Is Dot-Com the only domain that matters?

When choosing a domain for your website, the first consideration is the name itself. Finding a domain name you want to use that's not already taken is a difficult task. One study has over 110 million domains registered as of 2009. More often than not, you will find that "yourdesireddomain.COM" is taken.

But a site like GoDaddy will happily inform you that "yourdesireddomain.NET" or "yourdesireddomain.BIZ"  IS available. You could still have your desired name, just not the .COM version. So is it worth it? If you can't the .COM, should you even bother with these other choices? 

After the Dot

Top level domain (TDL) is the name given to the characters after the dot in a URL. Generic Top Level Domains are the ones we're most familiar with - .COM, .ORG, .NET, .INFO, .GOV. They have meaning too, and they are meant to say something about the domain that uses them. For example,  .COM is short for commercial, and is meant to indicate a business domain. .ORG means organization, and is primarily accepted for nonprofit sites. But these meanings aren't rules. Just suggestions. Thus, you can have a nonprofit with .COM and a for-profit business using the .INFO domain. 

With so many millions of domains registered, it's obviously very difficult to get your organizations' most obvious domain name, unless you have a made up name, registered a domain in 1998, or have a lot of money to buy your domain from a squatter. So when .BIZ became another choice in TLD, it was meant to offer another option for the domain challenged. Can't get .COM? You can be "yourdesiredomain.BIZ".

 But how it .BIZ perceived? Many still consider it a poor backwoods cousin to .COM. There's a taint of unrespectability to these newer domains. That may eventually go away, either out of acceptance or necessity for more domains. But as of 2010, a domain ending in .COM still rules the roost. And it begs the question, does any of the choices matter, beside .COM?

.COM or else?

Some compelling reasons to want a .com domain:

• It's what people expect when they hear or type a domain. 
• It's what browsers expect when you type a domain. If you don't include it after the name, browsers will generally fill in a .com for you
• It's the one people are most familiar with, thus adding an air of professionalism and respectability to the site
• If you are selling at "onlinecakes.net", that generally means that someone else is selling at "onlinecakes.com" - and it means that your customers could accidentally be directed to your competitor ahead of you or confuse another company for one that you own

So why bother with anything else? Well, #1, because the domain you want is taken under .COM and you can't afford to buy it off the owner (or they're not selling). There are other options, however, that you can still explore.

• Use a made-up name - it worked for "flickr.com" 
• Combine two or more commonly known phrases to get your .com domain 

If this doesn't work for, .NET and .ORG are definitely respectable domains. They don't carry the advantages I've listed above, but they are well-known and well-used. If you're a for-profit company, choosing a .ORG would confuse some of your customers and is not recommended. But while .NET originally was meant for "networks", any for-profit business is welcome to use them.

.BIZ,  .INFO, and the rest of the gang

There will be a need for more than just .COM domains, it's simply a matter of numbers. Thus the .BIZ and .INFO's of the world. But for now, if you can still manage a .COM, it seems the way to go. 

Each country in the world has its own unique 'country code, top level domain'. These can work with the marketing plans of some companies, if the country code matches the type of site you're promoting, and that country is selling. For example, the tiny island nation of Tuvalu was blessed with the country code of .TV, and selling rights to some domains, such as ABC.tv made sense for both parties. It's debatable, however, whether users will actually type .TV in the domain, or just go with .com. For ABC, either one will work. 

Another example, on a local level, is the .MN domain. Living in Minnesota, having .MN after your domain might make some sense. .MN belongs to Mongolia, but domains can be purchased with the .MN by anyone. It costs a bit more, but some feel it's worth it. A quick Google search will give options, I can't personally vouch for any of the resellers.

Maybe search is the great equalizer?

Despite all the pros and cons listed above about owning a .COM, ultimately it will depend on how your site is getting traffic. Chances are, users are using Google to find what they're looking for. And Google can decide that 'tastycakes.biz' is more relevant to your search than 'tastycakes.com' - it's a matter of content, links, and search engine optimization. And if the end user is just clicking on the top results, then not having the .COM won't matter at all, in this case. Unless they decide they'd rather click on the .com domain first, because they consider it the more 'appropriate' result.

Chime In

Do you agree? What have you found? Let me know.

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