PowerUp

I've got a cctld domain. I am thinking if I should develop the domain to reach a global audience, or reach only the local audience.
Has anyone had any success developing a cctld domain to reach global audience?

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weblord

i voted "Target LOCAL audience." for your cctld since .COM can be used for global audience then use your cctld for local contacts/audience.

PowerUp

I would use the same keyword .com if I could afford it. But I can't afford it. So I'm pondering whether to use the keyword cctld to target global audience.

Will the extension matter to the audience? Isn't content more relevant than the extension?

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Dean

It does matter for search engines but I know for .tv, and possibly .cc and now .me, you can use google webmaster tools to change it so it does target a global audience.

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weblord

yeah it does matter.
see it's the mindset of your visitors.
no one here based on U.S. claimed that they saw something like this and that on .ph domains?
see
while we see local products and are interested on it, but the interests somewhat affected if I tell you it can be found on .ph

also it does well on your google search results.

if you have .ph it ranks well most of the time on google.com.ph and visitors here uses google.com.ph not .com of google.

just do a hand-reg of the .com

800ml

very good question,

i guess it depends on a lot of factors, the kind of service being offered, what your goals are, which ccTLD etc

while the poll result for this question is highly predictable
if you are not afraid to go against conventional wisdom, then go for it, why don't you be the shining example that shows it is possible (if no such eg. exists already). One of principles of marketing is you don't have to be the best you just have to be first.

while the .com has been tauted as a global TLD thus far,
its greatest asset (globality and anonymity) is also its greatest weakness

some things to consider:

1. with .com you don't know right away whether you are dealing with folks from US or scammers from nigeria (no offense to people from nigeria, just an example)
while if you see an ccTLD from a G7 country, because you know right away their origin and thus can expect a certain standard of service (trust).

2. with .com having the largest share of the marketplace, when you have a ccTLD and a good keyword you stand out from a list of companies (most of which ride on .com) and naturally spark interest which increases your chances of being remembered.

EXAMPLE: i was doing competitive analysis on branding companies recently and after going through 100 different companies, i still remember grapefruit.ro from romania, while the others not so much (with the exception of Brand.com) because they looked like another me too, wannabe. Believe it or not there were more than 19 companies that had a name starting with brand+something.com. Now can you imagine attending a conference on branding and having most of them there, what is your impression of a company whose name starts with the same word as 18 other ones? how can a company successfully send a message to their potential clients "we are different" when their name is almost identical as the company beside them, they are in branding, they should have known better.

3. with a ccTLD you are marketing your countries reputation globally, you are your country's ambassador. By marketing .com you are making Rick Schwartz's portfolio more valuable.

now it also depends on which ccTLD we are talking about if its .cc than i would go with .com

i have no problem ordering stuff from .de (germany), or .uk, .ca .....

soggyindo

This is a little gem of an information! I'll go and check it out, but have you got any more info for everyone? Sounds important to hear...

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Dean

I havent actually used it myself yet but thats what I have heard, I will be using it for some of mine also.

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Smith

ccTLD's are tied to geographic locations automatically, so be careful of what ccTLD you develop on!