Domain Names with extension for branding/promotion

[dunc]

What do you think of using a domain extension for branding/promotion - like when del.icio.us used to be that rather than delicious.com?

Do you need to already have the traffic and be an established player for this type of promo, or could it work from a start up?

[Ramster]

I think it's stupid honestly.

Boobs.tv and stuff. Though that's not too bad, boobstv.com would be way better imo.

[ecchi]

IMHO Search engine traffic is the more important, and they tend to see the words in domains as important, so I'd go for a domain name with keywords in it rather that something surfers will remember. EG lesbians-lesbian-sex.com rather than lesb.ians.com, the latter would get me traffic only if someone searched for "lesb" or "ians" but not "lesbians" (SEs see the dot as a word break).

[InfoGuy]

With very few exceptions for domain hacks like Fuck.Me and Blow.Me, I'd stick with .com While you may find a cheap domain to register by coming up with something creative, there will be a significant tradeoff from having to put money or effort into branding.

[dunc]

I think its a pretty good one... but they are not cheap

[Maxim]

I guess if the name is memorable such as the ones Infoguy mentioned above, then i think it would be easy to brand it.
The new .MX are coming up September 1.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Maxim

I guess if the name is memorable such as the ones Infoguy mentioned above, then i think it would be easy to brand it.

Easy but expensive. You basically have to make all your potential customers aware of the domain name. That does not just mean buying a few text links/banner spots, it means a major online and offline advertising campaign. Even a small branding exercise will cost you several million, and that is in one country alone.

[Head Boy]

I believe that the domain name is only important if the keyphrase is uncontested. Domain names are for type-ins and branding, and therefore mixed keywords are a waste of time, keyphrases are the names to have. Non .com names will always lose traffic to the .com - I know because I harvest that traffic. Similarly hyphenated names will lose traffic to the non-hyphen.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Head Boy

Non .com names will always lose traffic to the .com - I know because I harvest that traffic. Similarly hyphenated names will lose traffic to the non-hyphen.

Sorry, could you explain what you mean by this, thanks.

[InfoGuy]

Head_Boy is referring to traffic bleed. As .com is the largest and domainant TLD, second level domains with .net/.org/.info/.biz/.whatever TLDs will in most cases lose varying degrees of type-in traffic to the same second level domain with a .com TLD. Certain second level domains with strong ccTLDs may have little if any traffic bleed to the same second level domain with .com

SomeExample.net will lose traffic to SomeExample.com
Some-Example.com will lose traffic to SomeExample.com

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by InfoGuy

Head_Boy is referring to traffic bleed. As .com is the largest and domainant TLD, second level domains with .net/.org/.info/.biz/.whatever TLDs will in most cases lose varying degrees of type-in traffic to the same second level domain with a .com TLD. Certain second level domains with strong ccTLDs may have little if any traffic bleed to the same second level domain with .com

SomeExample.net will lose traffic to SomeExample.com
Some-Example.com will lose traffic to SomeExample.com

Thanks. So we are only talking typos here.

[Head Boy]

A typo is a different method of harvesting traffic. Gooogle.com is a typo, Google.net is a domain name that will lose traffic to Google.com.

Remember that you should reg names for brandability, viral marketing and type-ins, not to try to get SEO advantages. Although a good viral name will help in all areas.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Head Boy

you should reg names for brandability, viral marketing and type-ins, not to try to get SEO advantages

In 99% of all cases I disagree with that point. If you own a big company with a known name, then yes (eg wallmart.com). But only then. Otherwise go for SEO.

If you have something you want people to keep coming back to (such as a TGP) then it may appear to be a good idea, but I would guess that people who want to come back will bookmark the site, and very few will remember the URL to type in however easy or memorable it is. So fred.com will be forgotten, maybe get two or three type ins, but freds-tgp.info will get a lot more hits from Google, from people looking for TGP than fred.com would have got type ins.

And if you are running free sites, no one will want to keep coming back to look at the same free pictures. Even if they do all they are doing is using up your bandwidth. A lot better to go for SE hits from new fresh surfers who might buy something rather that going for the same old surfers who have either already bought or have decided not to buy.

[Head Boy]

Google stopped giving a high priority to keywords in domain names when they were hit by all the name spammers using them to promote non-relevant sites. The search engines use a lot of things to rank pages, and the domain name is just one of the minor factors. Of course if it's a phrase with little competition, and most of the major factors are not present, then the domain name will float to the top.

[Head Boy]

The domain name can also help to prove the relevance of inbound links, but you need to have the text content on your page to support it.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Head Boy

Google stopped giving a high priority to keywords......domain name is just one of the minor factors.

I spend a fair amount of time analysing my search engine traffic, which includes looking at the search terms the surfer typed in to Google. They may say they give low importance to words in the domain name, but this is not true.

Originally Posted by Head Boy

Of course if it's a phrase with little competition....then the domain name will float to the top.

Correct, except that domain name is one of the more important factors. They place considerable stress on words in the domain name if it is not a very popular term. EG women-in-bondage.info gets a slight increase in searches for "bondage", but if the search uses both women and bondage then it gets a hell of a lot more hits from that search than naked-bondage.com, regardless of the fact that women-in-bondage.info is a scrappy TGP with mostly blind links and naked-bondage.com was a bloody good bondage site and contained the term "woman in bondage" quite a bit. It was run by a friend of mine who used it as a hobby more than anything else (I used to do the SEO for him) and was the kind of site that should have been near the top of any bondage search (but if you are into bondage don't bother looking for it, the domain was stolen a few months back).

[Head Boy]

He's got a lot of text on that site, how do you know that the SEs aren't using that rather than the domain name?

I bet free tube and the hyphenated .com parking site are pleased with him for getting them the extra traffic.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Head Boy

He's got a lot of text on that site, how do you know that the SEs aren't using that rather than the domain name?

I was comparing it with naked-bondage.com, which was a lot better word wise, and contained both the words "women" and "bondage" several times, but did not get many hits for searches containing the word woman. women-in-bondage.info only contains the word "women" once, but gets plenty of hits from searches containing the word "woman",

Originally Posted by Head Boy

I bet free tube and the hyphenated .com parking site are pleased with him

Don't rub it in. I bought the name for him via RegisterFly. When ICANN took away their right to register domains because of fraudulent activity the domain registration was passed to Enom. The last time it was due to be renewed RegisterFly claimed it belonged to them (they had listed themselves as domain owners when selling it to him), so Enom gave it to RegisterFly and refused to listen to my argument. Of course, by then RegisterFly were back in business as an Enom reseller and were bringing in a lot of business for Enom. Not, of course, that that has anything to do with it.

[Head Boy]

Sorry about that - there seem to be too many scammers getting away with things at the moment.

This seems to be a good point to ask you if I can use your titanic picture. I can give you a link if you are happy for me to use it.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Head Boy

This seems to be a good point to ask you if I can use your titanic picture.

Which picture do you mean?

[Head Boy]

The sinking titanic - wasn't that one of yours?

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Head Boy

The sinking titanic - wasn't that one of yours?

I cannot recall the picture you mean, so I guess not (but I have a very leaky memory, so if you could tell me where you saw it I'll take a look and I may find that I am wrong and that it is mine).

However I am very grateful to you for asking, because after you did I looked at the sites in my sig to see if the picture you were talking about was on one of those sites, and I found domain server parking pages on some of them. I had forgotten to renew the blasted domains and was only a few days from loosing them (or having to pay several hundred to reclaim them). Thanks.

[Head Boy]

I'm glad some good came out of my thread hijack then.

apologies to the OP for the hijack.