Written on February 20th, 2007 at 08:02 am by Darren Rowse

Are .com and .net domains best?

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 82 comments

Today I got a reader question that I thought might make an interesting discussion topic.

I am starting a new blog, and the hardest part so far has been naming it. The domain I like is only available in the .ca format. What is your opinion on using anything other than a .com or a .net? and do you think it will affect blog brand-ability?

I know there are different schools of thought on this question so it should make for an interesting discussion. I won’t sidetrack the discussion with my own opinion at this point but would like to open the floor for some reader comment. What do you think?

  • Are .com and .net best?
  • When is it OK to not go with them?
  • What factors do you consider when picking a domain name?
  • What’s more important - SEO or branding - for you?

update: With permission I can now say that this question came from Michael.

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82 Responses to “Are .com and .net domains best?”

  • Leroy Brown

    February 20th, 2007 8:47 am

    I would say always , always stick with .com and .net. I mistakenly purchased a built a site on a .org, as it was the best extension available, and I regret it. I cannot use the site when I leave comments on wordpress blogs - Akismet things .org sites are spam. I imagine the situation won’t be any better for.ca or other such extensions.

    Even if the domain is slightly less desireable, go with .com or .net. 100% of the time - you’ll regret it later otherwise.

  • Andreas

    February 20th, 2007 8:54 am

    Yeah, I’d say go with .com or .net and try to keep the domain under or close to ten characters.

    Using country-specific domains like .ca is only an option if the blog is focused on visitors from that country.

    Don’t quote me on this, but I think you have to live in Canada to use a .ca domain. I remember that http://www.typograpi.ca had to change to http://www.typographi.com because they aren’t based in Canada.

  • Saman Sadeghi

    February 20th, 2007 8:56 am

    I know that, I mentally rate .com’s higher - don’t know why! I set priority for .com’s when purchasing domains. Maybe it’s because .com’s are easier to remember?

  • Philip Liu

    February 20th, 2007 8:56 am

    .ca is for Canadian-specific sites generally. Use a .ca and your visitors will think your content is primarily Canadian. That may or may not be good for you, depending on where you think your visitors are from. I think in certain instances a country-specific domain will rank higher for a country-specific search engine (e.g. the Canadian domain of Google.ca).

    As for dot-com or dot-net, obviously it dot-com is better because it has been around longer and people assume that domains are dot-com if you don’t specify. Dot-org and others are used sometimes but hardly ever for businesses. I remember that before Six Apart acquired movabletype.com from a family website, it had to use movabletype.org and I kept getting the wrong website (as I’m sure many other people did too).

  • TB

    February 20th, 2007 9:09 am

    I like .com’s if you’re going to go for it. I agree with the point that they’re ranked higher than a .ca, at least her where I live. Plus, you can still brand it. For a few sites a domain name is just a name.

  • Matt Coddington

    February 20th, 2007 9:14 am

    .com is king domain - no other extension comes close to it. Why? First off .coms get by far the most type-in traffic. Secondly, when someone visits a site and they try to remember it later, it’s almost ALWAYS the .com they enter in.

    As far as .net, I would put it on the same level as .org and very very close to .co.uk (just because of the huge UK presence on the web and htey’re emphasis on the .co.uk domain).

    I wrote a bit more about domain extensions in my Domaining 101 series:
    http://www.netbusinessblog.com/2007/01/07/domaining-101-extensions/

  • mark

    February 20th, 2007 9:19 am

    initially I think: go with .com

    I read problogger.NET every day and STILL made the mistake of referencing it as problogger.COM recently…. the .com is powerful

    however I do wonder if this site would be as branded if called something other than “problogger”?

    Therefore my final answer is: it’s relative to the situation

  • Dragos Roua

    February 20th, 2007 9:19 am

    I think branding is more important than SEO, at least in the planning pahse of your blog. It keeps you focused on your specific difference, on the real value that you will bring with your website.

    The branding is the place that you own in somebody’s brain. For instance, problogger.net seems so natural to me, not because it’s on .net, but because it’s a brand, it actually acquired the little spot on my brain that identifies “professional bloggin guidelines and advices”.

    And you can also “squeeze” the SEO to follow your brand.

  • Bob

    February 20th, 2007 9:20 am

    .com is the best, .net is OK, but not as good as .com in my opinion. Anything other than .com or .net is not worth buying.

    Just my opinion.

  • egon

    February 20th, 2007 9:24 am

    Yeah, don’t go with anything but .com or .net, preferably .com. With most traffic coming from links and SE traffic it’s not as big of a deal as it used to be unless you’re commercial, but having .com is a credibility thing. I respect .coms more than other domains, and I know others do as well.

  • Net Business Blog » Blog Archive » How Important is the dot Com?

    February 20th, 2007 9:31 am

    [...] Darren got my neurons flowing earlier with his latest post on how important .com and .net domains are. Rather than just saying “.com is best” he posed some really thought-provoking questions, and I thought I’d give my personal responses to them here for everyone to read. I’d also like to hear what some of my readers think about them. [...]

  • Michael

    February 20th, 2007 9:41 am

    I wonder whose question that was ;)

  • Kevin

    February 20th, 2007 9:41 am

    This is news to me, I have always put .com first, then .org, then .net.

    I was actually about to purchase a .org, but now, maybe I’ll go with .net.

  • Dave Starr

    February 20th, 2007 9:42 am

    Pretty good summation here so far. For a blog a country-specific TLD may serve well, but remember that it is very limiting. In my tiny blog one of the most interesting aspects is the wide diversity of countries people visit from. I’m an American living in the Philippines. A big issue with Philippine-based bloggers is a .com versus .ph argument. The plus factor would be that the blogger identifies with his/her countrymen and culture. The main negative factor for the rest of the world is the same, the blogger identifies with his/her countrymen and culture. Only you know your own positives/negatives.

    I had a long time commercial relationship with a Canadian company. They had a good commercial website with the same name and both the .com and .ca TLD’s. Their actual customer base was about 75% US, 20% Canadian and 5% rest of the Americas (other company divisions handled non-American continent sales). IIRC the IT guy there told me the hits on the .com site were on the order of 10,000 to 1 compared to the .ca “mirror image”.

    Last I hope we’ll hear from Darren later in the discussion. I recall that he mentioned here once that when he started ProBlogger he wanted the .com but it was taken so he went with the .net and it has obviously worked well … but I wonder how much better traffic would be if he did have the .com or had started on a different name to have the .com from the beginning.

    My advice? .com or nothing.

  • bappo

    February 20th, 2007 9:45 am

    In my opinion .net is also unworthy. com is the one that makes you look professional

  • Shane

    February 20th, 2007 9:51 am

    I wouldn’t waste 6 bucks registering a name if I couldn’t get the .com … unless it was problogger.net … which brings us full circle to the power of branding and great content as important keys to creating a successful blog.

    The key with domain names is that they need to be easy to spell out if you just hear someone say the name. And the name should be “sticky”. I like to tell a few friends a name I’m thinking about … and then talk to them about the site a week later and see if they remember the name.

  • Glen

    February 20th, 2007 9:52 am

    .com all the way, although I do have a few .net’s and one .info for testing purposes ;)

  • Tim

    February 20th, 2007 9:58 am

    I’m using bla.st, a del.icio.us style domain. The other option would have been a longer, multiword .com.

    A few months in I wondered if I had made a mistake. Often when I verbally tell people the domain, over the phone for example, they would then type bla.st.com, which of course won’t work. Having to explain your domain is not a good thing.

    One of the real problems is I have no idea how many are typing it in wrong. The past week 28% of traffic has been “direct”, so there must be lots who are typing it right.
    How much direct type in traffic do other people get?

    The advantages outweigh the disadvantages though - once you know how it works, it’s very short and easy to remember. Being quick to type is really great. Google is indexing the site really well. Not using subdomains is important too I think. (more details on my blog http://bla.st/site/blog/63/ )

    I’d go with a .com if you’re targeting a non-tech audience, otherwise a tech audience can probably handle something different. The shear lack of good, short .coms means using alternative domains will hopefully become more common and accepted.

    PS. I keep typing problogger.com too!

  • Brandon Hopkins

    February 20th, 2007 9:59 am

    Only .com’s for me…I have 100 or so total sites, with 1 .net and 1 .info because they were such good keywords…

  • Julie Gomoll

    February 20th, 2007 10:04 am

    For credibility in business, a general web site needs the company domain. People are leery of doing business with someone with a yahoo.com email address, før example.

    Blogs seem to be a different story, though. Lots of very popular blogs have blog-service domains, and it clearly has no effect on their credibility (off the top of my head - Kathy Sierra/Creating Passionate users at http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/ and Seth’s blog at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/).

    I think going non- .com or .net is fine. If people like you, they’re bookmarking your or subscribing to your feed - they don’t need to memorize your url.

  • Dustin

    February 20th, 2007 10:04 am

    Well, it might just depend on what you are doing with it.

  • Maki

    February 20th, 2007 10:05 am

    I think .net and .com do not have any real differences when it comes to search engine traffic and on-site SEO. I wouldn’t mind going with either if it was really the brand name that I wanted.

    Problogger is the perfect example of how content and branding triumphs over domain details. I don’t think it’s really that big a deal but then again it depends on what you plan to do with the domain.

    I prefer to use easy to remember domain names instead of keyword infested domains which can get ugly. My blog name (Dosh Dosh) is pretty easy to remember and I get a lot of type-in traffic everyday.

    Some SEO experts have also suggested that short domain names load faster. Not sure about that though .. :)

  • BlueFur.com

    February 20th, 2007 10:09 am

    I think it depends on the target of your audience.

    If you are going to have a 99% Canadian audience then having the .ca might make more sense.

    If you don’t have a target audience in mind then maybe you should determine that before which domain to buy ;)

  • engtech

    February 20th, 2007 10:31 am

    Go for .edu :)

    Stuff like .info and .biz is a death sentence. 98% of everyone else on the TLD is a spammer.

    No hyphens in the url as well.

    The best bet is to buy a used domain name because then it’s already aged and hopefully already has some search engine juice.

  • rob lindsey

    February 20th, 2007 10:37 am

    i’m a new reader of problogger.net and a new entrant to the blogging arena, but i’ve been a web developer for a few years, dealing with generally non-tech-savvy customers (mostly small business owners). i had one customer who thought that .com was the only extension he could have (he thought .net, .org, etc. were for specialty sites).

    point is, i agree with most of you that .com is the way to go if at all possible because it’s so recognizable to the layperson. as brandon mentioned above with his .net and .info sites, there are always exceptions if you have a great idea (see: del.icio.us). but for the most part, i think folks should stick with .com.

    i’m really enjoying the blog, darren. thanks for publishing such great tips!

  • Ronald Huereca

    February 20th, 2007 10:40 am

    Going to a foreign website at work (for me anyways) raises some eyebrows in the IT department. I generally avoid domains that aren’t .com or .net.

  • Brian York

    February 20th, 2007 10:46 am

    Where does your audience live?

    Hands down, a country specific domain will do better in country specific google organic & news engine searches. But if you don’t mind a few yanks mixed in and are looking purely for traffic… go with a .com.

    BTW… with regards to hosting. I have hosted .com.au sites both inside Australian and in the U.S. and have found no difference in ranking.

  • oscarsito

    February 20th, 2007 10:57 am

    The .com is the most popular extension, its my instinct to go ctrl+enter when I type a webpage. If you’re making a website and buying a domain, .com is the only way to go. Branding is way more important than SEO. I think not going with .com, hmm.. don’t see a reason to, if the site is taken, you would have to promote your site with a not-so-common extension making it not so interesting.

    It’s on people head to respect .com’s better

  • Armen

    February 20th, 2007 11:06 am

    Agree totally with B. York. Where are your target audience? If you’re likely to attract people from everywhere, then .com is ‘almost’ a must (Darren has got away with a .net and a few others with him).

    However, I have a laptop site that is specifically for U.K. people, so I went with .co.uk that time.

  • Hannes Johnson

    February 20th, 2007 11:17 am

    .com is of course best if that’s available - but it depends on what kind of a site/blog you’re going to set up.

    If you want your site to reach a huge audience and you’re going to spend some money advertising your domain it’s pretty important that you have a .com — especially if you’re doing offline promotions. People automatically think “.com” when they’re trying to remember the URL to your website.

    But then again most website traffic comes through links so that should always send people to the right site - unless people link to you with .com when you don’t own the .com version ;)

  • Michael Rew

    February 20th, 2007 11:23 am

    In my observation, anyone who wants to protect their brand needs to register .com, .net, and .org domains for the same spelling. If your blog becomes popular (or even before), spammers will register the .com or .net or .org to try to profit off of type-in errors and other spammy misrepresentations. On the other hand, only if your blog becomes megapopular and/or you start to earn bucks big enough to do it, register other domains that spammers might try.

    After you register all three, think about whether you want to use .com, .net. or .org as your main domain extension. Then have all three point to one domain name.

  • Collis

    February 20th, 2007 11:28 am

    As with brand names you can succeed with ANYTHING. Its just a question of how much work you want to do to brand and market the domain.

    Some domains will actually help you - most of those are bought already, things like business.com would be a huge asset.

    Some domains are neutral - average .com’s, good .net’s

    Some domains are a bit of work - like a .net

    Some domains are a lot of work - countries, .info, .biz etc

    If you do choose a non .com domain name its good to write the extension in your logo and any time you write the name. So for example, lots of people have mentioned that they mix up problogger.com and .net (something I’ve done myself!). To combat this, you would have a logo which said problogger and then in smaller letters ‘.net’, and any time you write Problogger, you would write Problogger.net, until that actually becomes the brand.

    Also if you have a series of domain names that are linked somehow then its always good to have uniformity through them all. So if you had say theTechBlog, theGadgetBlog and theBusinessBlog then it would be much better if they all ended in the same suffix for ease of memory.

    And finally (sorry didn’t realise i had so much to say), if you plan to make a big brand - particularly if its country specific to begin with, it can be worth registering the .com and .net domains for your domain to ensure noone else gets them.

    Collis

  • ZeMMs

    February 20th, 2007 11:47 am

    In terms of SEO, does the TLDs (whether .com, .net, or .info for that matter) makes any difference in the eye of search engines?

  • TallFreak

    February 20th, 2007 11:57 am

    Go with a .com domain if at all possible. If you really want a name that is not available on the .com domains try adding “online” to it. I’m the webmaster for actress/comedian and sarahsilverman.com was taken so I made sarahsilvermanonline.com and I don’t regret it for a second.

  • Chris

    February 20th, 2007 12:07 pm

    I’d go with the dot-com name for any professional use.

    Saying that, I do have a dot-be for my personal email address since my last name wasn’t available in any of the major TLDs.

    But, when give my email address to various people, they always ask about the dot-be aspect. They don’t believe that it will work until they send an email. I also a problem with a banking site not allow me to enter the dot-be address. Of course I have a dot-com alternative that I use in those situations where people or machines can’t understand the dot-be TLD.

    One advantage with having the dot-be personal email account is that I have less spam in that account than my dot-com email accounts.

    I did set up a dot-org site for a non-profit group my son is involved with (the dot-org seemed more appropriate for the non-profit youth group). But, I also have the dot-com version of the name redirect to the dot-org site. Most casual internet users always think of dot-com. Having the dot-com redirect to the dot-org makes it easier those users.

  • Alan

    February 20th, 2007 12:09 pm

    This is an interesting topic, I have also been debating which domain is the most effective. I, like many others here prefer .com first and .net second. When I am typing a domain name it seems natural to enter .com and I would think this reaction would be typical.

  • CabSav

    February 20th, 2007 12:13 pm

    I’m like everyone else. Go .com if you can. Definitely if you have a business-related site. I would also add to Michael Rew’s comment about registering the .org, .net domains. If you possibly can (obviously not possible for the person who sparked the initial question), also register you country (.com.ca) as well. (Here in Australia it’s easier to get a .com name than a .com.au. You cannot get a .com.au site unless you have proof that you are a business–business name, ABN or similar.)

    Having said that, though, I would add the following two pointers.

    1) There are some sites I won’t automatically type .com for. If I know it’s a charity or other organisation, I automatically type .org first. If I know it’s gov I type .gov.au (in my case), and if I know the person who created the site is in IT (e.g. developer), I’ll start with a .net.

    2) If your site is solely for blogging and not to advertise a company, I think the domain you use is less important because you have to work to publicise your site, and most of that publicity is in the form of links via search engines, trackbacks, etc. I have a number of blogs favourited that I have no idea of the address. If I want to find them and don’t have access to my Favourites I hit Google before trying anything else. For that you need a memorable name rather than a domain. Someone mentioned Kathy Sierra earlier. I don’t bother trying to find her site, I just google Creating Passionate Users.

  • Vincent McBurney

    February 20th, 2007 12:16 pm

    I live in Australia and almost 9 out of 10 of my web searches are filtered on “pages from Australia” since I am usually looking for local businesses or news or information tailored for this country. So I would only choose a country domain if you wanted to be found by people from that location,. You might get a good domain name out of .tv for a tv blog. I hate del.ic.ious and all delicious style domain names and almost always avoid them.

    Problogger.com seems to have expired. I wonder what will happen to it. Could be worth thousands.

  • Joao

    February 20th, 2007 12:22 pm

    I think .com is a must for a site to grow in traffic and returning visits, mainly because .com domains are easier to remember. But .net isn’t unworthy at all. If a brand is already known enough, like Problogger.net, then .net is good.

    Therefore, branding may be more important then the domain.

  • Brock Noland

    February 20th, 2007 12:26 pm

    .coms are still better. Its too bad, but the general population has .com stuck in their brains.

  • Mark2

    February 20th, 2007 12:41 pm

    I agree with the consensus .com or .net. If you are blogging, I don’t think the name is quite as important as if you are doing ecommerce.
    You probably won’t be doing any marketing where you need a memorable name.
    Since it came up :-) if you have an ecommerce site, say your name outloud to see if it’s easy to remember. Even adding a
    dash com dot com can give you an opportunity: ABC-com.com
    AND… remember therapist.com !

  • Ashish Mohta

    February 20th, 2007 12:42 pm

    .com might be better as its the most commonly used. dot net started taking the market soon when ppl started lagging in dot com.I guess it doesnt matter.

    .info is not hot at this time but time will come when .info will be in demand as ,net now

  • Steve N.

    February 20th, 2007 1:39 pm

    Like so many others, I too, vote for .com as the best choice. I think sites like ProBlogger.Net are exceptions to the rule. As one person pointed out, blogs from people like Seth Godin, etc. are long but effective due to their branding and not so much their domain names. However, whenever I want to go to their blogs, I always have to refer to my bookmarks or use Google to find them. This is very inconvenient!

    When I first set up my old website at stevenguyenonline dot com, I thought long and hard about the domain name. After having it for a year, I decided it was time for a name as well as backend change (from Joomla > WordPress). So the old stevenguyenonline dot com got a name change to BeyondBehaviors.Com. And though the site is still very new, I’m quite happy with the change to WordPress and the new domain name.

    I think for the U.S. and English-speaking websurfers, my old domain name was difficult to recall, let alone spell. Thus I think the new name is perfect!

    So for me, it’s .com.

  • Derek

    February 20th, 2007 2:17 pm

    I also agree. Dot Com seems to be the best. For some reason, there is some stigma attached to both dot net and dot org and all of the new domains that just scream spam. Now, I know this is untrue in a lot of circumstances, but that is just a personal view of mine.

  • macgoo

    February 20th, 2007 2:30 pm

    In Australia I think a “.com.au” actually trumps “.com” quite easily.

    So “.com.ca” might do the same in Canada. Then again it might not.

  • J.D.

    February 20th, 2007 2:31 pm

    Wow. Allow me to offer a dissenting opinion. And a strong one. (Although my comment may be routed to spam because of my .org address! :-)

    A .org domain is absolutely fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, there are some virtues. It sets your site apart. It allows you to get good domain names without stretching for things like mine-is-areallycool-site.com.

    I have several active sites. All but one are based on .org addresses, and they’ve all met or exceeded my expectations. There’s nothing wrong with .org, and the crowd here saying that you need a .com or a .net is doing a real disservice for those who come looking for advice.

  • J.D.

    February 20th, 2007 2:33 pm

    And to respond specifically to the question, my main site is Get Rich Slowly. DOT ORG. I’ve had no difficulty “branding” it. The biggest screw-up came when the New York Times mis-identified it as .com (thus proving the 43 comments before mine here). If the domain you want is only available as .org, take it.

  • Ross Hill

    February 20th, 2007 3:11 pm

    My guidelines for domains are:

    * Get a .com if you can. If you are an Australian business get a .com.au as well as your .com. If the site is mainly informational pick up the .info as well - or even use it as the main domain, this works well for one off conferences or minisites I think.
    * Make sure you can say the domain name over the phone and have it easily understood.
    * Keep it short if possible.
    * Get somebody else to read it before you register, you don’t want your domain to have a second meaning like http://www.expertsexchange.com !

  • chance77

    February 20th, 2007 4:09 pm

    Are .com and .net best?
    From my experience, when people are typing in a domain name into the address bar that they do not quite remember, they will default to .com, so that is a benefit of going for the original. (I sometime type in problogger.com instead of .net.)

    When is it OK to not go with them?
    One scenario I can think of to go with an oddball is when you have a very unique name (del.icio.us)

    What factors do you consider when picking a domain name?
    When picking a domain name, if you are a pioneer in your type of website, then come up with a unique name, but if your type of website is very saturated, have some keywords instead.

  • eric hebert

    February 20th, 2007 5:15 pm

    Think! Try to get a dot-com. If it’s taken, then think harder about your brand. Add simple words before or after your name. Who knows, you might come up with a unique name all to yourself! When I was thinking of my name, I wanted evolution or evolve, but they were taken. Instead I came up with a new kinda spelling and word, my own brand, and one that was easy to rank for in search engines! Think!

  • Jaya Schillinger

    February 20th, 2007 5:44 pm

    Dot com only if you have a business. Lots of reasons, but one that I think is key is spam filters. So many spammer types use “.biz” that I have any email coming from that kind of domain extention set to delete. Harsh, but true.

    Plus, the other extensions just scream “amature.”

  • Holch

    February 20th, 2007 6:33 pm

    Well, that is all from a very anglosaxon point of view. ;-)

    For Germany the .de Domains are working very, very well and are respected. If the blog is for example in German, I would always go with the .de domain. Of course, that makes little sense if your target audience are americans, australians, or worldwide.

    However, not taking other domains because a lot of spam comes from thos tld-areas is non-sense. I think most of the spam still comes from .com.

    By the way, .de is the tld with the second most registered domains, just to show that there is something beyond .com and .net.

    Just because in some countries .com and .net are considered to be the “national” domains, that does not mean it is right. By the way, organization with .de is less complicated than with .com, .net and .org. Surprise, surprise, very little bureaucracy with the German tld, who would have thought that? (I was just moving with 3 domains because the provider was bankrupt: 2 .de-domains and 1 .org)

  • Arc

    February 20th, 2007 7:07 pm

    I LAWAYS PREFER .COM ON .NET, I NEVER BAUGHT .NET DOMAIN
    http://www.futurebells.com/blog IS ALSO .COM WEBSITE

  • Ralph Dagza

    February 20th, 2007 7:09 pm

    If you have enough $$$ get them all from .com to .xxx

  • mohdismail

    February 20th, 2007 7:44 pm

    i have both of it…
    and I think both .com & .net has nothing to do with seo…
    just a matter of branding maybe..
    :)

  • Han

    February 20th, 2007 8:41 pm

    I’ve always found .tv, .biz, .info to be rather tacky domain names (and .tk!)

    I’ve found that I immediatly dislike a site thats not .com .net .org or .co.uk without even visiting it!

    .com I associate with companies wanting money so personally I’ve always gone for .net for my main site and .org for my portfolio.

  • Ian Feavearyear

    February 20th, 2007 9:17 pm

    I think it all depends on the nature of the blog. If your blog’s content is local, then I think a local domain is better. I think that’s true of blogs and businesses. As a U.K. resident, it actually frustrates me the number of British companies that are using .com rather than .co.uk even though they are serving a UK only customer base. To me, .com implies either an American or a Global business or reach.

    Thus, if you are writing about something Canadian, use a .ca, if something Irish, .ie etc. is better, otherwise .com or .net are equally valid in my opinion.

    Ian

  • Daniel Scocco

    February 20th, 2007 9:40 pm

    Unless you are Problogger (which can bear with a .net due the popularity) I would say always go for the .com no matter what.

  • Jeff @ TheSportsPundit.tv

    February 20th, 2007 11:23 pm

    It seems universal that a .com is the best and I would tend to agree. But, if not I am partial to the .tv domain. Why? It is memorable. Everyone has a TV but not everyone as a .us or a .org.

  • Blaine Moore

    February 20th, 2007 11:23 pm

    I don’t mind other websites that are not .coms when I go to visit, but for myself I only look for .com domain names. I had a country specific one as my first domain because it was cheap and I had no money (this was years ago) and I have since dropped it because nobody could get it right anyway.

  • Burner

    February 21st, 2007 12:14 am

    I generally tend to rank domains in my mind. It’s like .com, .net, .org and then the rest. Country domains like .ca, .us, .uk, .ro or whatever suggest a site is dedicated to visitors from that certain country, though that’s not always the case.

    I’d say stick to a country specific domain if you’ll blog just for readers from that country or mainly for them. Otherwise a .com or .net is the way to go.

    Just my 2 cents.

  • Bloogzy

    February 21st, 2007 12:53 am

    I’ve read a lot of times that search engines love dot coms.
    I’m not sure whether this is correct but every time i search something in google, i notice that dot com websites usually rank better, even if the content is less relevant than that of websites with TLDs other than dot com. Dot coms rule!

  • Bob

    February 21st, 2007 1:27 am

    Probably .com is really the best in general, but I would say there are cases when other tld-s are better. The example with del.icio.us given above was good. There are many other examples of successful word games with using other tld-s. Surprisingly, my 3 most successful sites use .info and i think it suits them perfectly because they contain information

  • Chris Nielsen

    February 21st, 2007 1:34 am

    .com’s are great, but as was noted it can be diffiecult to fine good names for the average person. Consulting with someone in the business may help you to find a good .com.

    Someonw else mentioned that .com’s get type-in traffic, which is true, but not for all domain names, and mostly just short, popular ones, and many of those domains already have sites or those stupid parking pages on them(don’t click on the ads, it only encourages their use.).

    So what happens when housing is short in a certain area? That’s right, prices and demand goes up, but also expansion into other areas. This is why I feel that getting a domain with another extension is not only much easier, it’s a smart investment. After .com, I think the .US domain will become the most popular as people realize it’s there. But almost any of the others including the “low rent” .info will provide you with the address you need.

    Just try to get a good, short domain for your site and don’t worry so much about branding and SEO. Having a good site and good marketing will take care of the “branding”.

  • Jason

    February 21st, 2007 1:52 am

    @Andreas:

    You don’t need to be living IN Canada to register .ca, and there are many options for non Canadian citizen .ca registration. Here’s the list of those who can register .ca:

    Canadian citizen
    Permanent resident
    Legal representative
    Corporation
    Trust
    Partnership
    Association
    Trade union
    Political party
    Educational institution
    Library, Archive or Museum
    Hospital
    Her Majesty the Queen
    Indian band
    Aboriginal Peoples
    Government
    Trade-mark registered in Canada
    Official marks

    The details can be found here: http://www.cira.ca/en/cat_Registrar.html

    Oh CIRA! What’s with the PDFs?

  • MJ Ray

    February 21st, 2007 2:48 am

    Now for some heresy:

    Go for a national domain if you are writing for or about that nation, can get one and aren’t in the US. If you are writing for France from France, for example, I’m pretty sure you’ll get the ‘hairy eyeball’ if you are not using .fr.
    Otherwise, go for a restricted domain (like .coop) if you are entitled to it.
    Otherwise, go for a .com.

    .com - the TLD of last resort.

    I’m disgusted by the reports above of .org being classed as spam and an online bank not allowing .be - what broken broken software!

  • Dave

    February 21st, 2007 2:50 am

    The best reason to go .com over any others is usability for your users. People always default to .com first, so if someone types in your URL manually, they are going to try the .com, and if you don’t own it, that is lost potential revenue.

  • Daniel Lucraft

    February 21st, 2007 3:39 am

    Changing the subject slightly, what do people think about hyphens?

    I have a project with absolutely the best name, let’s say, Hanky Panky.
    I own hankypanky.co.uk, but hankypanky.com is owned by a store specialising in large women’s clothing and .net, .org etc. are all taken.

    Do people think it would be a good idea for me to use http://www.hanky-panky.com? Or is that no good?

    I’ve been putting this off for a while, but it’s getting to the point where I need to make a decision. Please help.

  • Matt

    February 21st, 2007 3:50 am

    I would say that if your content is going to be more Canadian or country specific then the countries domain is probably in your best interest. When ti comes to a general and commercial site then the .com extension is what you’re looking for in my opinion.

  • Greg O'Byrne

    February 21st, 2007 4:15 am

    I spent a month or more working on my domain name until I had one that I really liked and that I could find in .com. With the express purpose of getting .com.

    My advice, spend the time gather all the words you like mix match, mashup, until you find a URL that works in .com. My perfect domain name was http://www.rivet.com, but it’s taken. (oddly enough by a rivet manufacturer, where does he get off).

    http://www.techrivet.com was a close second.

  • infonote

    February 21st, 2007 4:31 am

    A .com is best. The first thing that comes in people’s mind when mentioning a website address is .com

    Another advantage is that it is more brandable.

  • ClubEddy

    February 21st, 2007 6:14 am

    dot-com is the best. Others are not as good as dot-com, but those (other than dot-com) are the same.

    (1) Objective of a good domain name: Easy to remember the brand/product. So, how come you would like your readers/customers need to remember the .net or something? Just let them focus on “brand-name”.com…..

    (2) People without tech knowledge will not remember .net/.org/.us/.ca/etc. as well. Even they don’t know what is “http://”, online bookmarking, web2.0, etc…. We, as a technician, need to consider for them (We are serving them:). Domain as simple as possible.

    (3) Just typing “domain-name” in browser and press [ctrl]+[enter], it will go to http://www.domain-name.com. Good for lazy people (e.g. ClubEddy). Remember that lots of people are using old browser which does not provide .net shortcut.

    However, there is an exception:

    In Hong Kong, there is an actor called Ho Kwok Wing. He is an Australian working in Hong Kong for many years. To let HK people identify him as a popular Hong Kong actor. http://www.hokwokwing.hk is the best domain for him. At least, people will know that this guy with western face comes from HK!! Same as point (1): Branding is everything for a domain.

    Another exception is that, non-profit organization should avoid .com. Because .com seems present a profit digging “company”. Using .ca or .net are okay.

    Therefore, only use domain other then .com, EXCEPT only very specific purpose.

    ~Sorry for bad English~

  • Amber

    February 21st, 2007 6:41 am

    I’ve gone with .co.uk for my personal site, and a blog focusing on UK TV, but would always pick a .com or .net for commercial blogs. Anything else just says “I was too late to grab the .com” as far as I’m concerned.

  • Cos

    February 21st, 2007 8:38 am

    I usually got with .com or .org, but my recent domain is .org, cause the other 2 TLDs were taken. I have had other .orgs and they still go found my Search Engien traffic so in reality it’s not a huge difference. I guess it depends what your goal is for your site. But like I said for search engine traffic it really doesn’t matter at all. As long as you get listed in the search engines for whatever keywords you are targeting, and people find it, then they will click the link and visit your site. I have over 20 domains, some long ass names and they get lots of search engine traffic. For branding your site it’s not as good,r but for search engine traffic it doesn’t matter one bit.

  • .com Domain Names Better Then .ca

    February 22nd, 2007 12:10 am

    [...] Uh oh - I’d better change the name of this blog to a .com rather than a .ca. Someone wrote in to ProBlogger asking Are .com and .net domains best? and the vast majority of commenters all default to .com when they’re typing in a web address. They also associate .ca and other country specific domains to contain country specific information. [...]

  • Christian

    February 22nd, 2007 6:33 am

    I say .com because it’s the only thing the masses remember.

  • Rangga

    February 22nd, 2007 7:30 pm

    LOL! remind me long time ago when I was first surfing the web… I thought .com was for commercial website, .net for non-commercial and .org for official non-profit organization.

    back to the topic, .com and second .net are better remembered

  • Max

    February 23rd, 2007 1:53 am

    You definitely want to have a .com. I would settle for nothing less. Also, if you can, keep all the words together like http://www.carboncopyprofits.com rather than a website with dashes ie. http://www.carbon-copy-profits.com

    I have experimented with this on many sites and the first example always comes up first.

    The same is true for http://www.dataentryreviews.com vs. http://www.data-entry-reviews.com. The 2nd website used to have a PR of 5 but the first one has beat it already.

    So keep that in mind. I would spend at least an hour if not more brainstorming on your domain names. This is critical.

    I would also check out Wordtracker.com

    Good Luck,

    Max

  • Nick

    February 25th, 2007 7:47 pm

    I m certainly go with the .Com and the .NET….

  • markowe

    March 9th, 2007 6:14 pm

    That’s interesting, about NOT using hyphens - I would have assumed they were better for SEO as search engines maybe could not distinguish between the words dataentryreviews, or whatever.

    Hyphenated domains would be better human-readable too. What’s the thinking behind the non-hyphenated domain name?

  • elton

    August 11th, 2007 11:28 pm

    I have 39 domains. If I could i would make them all .com, I cant just say go to sanews i have to say go to sanews.net every time which is not the same. Just doesnt have the same impact.

  • color

    June 7th, 2008 9:59 pm

    .com is the king. I’ve registered .com tld for my main website


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