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How can I avoid losing traffic to the .com?

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Kuffy

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Traditionally any domain that wasn't a .com could expect to lose traffic to the .com. So how can I minimise this loss? I'm thinking of using a longer title and emphasising the extension. For example - if I was creating a site about cider mills, I would have given it a title such as "The cider mill" or " Cider Mills". However cidermill.com was taken, and so was cidermills.com, so I reg'd CiderMill.xyz. I'm thinking of calling the site "The xyz cider mill site", do you think it is a good idea to incorporate the tld into the title like this?
 
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at my level,It's not viable to buy the .com for more than reg fee. I'm just picking up some xyz names as feeder sites for some of my .coms. However, I plan to monetise the feeder sites as well as the .coms. I hope this type of use will be encouraged, as it will expand the market for domain names, and this will help all of us.
 
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You can name it whatever you want but...

1.) You're building a small website not a brand therefore type-in will be limited regardless of the extension
2.) It is unlikely that you will have many return visitors as it's a onetime resource
3.) You shouldn't buy .xyz

Just my 2 cents.
 
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1. I appreciate that natural type-ins will be negligible, but I'm thinking of the radio test, and hoping to pick up some visitors from discussions amongst friends.
2. I've got one or two plans to try to build re-visits - RSS feeds for example.
3. Why? imho xyz is one of the better TLD arrivals. Also, I own xyz1.com, so I have a certain fondness for them. :)
 
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1. I appreciate that natural type-ins will be negligible, but I'm thinking of the radio test, and hoping to pick up some visitors from discussions amongst friends.
2. I've got one or two plans to try to build re-visits - RSS feeds for example.
3. Why? imho xyz is one of the better TLD arrivals. Also, I own xyz1.com, so I have a certain fondness for them. :)

Good luck. I think you're dead wrong on every point.
 
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well in the .coms cidermill, cidermills and cider-mill are all taken. VintageCiderMill is available, but I thought that would reduce the prospects of selling current cider mill products.
 
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well in the .coms cidermill, cidermills and cider-mill are all taken. VintageCiderMill is available, but I thought that would reduce the prospects of selling current cider mill products.

Buy the .com.

If you can't buy it today then budget to buy it at some point. It's an added asset for the business and will increase it's value.

Anything else you choose will bleed traffic and customers over to the .com; this is why companies buy the .COM domains.

There is no way around it.
 
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I understand all that, but you guys seem to be missing the point. It's a feeder name, and it probably has a life of less than a year for me, then I can sell it, or maybe continue to pick up enough traffic to show a profit over renewal fees. The name is so cheap, that if it manages to persuade one extra visitor to attend the show, then it was worthwhile. I just feel that it would be nice to gain a ( small ) income stream from the name if it can provide it. Paying $100 for the .com means that I may not cover the cost ( it's a charity anyway ), and I'm unlikely to get the name for $100. Aquiring a nane for less than a dollar means that I may be able to promote the show at negligible cost.

My question was really about preserving the traffic potential, so that I can keep the name as an investment. What everybody seems to be trying to say is that everything other than a .com is rubbish. I don't think that is true, I just think it is worth less.
 
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My question was really about preserving the traffic potential, so that I can keep the name as an investment.

Anything else you choose will bleed traffic and customers over to the .com; this is why companies buy the .COM domains.

You got your answer.

Nobody is missing your point. The fact that you don't like the answers, or disagree with them, does not change the facts.

You have a small project. So use a cheap domain and move along, otherwise buy the .com.
 
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Traditionally any domain that wasn't a .com could expect to lose traffic to the .com. So how can I minimise this loss? I'm thinking of using a longer title and emphasising the extension. For example - if I was creating a site about cider mills, I would have given it a title such as "The cider mill" or " Cider Mills". However cidermill.com was taken, and so was cidermills.com, so I reg'd CiderMill.xyz. I'm thinking of calling the site "The xyz cider mill site", do you think it is a good idea to incorporate the tld into the title like this?

You're in Europe @Kuffy so you know people prefer ccTLDs. Definitely buy a ccTLD over a new TLD.
 
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@DomainVP
I'm a confirmed .com buyer, and I understand all the points made. However, nobody has yet addressed the main point of my post.

I know I am going to lose traffic, and I know I have a cheap name. I happen to believe that xyz will gain acceptance ahead of many other tlds, but that is a different topic, and not rerlevant to my Q.
So, as I know I am going to lose traffic, how can I minimise that loss? At the same time, I would like to enhance the surfer's perspective of xyz names, and I hope this will result in a small capital gain for the name itself.

I made one suggestion which has been ignored - is there a better way?
 
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You're in Europe @Kuffy so you know people prefer ccTLDs. Definitely buy a ccTLD over a new TLD.

I'm in England, and you may have noticed that we are distancing ourselves from Europe. Whilst co.uk may be useful for local businesses, most of the major businesses prefer .com names. The UK is a global trading nation, and I have no interest in restricting myself to any countries. :)
 
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"The xyz cider mill site" doesn't really make sense.
Maybe "Cider mills, from A to Z".. or "from abc to xyz" heh. That sounds kind of odd to me though.
 
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"The xyz cider mill site" doesn't really make sense.
Maybe "Cider mills, from A to Z".. or "from abc to xyz" heh. That sounds kind of odd to me though.

Thanks for that comment - it more or less confirms my own views. It's why I started this thread in fact.
I'm beginning to think that calling it "Cider Mill" and adding the domain name in text form below that would be better. Another option would be calling the site CiderMill.xyz". The favourite at the moment is the first option, and I'll add a box promoting xyz names to re-inforce the domain name extension.
 
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Shane is right. If your traffic is through SEO, the .com doesn't matter as much.
 
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I can buy two .xyz with those two cents, thanks. :-P

You know what they say...You get what you pay for. If you go cheap, well, don't expect much!
 
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I'm in England, and you may have noticed that we are distancing ourselves from Europe. Whilst co.uk may be useful for local businesses, most of the major businesses prefer .com names. The UK is a global trading nation, and I have no interest in restricting myself to any countries. :)
As if using a .xyz wasn't restricting yourself :) I agree, use your ccTLD proudly.
 
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As if using a .xyz wasn't restricting yourself :) I agree, use your ccTLD proudly.

We don't have a country tld for England - the UK isn't a country. :)
 
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The problem with that is that it looks like engineering. :) Of course I think it should be TOP, but someone else has claimed that - isn't that just like the domain biz. OUT would be topical, but not much use once we are free of Merkel.
 
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Traditionally any domain that wasn't a .com could expect to lose traffic to the .com. So how can I minimise this loss?

Choose a name that's available in .com.

We don't have a country tld for England - the UK isn't a country. :)


I doubt any UK businesses given the choice would the make the switch. Why would they limit their potential customer base? ICANN has a strict 2 letter policy for countries as far as I know. Also there's no ring to ".eng". It's sound awful to me personally. UK companies love the ".co.uk" ring. Even the shorter ".uk" has a very short and abrupt ring to it which I don't see taking off either.

:wtf:
 
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Traditionally any domain that wasn't a .com could expect to lose traffic to the .com. So how can I minimise this loss? I'm thinking of using a longer title and emphasising the extension. For example - if I was creating a site about cider mills, I would have given it a title such as "The cider mill" or " Cider Mills". However cidermill.com was taken, and so was cidermills.com, so I reg'd CiderMill.xyz. I'm thinking of calling the site "The xyz cider mill site", do you think it is a good idea to incorporate the tld into the title like this?

You could look for more .com alternatives. Eg. I checked CiderShoppe/com. It's available.

Difference between 'shop and shoppe', according to one site, and how it could play into marketing a high end product: "‘shoppe’ is used to refer to high-end stores that offer high-end products and prices"

http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-shop-and-shoppe

It also a word with an Old English history, according to the article. Another possible marketing advantage when living in England(?)

I and others in my family get our meds from The Medicine Shoppe - a pharmacy franchise chain in Canada, that seems/'feels' less corporate than other pharmacy chains here. More personal. Its name helps establish and support that image.
 
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