.info versus .biz versus .us

Which new TLDs are winning?

[cabbagehead]

Anyone have any thoughts as to which of the new domains (.info, .biz, .us) has grown the most since their introduction? Anyone have any thouhts as to which ones are currently worth the most and which are worth investing in?

My girlfriend seems to feel that .info is a pretty good domain and .us is so-so ... and .biz is just cheesey. Is this a common sentiment? Does everyone anticipate this to remain the case? Will .us ever break out of the gate? At the moment it looks to me like .info is the only new TLD that's really going to take off.

[rubenski]

the extension is an informal/slang term, which IMHO doesn't give a professional aura to bizness

I am surprised this argument has come up so late in this thread. It is slang, wrongly spelled dumbo language. I would never ever spend my money on a domain that isn't spelled correctly, EVER! It looks stupid and unprofessional.

[cabbagehead]

Does anyone know of any indexes or any ways to see what sites are actually live for .biz, .us, and .info? I don't mean registered domain names since most of them are just being squatted on - I mean actual lists of sites. It would be interesting to see how much is being invested by real companies into real sites with these TLDs. That may be a further tale tale of where the domains will be in a couple of years.

[tedster]

Have you tried the Google search site:.info and so on?

[cabbagehead]

Ha! Well, I'd tried that a few minutes ago and it didn't work. I must have had a space in the wrong place. ;-)

Well, I noticed something kind of interesting while looking at the total indexed pages from Google and Yahoo of these different TLDs:

Google
10,100,000 - .us
4,670,000 - .info
3,420,000 - .biz

Yahoo
24,100,000 - .US
13,800,000 - info
6,830,000 - .biz

...I was very suprised to find that .us had 2-3 times as many pages in existance that .biz or .info. After looking at the results its clear that 95% of those results are US government information. I'm not quite sure what spin that puts on all of this ... but definitely interesting to note.

Also, there was a lot of mention earlier in the thread about .biz being a favorite amongst spammers. You know, I was just going through my Outlook Junkmail list (a list I compile as I go my marking unwanted emails) and there were only two domains out of a couple hundred that were .biz. Actually, the largest number was .com, followed by .info.

Seperately however, I did find that .info seems to be the only one of these three TLDs for which some of the high value terms (e.g. [term].info) are actually in use, not just being squatted on.

So, there are a few of my own recent observations for what they're worth. :)

[raymond4unc]

I run several websites for myself and people I know. I almost always use .com. The only other one I use is .info. So far this has worked out. I work in a multicultural enviorment. A few of my co-workers wanted sites about their countires and a place for family and friends back home to keep in touch. The .com 's were long gone and taken. The .info s' were there and seemed to fit just fine for the use. All the .info domains are listed in google and yahoo.

[rfgdxm1]

I'd say go for a .org over a .info if the .org is available. People are familiar with .orgs. Many have never even heard of the .info TLD, and it confuses them.

[domainsales]

.info definitely

[nativenewyorker]

It's unbelievable that someone just shelled out 10k for a 13-character .us TLD in the last few days. What are the .com and .net versions worth?

[cabbagehead]

What domain name was it?

[CritterNYC]

Also, there was a lot of mention earlier in the thread about .biz being a favorite amongst spammers. You know, I was just going through my Outlook Junkmail list (a list I compile as I go my marking unwanted emails) and there were only two domains out of a couple hundred that were .biz. Actually, the largest number was .com, followed by .info.

I just checked my spam archive (8700 messages going back to June) and 18.2% of them advertise a .biz domain. An additional 14% advertised a .info domain.

I think what we were referring to was that most people have never encountered a .biz domain *except* in spam, hence the association.

[adfree]

Another threat that focuses on this: [webmasterworld.com...]

[Birdman]

I don't know if it means much, but GoDaddy has just lowered .info domains to $1. It tells me that .info isn't much, yet I do know a few of them that do well.

[cyberair]

The $1 GoDaddy offer is only a consequence of the 25 free .info domains per person that the registry is promoting. Thus GoDaddy is just passing along the savings. .info domains have been registered at a very healthy rate, and as marketing campaigns increase their use of .infos the general population awareness of .infos will grow stronger.

[cabbagehead]

How do I find out about this 25 free registrations per person deal? Can we sign up for that directly through Affilias?

[cyberair]

There are plenty of places that are offering the domain .info for free. GoDaddy charges $1, but others like Dotster don't charge anything.