Domain Extensions Myths Revealed

by Jake O'Callaghan

Domain extensions are the things you see after the domain name. For example, in www.webjourney.me, .me is the extension. There is a lot of hype about the domain extensions so I am going to clear up some myths here.

Domain Myths

.com is the only good domain. It is recommended that you always get .com if it is available. If you are planning on selling the domain it is highly recommended to choose .com. .com also is the extension that commonly is typed in by users. If you have a different one, some users will type in .com. Most of them will then do a Google search for you, but sometimes you lose the visitors. However .com isn’t the only good domain. Look at Wikipedia(.org), Pro Blogger(.net), and many others. Don’t be afraid to get a different extension than .com is the extension is already taken. You can always buy the .com when your website or blog becomes successful. In conclusion, .com isn’t the only good domain extension, but it is the best domain extension.

.info are all spam sites. This is not true; .infos are used on many popular sites, especially sites about cities and countries. These are often worth a lot, I think newyork.info went for in the hundred thousands. The point is, while the .info shouldn’t be your number one choice, they are growing fast and are not all spam websites like they were in the beginning.

.infos rank lower in Google and other search engines. This is not true. If you are a site that follow the rules and makes good content you will do just as well in search engines as a .com. This applies to all extensions.

.me is worthless. They may be worthless to sell right now, but they are the fastest growing domain extension. There are some really great ones available right now, and in the long term they will be recognized. Some webmasters predict they will become more popular than .com. I highly, highly doubt that, but they are not worthless. Maybe now they are worthless, but in the future they will be worth something.

The only domain extensions you should buy are .com, .org, .net, .info, .me, and .mobi. This is very true, any other domains are completely worthless and will continue to be worthless. Okay, that isn’t really true, but I highly recommend using these. Remember, always take the .com if they have it.

Domain Extensions are over rated, it’s about content. Well, yes and no. If you have a great service and great content, people will find you. Domain extensions are a little overrated, but they are important. If you want to take confusion out of it, get a .com domain name. It will probably have to be three words, but it will give you peace of mind. Content is always key, no matter what domain or domain extension you have, you need to produce quality content.

Good names come first. Yes and no again. You need to have a good name, but buying a .ws just to get it isn’t worth it to me. Some people think it is because they can get any exact keyword phrase if they buy a domain name that is unpopular. I don’t recommend it, but for some people it works. You can also buy the .com if you become popular.

Article by Jake O'Callaghan

I'm Jake, a 14 year-old webmaster, blogger, and freelance writer. My top goal is to help people succeed on the web and get away from their boring day jobs.

Jake has written 64 brilliant articles for us.

Other Brilliant Posts

{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Buy PSP Go (5 comments) July 28, 2009 at 2:04 am: I remember when .mobi came out, I got some pretty good domains. However before buying you should always consider the purpose, too many people jumped on the .mobi bandwagon by buying completely unrelated domains like (e.g. carshopping.mobi).
Buy PSP Go´s last blog ..Sony Considered Second Analog Stick for PSP Go

[Reply]
admin (284 comments) Reply:
July 28th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Lol, people are doing that with .me too. Have you made any good flips with your .mobi s?

[Reply]
2 S.Pradeep Kumar (31 comments) June 3, 2009 at 5:33 pm: Myths Revealed !

I had this thought recently… switching from .com to .org !

Will it be nice ?

Cheers !

S.Pradeep Kumar’s last blog post..Remove WWW From The Blog’s URL Automatically

[Reply]
admin (284 comments) Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 7:38 am
It depends, do are you more of an organization?

[Reply]
3 Kiran (31 comments) April 27, 2009 at 4:38 pm: Thats true the domain name is absolutely CATCHY and it really stops me a moment whenever I have a look at it.

Well the greatest thing that I found in your BLOG and few other blogs is replying to the commenting, which tells you are a active blogger..

Keep going.. gr8 response

[Reply]
admin (284 comments) Reply:
April 28th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Thanks, i’m glad you enjoy my responses.

[Reply]
4 Craig (2 comments) April 27, 2009 at 2:35 pm: The real issue revolves around how many of your customers type in the address in the URL bar at the top.

I am finding that more and more visitors to my clients websites are typing in the web domain into their google search bar. So, in that case wouldn’t xyz.net get just as good a PR (or better)as xyz.com if it has done its SEO homework?

[Reply]
admin (284 comments) Reply:
April 28th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I agree, people are typing in the URL less and less.

[Reply]
5 Kiran (31 comments) April 26, 2009 at 5:15 pm: Definitely all good “.com” domains are taken.
But you can just manipulate by using a “-” in between two words

For suppose may be webjourney.com is not available. But web-journey.com is used as parked domain.

web-journey.net is completely available

[Reply]
admin (284 comments) Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Yea, I am a little disappointed I choose .me. I love the name, but the extension is not the best. However, it actually gets people’s attention because this blog caters to webmasters, and they usually notice these things.

[Reply]
6 Kathy (1 comments) April 19, 2009 at 1:42 am: Great post. Here is some caution we all need to look out for!!

The beautiful thing about a good domain name is that every domain name is unique and can be a sustainable competitive advantage even for the “little guy”.
But beware, I do put a word of caution out into the community that there are a lot of registrars that when you type in the name to see if it is taken, they immediately register it for themselves (if you don’t). This is a disgusting practice and from what I understand some domain registrators do NOT do this. That is why I use them to do the first uploads. Cheaper than almost all the big time sites but honest thus this far.

The domain business is still “finding its way” so be careful out there.

[Reply]
admin (284 comments) Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 6:26 am
Thanks for informing us.

[Reply]
7 Free desktop wallpapers (1 comments) April 14, 2009 at 12:53 am: In my opinion , .me is attracting more webmasters than .com because .com domains are already taken by big webmasters.

Free desktop wallpapers’s last blog post..alfa romeo 159 sportwagon car

[Reply]
admin (284 comments) Reply:
April 14th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
I agree, there are still a lot of good .me(s)available, but almost all the good .com(s) are taken.

[Reply]
8 Farrhad A (6 comments) April 10, 2009 at 10:01 am: Rocking post dude!
If you are getting a good .me instead of a .com. I would take the .me.

Farrhad A’s last blog post..The Money is in the List

[Reply]
admin (284 comments) Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Exactly, the important thing is the content. Besides, as I said in the post .me will continue to grow.

[Reply]
9 Enk. (10 comments) April 9, 2009 at 1:48 pm: Yup! .com are the best. About .me they work better for personal website/blogs. At the end, its all your decision, you may even like .co.cc

Enk.’s last blog post..Create Custom Sidebar in Wordpress Blog

[Reply]
admin (284 comments) Reply:
April 9th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Yea, this is about my Web Journey so i though .me was appropriate. Most of my traffic isn’t from direct typing of the URl anyways.

Thanks for commenting.

[Reply]
10 Simon | Teenius (47 comments) April 9, 2009 at 8:58 am: Thanks for the links

Regarding the ones that you should buy, I would discount .mobi from that list – it’s a poor extension and unless you’re getting serious traffic, it’s completely worthless

Simon | Teenius’s last blog post..Tips On Finding A Good Domain Name

[Reply]
admin (284 comments) Reply:
April 9th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Yea, it’s kinda true, but some people who have sites for phones that work well on phones use it and are successful.

[Reply]