Do you prefer .BIZ to .INFO, or visa-versa?

[mole]

It is becoming very apparent that not all words on the left of the dot fit extension on the right.

Jokes.biz, for example, seem better with the .com extension.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz , on the other hand, seem to connect very well with the extension.

Buy.info, again, seems pretty silly for the .info extension.

http://www.alberteinstein.info , on the other hand, seems to create a perfect ring.

Do you just prefer to buy blindly just to secure a "generic" name like what people do on the .tv, .ws, .cc, .bz, .st et el namespace, or do you carefully weigh the branding values inherent in each specific zonal namespace extension?

 

[Mr Webname]

I agree that some names look pretty hopeless with the extension tagged on the end.
On the other hand some end-users are grateful to get a good keyword name, whatever the extension - if you are never going to get your ideal .com, can anyone blame you for being prepared to pay for a good keyword with a bad extension?

As an end-user as well as reseller I have a number of domains with poor extensions or hyphens but which are great keywords for me and I use them for helping SEO and general usefulness to my business.

If you are purely a reseller then I guess the better the .com you can get, the better the investment but I believe it's good to remember that there are still people looking for the "crumbs" and so good keyword domains can always be sold on.
Additionally who knows how valuable the .st or .ws will be in the future - isn't investment all about speculation?
However some domains just don't work with certain extensions whatever you do and regging them is a waste of money.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by Mr Webname
As an end-user as well as reseller I have a number of domains with poor extensions or hyphens but which are great keywords for me and I use them for helping SEO and general usefulness to my business.

That's the general thinking of SEOs, web. What happens if Google changes its algo to penalise such domains? A lot of great .com names with great keywords are today floundering in the trap of PPCs or cold-storaged for prospective buyers.

That's not user relevance, imho.

A good name must have good branding values, again imho.

 

[Mr Webname]

You are right Mole, there are so many good .com's out there being what I would call "wasted" - you can see them every time you check on a name.
I am doing very well with Google at the moment but I am aware that nothing stays the same for ever.

Branding is good but takes time to acheive and may actually never succeed. If you are selling ice cream over the Internet I believe that people will always look for "ice cream", whereas "MrWhippyWithaChocolateFlakeOnTop.Com" may never ever be successfuly found.

I will continue to search for good keyword domains for my core business and even if it does come to the stage where they don't help me with Google, I believe they will still aid my business, so that's my long-term strategy.

I have only recently started to move into .biz and .info and do see them as general business aids rather than Google helps. For example I have some links from my site to pages that provide information to my customers - hence using the .info - it seems to provide a professional option.

 

[yesonline]

Very good points made by both of you, thanks.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by Mr Webname
I have only recently started to move into .biz and .info and do see them as general business aids rather than Google helps. For example I have some links from my site to pages that provide information to my customers - hence using the .info - it seems to provide a professional option.

Makes sense, web. A good example is reflected here of how domainers are using information (a key motivator for a web surfer, there are more of course) to provide a value-add before a transaction http://www.domains.org . To paraphrase, it seems to provide a professional option.

"hence using the .info", I really like that.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mr Webname]

Love the frogs!

 

[mole]

Originally posted by Mr Webname
Love the frogs!

lol, just don't steal the .swf. I paid good money for it :-D

 

[tigga]

Well, I agree with what was said earlier - the "goodness" of the extension depends on the word, but in general, I have to say I like them equally, though there has been a surge of interest in info lately due to the number of drops.

 

[dvdrip]

mole what's wrong with buy.info?
I own it! Don't you get info before you buy something?
Check sedo.co.uk to see my rank on top domains.

Anyway I prefer .info all the way.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by dvdrip
mole what's wrong with buy.info?
I own it!

lol, bad example I made then. k:

 

[dtobias]

To me, the "goodness" of an extension depends on what sort of site I intend to put in it... if it's a noncommercial, informational site, .info makes a lot of sense, but .biz doesn't at all.

 

[seeker]

assuming the ultimate use is 'information', I am all behing .info
I really like it.

.biz, so so, towards not liking it, unless it is super duper.
as long as the name fits the extension, you got it made, IMO

 

[hiOsilver]

If you are selling domains, what counts is what the better names are selling for. As they go, so goes the whole domain space. Duke is doing an outstanding job of reporting this all at DNJournal.com. Each week he is posting actual selling prices for all of the tld's. Talking about what you like is pretty irrelevant compared to seeing what is fetching decent sales prices.

I don't have very many of them, but I thought .biz was pretty cool before it came out. So, I picked up some decent 3-letter and some other good .biz names. I have not had a single price inquiry, let alone a sale, on any of them. Oh wait, I take that back. I put a decent 3-letter .biz on auction at DNF a year ago and it sold for $10 or so.

What is important is:

1. what end users are doing with the domains, as they are the ultimate customer, by definition
2. what the domains are selling for (which reflects supply, demand, and perception of value)

The acceptance of .info in Europe (it is a cognate in most Euro languages) is a key to its success to date and why it is doing well in sales.

 

[dvdrip]

Nice post.
hiOsilver do you own any .info?
Well I have seen you bought a few here in the past few days.
I mean did you liked .info from the past or just in the last few weeks?

 

[hiOsilver]

I bought BottledWater.info at the launch, because hiOsilver is my bottled water company. I have just been having it forward to www.hiosilver.com, which was my first domain. With the great names that have been dropping lately, I have bought quite a few .info from DNF members and I have caught some myself.

Again, if you want a clue, go see what Duke is reporting at DNJournal.com. Of course, what is not selling today, could be selling better tomorrow. .info is starting to produce some great sales. I think it will keep getting better for a long time.

Check out some of the names Duke is selling (wholesale) over on the Sales thread. His prices are very reasonable. I bought about 20 names from him. I would never want anything as speculative as .info to be too big a part of my domain portfolio. However, with the importance of keywords for search engine placement, most of these domains have such obvious commercial value, that I could not pass them up.

 

[dvdrip]

Well I must have about 700 .info domains by now and still buying more. I have made a 4k sale and a 10k sale in the past few months from 2 LR2 domains and also a few smaller ones. My 10k sale is known in the forums. The other is not.

Maybe DNJournal.com could keep a list with the largest .info, .biz, .us etc. sales.

 

[hiOsilver]

dvdrip,

Nice sales! Can you tell us which names they were? I know that Duke will only report sales where the name is reported.

 

[dvdrip]

The $10.400 sale was england.info and the 4k was arts.info.
These are not new sales so we are not going to be seeing them in DNJournal!

 

[hiOsilver]

Well, your excellent names fetched good prices, and I think that is what will continue with .info.