I would like some opinions please. I've been working on software product for a while now, almost complete. I am in the process of setting up a website and was searching for available/suitable domain names. One of the names I tried, the .NET was still available, but not .COM My question is, does anyone expect much of a difference in terms of traffic/usage with .NET compared with .COM? For people who are not very internet-savvy, any opinions? I assume if marketing is done properly, there should be minimal difference, but I would also like some opinions. Thanks

Hi,

As in traffic you will find you will get more 'blind' Visitors (blind visitors are visitors who just come accross your site, while randomly searching) With a .com domain, but if you are willing to pay for advertising in specialist magazies etc. There shouldn't be much difference in traffic.

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If people find you via a search engine and bookmark your .net site then there's not much of a problem. I think the main issue involves building a brand and name recognition. Most people are well aware of all the .coms out there. As you go down the list of other TLDs (top level domains) .net, .org, .gov, .mil, and so on people have decreasing knowledge. Not to mention all the newer TLDs that have been introduced.

What happens when you tell someone "hey please visit me at www.mySuperCoolName.net" and when the finally get around to finding it they go visit www.mySuperCoolName.com? If the .com was already taken, but the .net was available you are likely to lose traffic to the .com version of your name. Not to mention if the person with the .com has registered it with the patent and trademark office there could be all sorts of other issues.

I know finding a name is hard. It took four of us weeks to find a suitable company name: www.TrailerParkSoftware.com and just as long to come up with a good game name: www.RebelFactions.com. we spents untold hours coming up with names (some great, others bad, and some just silly) only to find most of .coms already taken. Even when we did find .coms there were still possible problems with previous trademark holders.

As frustrating as it is i would continue looking until you find a .com that you like and that doesn't conflict or is easily confused with something/someone else.

cheers,
PD

Quote: Original post by pink_daisy
What happens when you tell someone "hey please visit me at www.mySuperCoolName.net" and when the finally get around to finding it they go visit www.mySuperCoolName.com? If the .com was already taken, but the .net was available you are likely to lose traffic to the .com version of your name

That is my true concern. To some extent, everyone relies on word of mouth. If someone told me to check out a particular website and left off the extension (.com, .net etc...), I would automatically assume .COM.

I think I will continue to search for a suitable and available .COM name.

Thanks for the input.