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Pros/Cons of other .tlds

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I'm a new realtor looking to start a business website. I noticed a lot more .tlds now and many in the real estate space (.condos, .rent, .rentals, .house, etc).

As an example, I think condo.rentals (registered already) is shorter to remember/type and catchier than condorentals.com.

Can someone provide a quick rundown of the pros/cons of using one of these vs .com?
Do they not search/rank as well?
Do these work in other countries?

Thank you so much.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Pros:
shorter to remember/type and catchier than condorentals.com.
You said it.

Cons:
- some of these extensions aren't used enough because of limited good matches, thus their longevity in terms of survival may be in danger
- there's still a lot of natural dot-com bias and not enough new tld understanding, so even though the domain uses keyword + new extension, folks might still be confused and try to reach the site via the dot-com. Really make a clear emphasis on the url on your site.

**

In the end, just build it and eventually people will get it it, same way we have .com and ccTLDs living harmoniously. I don't think there is search engine favoritism. Content should define. An interesting read on it though, say if the name was only in the domain but not in the content but also vice-versa:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/is...ch-engine-indexing-and-ranking.1173395/page-2
 
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If possible find something in dot com or dot net I don't share the enthusiasm that all of the other random extensions will have a long term future.
 
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Fell a bit in love with .work domains, as it's a top-level domain AND a statement. Have registered domains every year since 2001. Since the premier .com's are gone, something has to be next-best. :)

As .work was long banned by google, etc., for being almost pure spam, surprised to see that building just a handful of legit .work sites seems to've been enough to remediate its repute. More and more .work sites are showing up on search engines. That seems a prime requisite, filling in nicely as the months fly by.

Like it or not, .net and .org, even .US and .info, have just not gained traction in claiming anyone's attention. Big hint at DNJournal and Domaining (dot-com's, natch): Look at the insanely high prices of so many alternative domains, esp. in .de as well as .io domains. Great for domainizing, overall. It means .com's go up even more, and one-word premium generic words, too, most of all in products and services that humans type most often into search engines.

Above all is EXTERNAL PROMOTION. When you have backlinks on all of your sites (to your other sites, hee hee), you automatically get more SEO juice. Hey, the more sites providing a link to your site raises search engine's respect, and thus ranking. No one says that many backlinks can't come from your own site, when they're decently (read 'properly' designed: 500 to 5,000 words of good, related content, and backlinks, Bob's yer uncle, you have your own rapid proof that "search engines don't care what's AFTER the dot, only what's before it."

Exception are, of course, those domain extensions, even incl some country codes, that don't get full service, can't be viewed universally. So, for the next few years, at least, seems wisest to stick with TLD's only. That assures that everyone can view your sites. From stereos and lawsuits to wheelchairs and warranties and cameras, saying the domain out loud along with ".work" is fun enough to justify registering thousands of them, with eye extended to the future. A statement as well as a TLD, and, just one word. Heavenly, no? :)

What's YOUR favorite domain extension?
 
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Six .work domains sold in the whole of 2021!? I’ll pass, but thanks
 
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C'mon, say one out loud. "Excellent.work" "rappers.work" Are those not delicious?

As to "six?" LOL. We sold more than that this year just in our office. (Took the list of top 1000 historic sales, replaced .com w/ .work, and found few dozen available. SUCH sweeties!)

Stereos, cameras, birthdays, porno, Since we're down to less than 800 .com's, stock needs replenishing in any business, doesn't it? :) --- For 10k, we got 1,100 .work names for 2 years each. If we sell 5 or 10 of them across next 2 yrs, we can keep many others for our own use, no charge, (in a sense), no? Turns out to be more fun than thought. Life's a thrill, then we die. Might as well enjoy the ride.
 
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.com is king, prices going up, .io looks good/ok for new services/companies/ startups and are cheaper to buy
 
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There is really no pro to other extensions other than cost IMO.

I would go with a .COM if I was in a professional field like real estate.

The only exception to me might be an ultra premium combo like Chicago.Homes or something.

You don't need something spectacular like ChicagoHomes.com, formats that work fine are like (Name)Realty.com and many other types.

Brad
 
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There is really no pro to other extensions other than cost IMO.

I would go with a .COM if I was in a professional field like real estate.

The only exception to me might be an ultra premium combo like Chicago.Homes or something.

You don't need something spectacular like ChicagoHomes.com, formats that work fine are like (Name)Realty.com and many other types.

Brad

do the non .com have any issues with hosting, email, routing, etc?

for example, [email protected] vs [email protected]
 
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do the non .com have any issues with hosting, email, routing, etc?

for example, [email protected] vs [email protected]

In theory all domains should work the same.

The biggest issue is in practice there are certainly people who will not even recognize that Chicago.Homes is a domain, or will just add a .COM to the end out of habit.

Again, if you have some top tier combo it is worth considering. If it is just some marginal term, I would stick to .COM.

Brad
 
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do the non .com have any issues with hosting, email, routing, etc?

Some programs and programmers have not updated to the current reality. For example, there are ways to check if an email address is likely to be valid. If you only include TLDs from 10 years ago, because you follow incorrect instructions in an old howto, things will break. And that's just one example. In general, use of the newest TLDs will work in all modern web browsers. Other protocols like email/smtp may give more problems. And for certain TLDs you must use TLS, because of HSTS preload lists. The complete .app TLD is configured so that .app domains without a certificate will fail. Please Google on these terms, I'm on mobile :p
 
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do the non .com have any issues with hosting, email, routing, etc?

for example, [email protected] vs [email protected]
Non-coms function precisely as what they are: valid domains. Any issues stemming from functionality, if at all, would only be due to a lack of modern configuration. There is also a couple extensions with attached rules as FS pointed such as the HTTPS protocol requirement for dot-app. But limitations are nothing new to certain TLDs, look at dot-tel.

I've personally used/tested around ~20 nTLDs with email, forwarding, sites etc never once a problem. There will always be the slower-to-adopt crowd on the software engineering side, but good case scenarios can be seen from real-world usage examples such as from this thread:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/share-active-websites-with-new-gtlds.1009310/

I don't think people would seriously build on something if it didn't work as intended.
 
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Can someone provide a quick rundown of the pros/cons of using one of these vs .com?
Do they not search/rank as well?
Do these work in other countries?
Here is my attempt at a balanced response.

I think the key pro, as you have mentioned, is the new extensions offer a more elegant and succinct domain name - directly stating the name and no added suffix that does not directly contribute to the meaning.

That said, particularly in the US where .com doubles as for many their de facto country code, despite .us gaining some strength, as well as the most dominant global extension, some may assume a domain should end in .com. Even if they don't guess that, the fact almost all big companies are on a .com gives a similarity boost to being on a .com.

However, if the choice is a lacklustre .com vs a single word + new TLD, then the perception choice is not clear.

Functionally, essentially all centralized domain names in DNS space work the same.

Also, Google have said repeatedly they do not take the extension into account in search ranking. It is content, authoritative links back, speed of loading, etc. factors that count.

However, domain names that get clicked get an advantage, so there could be an indirect boost to having a better known TLD like .com.

There might be a cost factor, although in most cases not important to end user (is to the economics of domain investors). This varies a lot with new gTLDs, by no means all are expensive to renew, but the potential owner should check it out. Those premiums that carry premium renewals are most important to watch.

What about stability of the registry? Some cite this, and yes there have been amalgamations, but if one excludes brand names that are exclusive to a company, and one should exclude them, over the 8 years of the new extension has not witnessed significant names going out of business. Certainly the Radix, Donuts, etc. seem financially stable and well run.

Just as paying extra rent for an office in an expensive location may benefit a realtor, paying for a premium .com may be an advantage. However, some may want to be seen as thinking outside the box or being pioneers, and the adoption of a non-traditional extension might do that. We have seen that in adoption of some new and generic country code in certain sectors lately.

I would probably not go with an extension if there was not already some significant adoption from my sector, such as real estate. One way to gauge this is to do a search using the Google site: command looking only for that TLD. This is remarkably helpful, just going through a few pages of Google results will tell you a lot. For example, .vc is achieving real adoption from venture capital. But not all TLDs are finding much use from their intended market.

Bob
 
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Thank you all so much for your invaluable input.

To show how long I've been out of the domain scene, I had regged some .mobi when it initially came out and was touted as the future of the mobile phone domains. At the time, there were only a handful of Non-coms and I thought .mobi would be exclusive as there would not be many future Non-coms introduced. Boy was I wrong.

Now coming back onboard, the proliferation of Non-coms amazes me. My personal opinion is that with all the variety of Non-coms now, it actually devalues each one, and increases the value of the original .com (with the exception of specific country tlds which some countries actually prefer over .com)
 
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It's clearly. Com then a clear gap. I'm surprised at how many interesting .io extensions are available. Maybe it's the triple registration cost but I think of at least 20 I would pick up if I have some extra cash flow.
 
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Pros:

You said it.

Cons:
- some of these extensions aren't used enough because of limited good matches, thus their longevity in terms of survival may be in danger
- there's still a lot of natural dot-com bias and not enough new tld understanding, so even though the domain uses keyword + new extension, folks might still be confused and try to reach the site via the dot-com. Really make a clear emphasis on the url on your site.

**

In the end, just build it and eventually people will get it it, same way we have .com and ccTLDs living harmoniously. I don't think there is search engine favoritism. Content should define.

Very sharp. Thank you for a bit of balanced wisdom. W/ many dot-com's collected over the years, it's tough to overcome the atavistic instinct to what you term "natural dot-com bias." Still, all good dot-com's are gone, so, the only way to keep large inventory of one-word domains is, imo, to be judicious and, also your words, "just build it," w/ solid relevant content. Sincere thanks for necessarily cold-hearted guidance. Spot on!
 
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Here is my attempt at a balanced response.

I think the key pro, as you have mentioned, is the new extensions offer a more elegant and succinct domain name - directly stating the name and no added suffix that does not directly contribute to the meaning.

That said, particularly in the US where .com doubles as for many their de facto country code, despite .us gaining some strength, as well as the most dominant global extension, some may assume a domain should end in .com. Even if they don't guess that, the fact almost all big companies are on a .com gives a similarity boost to being on a .com.

However, if the choice is a lacklustre .com vs a single word + new TLD, then the perception choice is not clear.

Functionally, essentially all centralized domain names in DNS space work the same.

Just as paying extra rent for an office in an expensive location may benefit a realtor, paying for a premium .com may be an advantage. However, some may want to be seen as thinking outside the box or being pioneers, and the adoption of a non-traditional extension might do that. We have seen that in adoption of some new and generic country code in certain sectors lately.
Bob

Good guidance, thank you, particularly your paragraph on comparison to paying for extra office space. Even w/ a thousand-plus dot-com's, it felt positively visionary to first get google to stop blocking .work domains by building a bunch of good ones and providing dozens of respectable backlinks (done and done this year), then searching for .work version of all 1000 top .com sales. Astonished to find cameras, attorneys, tablets, and more all still available. Unless I'm completely bonkers, an extension that also makes a statement by saying the domain name out loud, definitely affects buying decisions. It's how 8 of most-recent 11 sales were made. (Still, showmanship's nice, yet, few people will pay 4 to 5 digits because of an impressive moment).

I think if people wisely follow your guidance on research AND ensuring it's a TLD, other extensions (as evidenced by unbelievably high prices at DNJournal in their reported sales lists for non dot-com's) will thrive: The lack of generic dotcom's availablility alone means we're already in early stages of "wider adoption," no?

Read your post twice, and now like it twice as much as 5 min ago. :) . You're a wise man. Thank you!
 
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do the non .com have any issues with hosting, email, routing, etc?
Great question! If it's a TLD, every country with internet can see it, and email, et alia, all work the same.

Several of our .work domains have mailboxes, have not had an issue in 16 months since creating those boxes. (PS: That's the first really great question seen in awhile! :)) Cheers, best of L.U.C.K. (Laboring Under Correct Knowledge).
 
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There is really no pro to other extensions other than cost IMO.

I would go with a .COM if I was in a professional field like real estate.

The only exception to me might be an ultra premium combo like Chicago.Homes or something.

You don't need something spectacular like ChicagoHomes.com, formats that work fine are like (Name)Realty.com and many other types.

Brad
That's an interesting viewpoint. Curious which you'd choose if given opportunity to own, for example, a decent or solid .com of two words, or a premium one-word, such as winery, or tablets, or condos, or sunglasses, and so on, if it's one word AND a tld (we did this for hundreds of .work names, now considering a couple others).

In aim of learning more, is there a specific reason for what a NamePro wizard calls "dotcom bias," or just gut instinct based on your experiences/knowledge? Thanks for any guidance. You raise a really interesting question that may well predominate for a few more years until acceptance multiplies.
 
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I'm a new realtor looking to start a business website. I noticed a lot more .tlds now and many in the real estate space (.condos, .rent, .rentals, .house, etc).

As an example, I think condo.rentals (registered already) is shorter to remember/type and catchier than condorentals.com.

Can someone provide a quick rundown of the pros/cons of using one of these vs .com?
Do they not search/rank as well?
Do these work in other countries?

Thank you so much.

Was truly gobsmacked when most of the keywords of top sales were still available in .work (incl condos, lol, which we still haven't built). Based on nothing more than how people have responded to request that they say their keyword out loud with ".work" after it, would venture to say that condo dot rentals is one brilliant, valuable choice. While we've only sold a handful of domains, so, not claiming expertise, there's just no way I'd let such a terrific combo go for less than 5 decent digits, and raising that each year until sold.

Would also consider leasing/renting it, in plain language on landing page with amounts, and both BUY NOW button and RENT IT NOW, too. What a smart registration! Big kudos to you, that's one delicious domain name! Like .work, the combination of condo AND rentals is a statement as well as a domain. Nicely done!
 
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From a webmaster point of view, there is not much difference other than a few technical capabilities like support for IDN characters, DNSSEC which are not supported on all TLDs.

A single word domain in another tld is mostly sought when the double word (name+tld) is no longer available in the .com space. Even then businesses might be debating on using a lesser known .tld if the double name is still available on .net space which is the second most popular TLD of all times.

Another barrier of adoption is the non standard terms, conditions and content restrictions imposed by the registries of the TLDs which may differ significantly from those in .com or .net space and not all companies would be willing to entertain that difference.

For a domainer, keyword .tld is a short term investment but for a business its a long term investment which constitutes a significant portion of their recurring marketing and brand building budget and that's probably the main reason why they might prefer a more conventional option.
 
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