-names. To customers (in huge contrast to marketers, and especially to Warriors, it seems), ".info" often comes across as an informative/informational site, while .com often comes across as "just people trying to sell things".

      So I know now which my customers prefer, anyway.

      Up until then, I'd made the silly mistake of projecting my own (marketer's) perceptions onto my customers, and imagining that they might feel that ".com" looked somehow more official or authoritative than ".info". We live and learn: I couldn't have been more wrong about the whole thing.

      In this post and especially in this post, I've made some additional comments about this "consultation process".

      Originally Posted by webfighter View Post

      If you're talking about signature links - I would not care whether the link goes to a .info or a .com domain. What matter more is the anchor text. If that text interests me, you've got my click.
      Yes, I agree with this.

      It seems almost unimaginable that, at "that stage", it can seriously affect whether or not you "get the click".

      But after learning from my customers, I do now regard domain-extension choice as part of the whole "pre-selling process".

      When I'm registering domain-names for new niches, I routinely buy the .info to use and the .com "protectively" (i.e. to make sure nobody else buys it) and simply redirect the .com I'm not using to the .info I am using.

      I certainly wouldn't want, from choice, to build a business asset on a domain-name of which the .com version already belongs to someone else, but of course this is a different point altogether.
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      • Profile picture of the author grandstar
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        I haven't done that (and wouldn't consider that, in itself, worthwhile doing, for myself).

        What I have done, though, is some pretty detailed research by asking my own customers for their opinions on this subject, which was very helpful to me.

        Among the key things I learned from doing so was that (in all the niches in which I did so), customers prefer .info domain-names to .com domain-names. To customers (in huge contrast to marketers, and especially to Warriors, it seems), ".info" often comes across as an informative/informational site, while .com often comes across as "just people trying to sell things".

        So I know now which my customers prefer, anyway.

        Up until then, I'd made the silly mistake of projecting my own (marketer's) perceptions onto my customers, and imagining that they might feel that ".com" looked somehow more official or authoritative than ".info". We live and learn: I couldn't have been more wrong about the whole thing.

        In this post and especially in this post, I've made some additional comments about this "consultation process".



        Yes, I agree with this.

        It seems almost unimaginable that, at "that stage", it can seriously affect whether or not you "get the click".

        But after learning from my customers, I do now regard domain-extension choice as part of the whole "pre-selling process".

        When I'm registering domain-names for new niches, I routinely buy the .info to use and the .com "protectively" (i.e. to make sure nobody else buys it) and simply redirect the .com I'm not using to the .info I am using.

        I certainly wouldn't want, from choice, to build a business asset on a domain-name of which the .com version already belongs to someone else, but of course this is a different point altogether.
        Thanks for this awesome post. You overdelivered here and always.
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    • Profile picture of the author grandstar
      Originally Posted by webfighter View Post

      I can only hope that someone out there has actually took time to split test .info and .com to measure click through rates. If you're talking about signature links - I would not care whether the link goes to a .info or a .com domain. What matter more is the anchor text. If that text interests me, you've got my click.

      But I can see how some people will relate .info to cheap redirects to affiliate products.
      Thats where I think I am going to have a problem.

      One .info will be used as the blog name

      A Another two are for simply redirects to my affiliate product and they are in the IM industry.

      The last .info will be for the weight loss category which sholdn't be a problem.



      A
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      • Profile picture of the author highrank
        Personally, I have always 'looked down' on .info domains (when searching on Google, or looking to purchse a website).

        There's one main reason:

        If I see a .info in my search results and I assume the .com would have been available, I think:

        "He/she was too cheap to buy a top level domain... I'll avoid that website".

        It's kinda automatic now, which could mean I'm missing out on a lot of great websites!

        I can't speak for the majority of traffic since they may not know/appreciate the cheapyness of a .info (back when they were under a dollar each).

        Although, I recently purchased my first .info, so maybe my view will change :rolleyes:
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        FUNNY FLAPPY BIRD FAILS!

        ---> Flappy Bird <---

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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    Up until then, I'd made the silly mistake of projecting my own (marketer's) perceptions onto my customers, and imagining that they might feel that ".com" looked somehow more official or authoritative than ".info". We live and learn: I couldn't have been more wrong about the whole thing.
    Isn't that interesting! Some one who actually asked their clients what they preferred and ended up realizing that the whole time she was mistakenly projecting her perceptions upon her clients.

    Perceptions is something I've been trying to teach people in the Offline forum, especially in regards to selling face to face.

    We often mistakenly project our perceptions upon our clients or prospects and wonder why we don't have better success.

    Great thing to point out <strike>Suzanne!</strike>

    OH HAHA! I must have Suzanne on my mind!

    I mean ALEXA!!! Sorry dear!
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    • Profile picture of the author webfighter
      Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

      Great thing to point out Suzanne!
      Uh oh... that's Alexa there.

      But I can definitely understand when both these girls post so many awesome things in the forums here.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by richardscov View Post

      yes ! .com have a high clickthru rate than .info.People trust .com .
      Well, I've described and discussed my evidence of exactly the opposite possibility. Where's your evidence for your assertion? Or might you just have read the title, not read the thread at all, and added your comment on the end, projecting your marketer's perception on to customers?

      Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

      I mean ALEXA!!! Sorry dear!
      Nooooo, not at all - I hadn't even noticed, and anyway nobody's going to be offended by being associated with Suzanne.
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  • Profile picture of the author fitz10
    I think some IM people look down on .info but if you're using it within a niche aimed at the general population my experience says, no it is not looked at poorly. When the average person sees a .info they may even believe it to have more information and less of a commercial slant (obviously that's not true, but we're speaking about perception).
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