Which domain ext is best

[FACEOFF]

Hi

Firstly I would like to ask if you could choose ONE of the example domains below to start your new pets website, which aims to become a youtube type site for pets, which would you choose and why? (just an example business lol)

Pets.co.uk
Pet.co.uk

I've never been able to get my head around which is better or if it makes no difference having the plural domain. I mean, if your site is going to be about a lot of pets, is it better to have the plural. Even if you could have both, which would be the main domain?

Secondly, do you rate the .tv ext?
I've recently seen some quite amazing .tv premium domains quite reasonably priced. Why are there still so many good .tv domains just being left on the shelf?

Thanks for your opinions

 

[DuaneJackson]

I think people see anything other than .com and .co.uk as second-rate when buying a domain, hence so many .tvs left on the shelf.

I think there's a perception that they're not as easy to remember. I'd probably be one to say that too. But recently I needed to look at the site of a member here - I've not seen him online for a while nor visited his site for over a year. But I instantly remembered it was a .info - www.crossguard.info - odd how these things stick on your head.

for your first question, I think the plural makes most sense.

 

[AdamJ]

Another vote for 'pets'.

 

[Craig Dewe]

I go for pets too. Unless you intend to make a website about one pet

As for .tv, I think they're good for video based sites and will stick in people's heads soon enough. They're just still fairly new. If you have a video site and the domain says tv it's easy to put two and two together and could even make it more memorable.

However, you should always get the .com domain as well...

 

[FACEOFF]

thanks for the replies guys. I'm a little shocked actually as I thought you would all say pet.co.uk is better. I was always lead to believe the shorter the English word the more value. So thanks for that and keep any opinions coming

As my next project is going to be a media type site, I did think that a .tv could really enhance its appeal. Although the cost of the .tv I'm currently excited about is a little over £12,000 before negotiation, I think it would be a great opportunity to get such good branding otherwise usually impossible. I can't get the .com or any other ext, only the .tv is left of that particular name.

What do you think?

 

[DuaneJackson]

If it's going to set you back £10k+, the I'd for for a different name - petsontheweb.tv or similar.

The value of the brand wont be just having a short domain name, That money could be better spent elsewhere.

 

[s brown]

pets.co.uk xxxxx xx

 

[Cybamart]

The .com suffix is ALWAYS more valuable as it is seen as worldwide and somehow perceived as a bigger business than a countrfied equivalent. By its very nature it stands for 'commercial' and is seen as such a company rather than a local site specifically for one area which, rightly or wrongly, is how countrified domains are perceived. For example, if you were looking for a, say, graphic designer then graphics.com would instantly be more attractive to the majority than, for example, graphics.co.za - HOWEVER, if you were looking for a tree surgeon then you may want to search for your country's suffix as otherwise you'd have to go through hoards of specialists in foreign places. As your business is digital then a .com would therefore be much more lucrative.

As for the name itself, 3 and 4 letter (known as "LLLL" domains) are incredibly hard to come by and regardless of the word you would not be able to get an actual English word as they have all gone. People on eBay are selling such domains as gfdh.com for £1000s when they don't make any sense - people just want them for their length.

.TV domains are said to be lucrative as it shows that you are into broadcast (???) I looked this up on the internet last week as I sell domains on eBay and could not understand why .TV was going for so much on GoDaddy et al. Personally, I do not think a .tv domain is a good one and I think the hype around them is misjudged. As all of the good .com domains went, there had to be more and more extensions thought of, hence .biz, .info, .net etc - .tv is the latest along with .mobi but I do think that the price of the domain and the portrayed value is incorrect.

Whilst I see pet.co.uk and pets.co.uk as the same value (I don't actually think that the singular indicates just one pet, more of a company name and the shorter the domain the greater its worth, especially when it actually makes sense) I think if you are going to buy a domain it would be better to have a longer .com than a shorter .tv unlessyou could get a VERY appropriate succinct domain such as pets.tv. Seeing as though your business is going to be a video based one then a .tv in your case may work well but personally I would go for the .com - it was the original, best remembered and if you go for anything else then you risk people typing in .com at the end as they have not recalled it correctly and as such you would be sending traffic to competitors!

Good Luck with it all.

 

[Phild1973]

I vote for the plural pets.co.uk however agree that .com is generally seen as bigger. The fact is you need to protect your brand by buying both or you could easily be spoofed if your brand becomes big.

I tend to go with the .com and point the .co.uk at the dot com. That way if people enter .co.uk by mistake they will still find you.

Also i think pets will be "slightly" better for SEO as it will pick up on both the pet and pets keywords.

Good luck

Phil

 

[pcc]

Pets.co.uk definitely for me.

 

[rachael24]

Agreed with Pets.co.uk. I think it will drive the most traffic

 

[DreamLifestyle]

The plural would attract more type in traffic.

 

well as there were 8 million searches for "pets"

and just over 1 million for "pet" the choice is yours.

domain extensions have very little bearing on SEO.

and the general public does not waste there time trying to remember them.

so the winner by a mile is www. pets.co.uk

Earl

P.S grab it quick if its available.

 

[Tin]

www.pets.co.uk was first bought in 1996 and doesn't appear to have been available since then.

 

[LawrenceB]

pets.co.uk for me

 

[mke]

The one which best suits your market. pets.co.uk resolves to Mars, a global petfood brand. A global brand optimising a domain could well explain why it gets more queries than the other, but is either worth having?

If they will let it go AND they do not slap a brand restriction on as they take your £12,000 AND you feel that will give you some significant level of purchasing traffic, go for it. Similar considerations apply for pet.co.uk, which looks as though it is warehoused.

Otherwise, think of something else, preferably original, and spend the £11,990 or so change you have left building your new online brand. Marketeers have a wonderful propensity for exaggeration. You'll be amazed how much online brand you can get for £12K spent wisely even on an obscure name, and how little its resale value is if things go wrong whatever letters come after the .

 

[Craig Dewe]

I for one would never pay a few grand for a domain name, let alone 12,000 pounds. Like mke said, if you use it wisely your marketing dollar will go a long way. Plus there's heaps of free techniques that are just as effective if you take the time to learn how to use them.

While buying an existing domain can help with the Google sandbox (where the domains performance in the rankings is limited for 6 to 12 months), you should do a check through the Way Back Machine to make sure no spammers have been using it.

 

[FACEOFF]

Just to avoid any confusion, I'm not buying pet.co.uk or pets.co.uk, these were just examples.

I am trying to establish if you guys had the choice, would you go for a singular or plural version of a name if you had to pick one.

Between the 2 examples most seem in favour of the plural, but I have a feeling that this would not be a general rule:

Other examples would be:
Secretary.com or secretaries.com for a temp/recruitment site?
You would prob go for the singular

Same for nurse.com or nurses.com

Horserider.com or horseriders.com

So I guess maybe the best one to choose is the term that is used the most in day to day conversation.

Quite difficult if you can only afford to buy one version of a premium domain name.

I am to be honest quite shocked that a number of you would opt for a longer non premium domain and use the saved capital for extra marketing. Isn't this false economy? If the brand takes off surely the money is well spent. I know it might not take off but is it not better to really believe in your project and go for it giving you the best chance of success?

Thanks for all replies and advice.

 

[AdamJ]

I am to be honest quite shocked that a number of you would opt for a longer non premium domain and use the saved capital for extra marketing. Isn't this false economy?

Nope. In relation to your first question of actual name used: Look at a lot of successful internet 'brands' and they're not something you would have initially said was valuable just based on a short 'prized' name. E.g. nonsense words like 'Facebook', 'Bebo', 'OYYY', 'Joost', or mis-spellings like 'Digg' or 'Flickr', or just the plain bizzare like 'Amazon' (what's that got to do with books, music, etc?). If you get the marketing and product right the domain is not the make or break.

A short name doesn't automatically guarantee you a quality brand or huge traffic - most people are going to come to you via a search engine or link rather than type in the domain directly so a good brand that ranks well and is well marketed will pay far better. (And yep, a good domain will help search engine rankings, but its easily overcome if you build and market your site well).

In your second question, aside from the main name, the domain extension can have an impact but again that can be mitigated by a good site well marketed. One of the PC mags recently had the stats of which extension UK consumer prefer between .co.uk and .com and while I can't remember the exact results it was something like 70% said they would always choose a .co.uk first when looking for a UK company. If your market is international then .com. Others like .tv can work if you market it, (thinking of a site I visit a lot - twit.tv - and never really think about the .tv bit and usually go there from a favourite or from a search engine so again, marketing and product gets the trade) and again, the money you'll save on not splashing out on an expensive name will be better spent building and marketing the site.

 

Just to avoid any confusion, I'm not buying pet.co.uk or pets.co.uk, these were just examples.

I am trying to establish if you guys had the choice, would you go for a singular or plural version of a name if you had to pick one.

Between the 2 examples most seem in favour of the plural, but I have a feeling that this would not be a general rule:

Other examples would be:
Secretary.com or secretaries.com for a temp/recruitment site?
You would prob go for the singular

Same for nurse.com or nurses.com

Horserider.com or horseriders.com

So I guess maybe the best one to choose is the term that is used the most in day to day conversation.

Quite difficult if you can only afford to buy one version of a premium domain name.

I am to be honest quite shocked that a number of you would opt for a longer non premium domain and use the saved capital for extra marketing. Isn't this false economy? If the brand takes off surely the money is well spent. I know it might not take off but is it not better to really believe in your project and go for it giving you the best chance of success?

Thanks for all replies and advice.

well the answer to that is a good SEO will beat any keyword rich domain and £12,000 will buy you quite a bit of SEO.

as for your keyword question use a prog to determine whether the singular or plural gets more visitors Pretty simple really.

Earl

 

[mke]

AdamJ has got this on the nose. It's what you do with it and how you handle it that counts.

There's a lot of almost religious fervour currently going into the debate about what is and what is not a good domain name to use for trading or income generation. The vast majority of it is hot air. Most of it comes out of blogs and articles from people with little more actual experience than those quoting them. It is absolutely nothing more than hot air.

There is a heck of a lot of mileage in each and every internet marketing buck if it is spent wisely. Indeed, if you have the time and make the effort, you can do an awful lot without spending a penny.

It helps, but is not essential that visitors may be able to remember it. So short is generally, marginally, better. To be honest, I can't remember the names of sites I've visited today, but I will have no trouble revisiting those that were worthwhile. For seo purposes it makes no difference.

Some, not all by any means, search engines will add on the plural to the singular, but will not cut the plural to the singular. However, only those trying to "prove" they know more than the rest of us in order to secure seo contracts say anything about what happens to a keyword within a domain name. As the CEOs of the SEs don't bother to say, I conclude it's just not important enough to bother with.

Long words don't help you and tend not to be easy to remember.

If you're buying a domain name for its resale value, why aren't you broking domain names as your business, rather than doing the business you are doing or planning? Perhaps because you don't trust the judgement you profess to possess?

 

[Cybamart]

I am to be honest quite shocked that a number of you would opt for a longer non premium domain and use the saved capital for extra marketing. Isn't this false economy? If the brand takes off surely the money is well spent.

I too agree wholly with Adam J - think of household names that mean NOTHING - Kodak, Tesco, Dulux, Andrex - any of these domains would have been originally available as they are not English words and spending £1000s on your domain is NOT going to help your business grow.

Many hugely successful companies have used merged parts of words to make their brand name - Asda cames from ASsociated DAiries and Esso came from the initials of Solidified Oil. If you had come up with the idea of an internet auction site monopoly would you have called it eBay? What does that mean and why "bay"? Surely eBid (which was available at the time) would have been so much more appropriate?

Is it not better to believe in your business

You have answered your own question here !! Belief is everything, a name is not. No-one is going to come to your site just because you have a good name, they will, though, come if through your passion, desire, and drive to make it succeed you make it WORTH coming to. Think of it this way - pets.com parked with a portal to other affiliate sites is nothing compared to petsmyownname.com with a drive and belief that people are going to be inspired to visit and will remember it because of.

Genuinely, you are putting too much emphasis on the name, search engines and your belief are what will make this work, not a 4 letter domain name regardless of how good it is.

 

[FACEOFF]

Thanks to everyone that has replied to this thread. It has literally saved me a few thousand £££ that I would have paid out had I not joined these forums.

thanks guys

 

[bigjoe4]

I think people see anything other than .com and .co.uk as second-rate when buying a domain, hence so many .tvs left on the shelf.

I agree, I always use .com

 

[wevet]

If you own them both use the plural because people use the term both as a plural and in the sense of "my pet's ..."
The other site (speak to your web person) can be used as a mirror site to direct those who might type in Pet.

If you are aiming at worldwide .com is best again, if you own that do as with Pet. If you don't but can get it cheaply buy it.

The.tv .biz extensions do have a tacky look unless you are a TV company.

 

[Focused]

It's pets for me if you're still counting.


Focused

 

[brownie]

as for your keyword question use a prog to determine whether the singular or plural gets more visitors Pretty simple really.

Earl

Spot on, how can anyone know without having done proper keyword research? Are they guessing?