.info The .info Extension

[theparamount]

As a mildly competent domainer I see no true value in the .info extension. While I love seeing them sell I never see them put to much good use. I don't see many end users loving the extension and on the namepros forum as of late, I've seen several HUGE bulk sales of many solid .info names.

I guess what I'm wondering is what others think of the extensions. It seems to be an extension not quite as bad as .name but seemly useless to the end user. Do you think so or what are your thoughts?

 

[dgridley]

There are lots of us who love .info, including myself. I tend to buy them almost exclusively due to the fact I tend to develop informational sites and they seem to work well in that respect. Don't forget the word "info" is also a keyword so many .info's will have OVT with extension for that reason.

 

[theparamount]

True but I don't see many websites up with the .info sticker and it seems that if I mention .info to a layman that they have no idea whereas they do actually know all the other major TLDs. I guess I just don't see much money in the buying and selling of .info.

BTW I went to dav3.us and there is no website there... whats up with that?

 

[dgridley]

It was down yesterday but seems to be working now (that's my "money-maker") .. my main site atm is dav1d.net.

BTW I went to dav3.us and there is no website there... whats up with that?

I just put up portablemp3player.info a day or so ago.

 

[Ronald Regging]

.info is one of those extensions that is great in theory. With all the crap on the net, it would definitely be nice to just type in a domain on a topic of information you're looking for and find a nice developed site, full of juicy info specifically relating to that topic.

I've been on the net since 95, back before it was overrun by commercialism. So in that regard, .info in theory would be a very welcome kickback to simpler, more enlightening times for me.

Though in reality, it goes the way of all extensions introduced into the wild... Speculation

We all try to make a profit in this business, but at the same time, we essentially stifle a lot of valuable would-be development. This is especially true in the case of .info, because while someone may have the time and knowledge to create a very educational site on some random topic, they may not have the finances to purchase said domain
So than education assumes the burden of financial self-sustenance, which requires it to be a commercial enterprise. And commercial enterprises are better off using a .com Vicious cycle...

 

[whitebark]

300 .info websites and counting. Everyone you just keep hating them and buying lousy domains in .mobi etc because .info are paying my mortgage, my car, my university fees and part of my future pension.

And yes there are lots of .info being sold in bulk for cheap - they were registered for cheap and in bulk - that's why. This time next year there will be tens of thousands of a certain extension being sold the exact same way.

Comparing .info to .name is just plain stupid.

I'm still fresh registering .info domains and before developing them I park them and over half get instant type-in traffic.

Yeah, you are right, .info sucks.

 

[Deaol]

Every .Info name I have purchased has already made it's reg fee x quite abit.

Right now I am sitting on only a few quality .info generics and a few LLL/CCC.infos but they all receive type in traffic, some more than their .net (same word) brothers.

 

[dnk]

.info is good for information sites.

 

[snoop]

Right now I am sitting on only a few quality .info generics and a few LLL/CCC.infos but they all receive type in traffic

How much type in traffic exactly?

I had a state name .info for 2.5 years (sold recently) and it made perhaps 25 cents in that time.

 

[dnk]

I have some parked .info domains with more than 1000 UV a month. One domain made more than $2 a month, enough to cover reg fee.

 

[dgridley]

Parking to cover reg fee is not worth the bother IMO.. but then I'm lazy!

I'd be more apt to park just to see if I got offers on the domain!

 

[danielr]

In my 5 years of domaining... I have gone thru a lot of .infos (bought and let expire).

I have seen godaddy / wildwestdomains try to push them by lowering the prices a few times.

Did anyone ever noticed if you searched for domains on WildWestDomains / that the .info was just next to the .com and before the .net? It really upset me that WWD was trying so hard to push them and now it seems they are doing the same with the .us.

It used to be .com / .net / .org but now its .com / .us / .info

 

[theparamount]

300 .info websites and counting. Everyone you just keep hating them and buying lousy domains in .mobi etc because .info are paying my mortgage, my car, my university fees and part of my future pension.

And yes there are lots of .info being sold in bulk for cheap - they were registered for cheap and in bulk - that's why. This time next year there will be tens of thousands of a certain extension being sold the exact same way.

Comparing .info to .name is just plain stupid.

I'm still fresh registering .info domains and before developing them I park them and over half get instant type-in traffic.

Yeah, you are right, .info sucks.

You need to calm down buddy. I said that the domain wasn't that great and you obviously think differently. Don't get so offended by it.

I'm sure you're not paying all your fees solely from .info sales unless you own every premium name out there. As I said, not many end users want to buy them cause there are no .info websites leading the charge. Therefore no end users = less money overall in the market.

 

[akcampbell]

Buying .info domains on the aftermarket is speculative but I think they offer far better value than any other extension. For example, DotComAgency are advertising lowprices.com for £1.1m plus VAT which works out to $2.6m. I bought lowprices.info for $295 a couple of weeks ago. I don't dispute that .coms have a massive first mover advantage that will never be overturned for standard commercial sites but in terms of information provision the .info extension makes more logical sense. If I had a database of low prices people wouldn't care whether they went to lowprices.info or lowprices.com so paying a ridiculously overblown price for a .com to provide free information isn't commercially feasible. I don't understand people who can't fathom the inherent value of the .info extension. The Internet is about finding information so .info makes more logical sense than .com. People aren't looking for "com" on low prices, they are looking for "info". Dot com is a historical accident, it doesn't actually make much sense if you think about it.

 

[nrmillions]

If I had a database of low prices people wouldn't care whether they went to lowprices.info or lowprices.com so paying a ridiculously overblown price for a .com to provide free information isn't commercially feasible. I don't understand people who can't fathom the inherent value of the .info extension. The Internet is about finding information so .info makes more logical sense than .com. People aren't looking for "com" on low prices, they are looking for "info". Dot com is a historical accident, it doesn't actually make much sense if you think about it.

Going by that logic, if you had a database of low prices people also wouldnt care if they went to lowprices.ws or lowprices.com but that doesnt make the .ws a valuable extension. The problem is that everyone knows .com and nobody knows .info. If you advertised lowprices.info, a lot of people would end up going to lowpricesinfo.com. In search engines, a developed .info, just like any other extension, would do ok though because people dont even look at the extension in the search results, they just click on the link. People would be looking for "information" on low prices and thats what the internet in general provides, even in .com. Almost all websites provide some kind of information. You dont have to go to a .info to get information and in fact the majority of .info names out there are just parked pages owned by domainers or sites that dont actually provide any type of useful info. If I wanted info about Boston that is news, I would probably go to Boston.com and if I wanted historical info on Boston I would probably go to wikipedia or google and look up Boston on it. If I go to Boston.info it is just a parked page. I would rather trust info from Wikipedia where it is heavily moderated than to trust info from some random persons .info site. I do own a handful of .info domains just incase though since they are cheap but they get almost no traffic of course.

 

[akcampbell]

All it would take for everybody to know .info is a single blockbuster site to appear that alot of people use. The people with the ideas, drive and programming knowledge aren't necessarily the people with the 90's registered .coms or cash to buy a decent .com on the aftermarket so sooner or later a big .info site will turn up. .info will make sense to people in a way other domains like .ws, .biz and .mobi won't.

The difference between lowprices.ws and lowprices.info is that lowprices.info does what it says on the tin and is a stronger pairing of keyword and extension. Saying that, if lowprices.ws had the database and search engine position it could still succeed. I agree that changing the status quo from everybody knowing .com and only a few people knowing pretty much any other extension apart from maybe their local one is a tough call but if any domain ending is going to cut through that it will be .info because it's logical and understandable in so many languages.

I agree about the traffic point. I've spoken to people with fantastic .info portfolios and they get virtually nothing from parking them. That's probably because the sort of Internet user who types words directly into their browser and trusts a PPC bandit to enlighten them are less likely to know other extensions than any other Internet user.

 

[theparamount]

Just like you said... its gonna take a blockbuster to change the layman's view of the internet in each extension. .info does not have a blockbuster site and frankly barely has any websites. I just don't think in the near future (5 years) that .info prices will take off like .com and .net and other extensions did.

To me this means, sure I can flip a .info domain from one reseller to another but there isn't any hope of snagging one .info that hauls in a ton from an end user.

 

[Ronald Regging]

Parking to cover reg fee is not worth the bother IMO.. but then I'm lazy!

I'd be more apt to park just to see if I got offers on the domain!

It's not really a matter of parking just to cover reg fee.. I mean your ultimate goal is a nice sale to an end user. BUT, it's always nice to have a domain pay for itself year in and year out UNTIL that sale comes along.. This way you're basically assuming zero risk and zero cost by owning it, unlike other domains we may own that we have to shell out reg fee for every year. It adds up!

 

[harkster]

.info is one of those extensions that is great in theory. With all the crap on the net, it would definitely be nice to just type in a domain on a topic of information you're looking for and find a nice developed site, full of juicy info specifically relating to that topic.

I've been on the net since 95, back before it was overrun by commercialism. So in that regard, .info in theory would be a very welcome kickback to simpler, more enlightening times for me.

Though in reality, it goes the way of all extensions introduced into the wild... Speculation

We all try to make a profit in this business, but at the same time, we essentially stifle a lot of valuable would-be development. This is especially true in the case of .info, because while someone may have the time and knowledge to create a very educational site on some random topic, they may not have the finances to purchase said domain
So than education assumes the burden of financial self-sustenance, which requires it to be a commercial enterprise. And commercial enterprises are better off using a .com Vicious cycle...

www.rosevillepottery.info -- 2466 uniques in June -- the rest typically run 2 to 800 or so per month.
www.mccoypottery.info
www.hardingblack.info
www.dibaifestival.info -- much new content coming
www.vanbriggle.info
www.tecopottery.info
www.dedhampottery.info

There are more that escape my mind right now and more to be done. The primary reason for most is dissemination of information at little or no cost. Yes, there are ads/affiliate stuff on the sites but not the primary motivation. Some make a bit, some are loosers -- they pay their costs + a cold Bud now and then.

 

[owntype]

I do like stronge and interrelated keywords .info domain, but sadly, I have none.