I've got a client in the Philippines who wants the extension of his domain to read .ph. No problem...although a bit expensive vs say Go Daddy.
My question, however, is this: is .com/.net/.org somehow technically DIFFERENT in some way from, say, .ph, or .us or any other domain extensions that appear to be contractions of a country name?
And what about .com.ph vs. simply .ph? Is the domain extension chosen simply a whim of the client or is there a reason and/or benefit to registering a .com.ph vs just .ph?
Appreciate any insight.
Neophyte
Many people register Country-Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) because they're
targetting a specific area only. Examples of ccTLDs are .us, .uk, and, in this case,
.ph.
Is your client targetting only the Philippines or a larger area? If the latter, why not
get a .com?
The more specific the extension, the targetted the audience it's expected to reach.
Mabuhay ka rin!
This guy first wanted a .com but it was already taken. So he said, "hey, how about a .ph?"
He's just a restaurant owner with a local target market so I think that a simple .ph will accomplish his goals.
Thanks so much for the clarification about the perceived "scope" of these extensions - and I guess it really is a matter of perception of the desired target market as you indicated.
Any idea why some people demand a ".com.ph"? Just another case of greater perceived creditilbity vs. just a plain-old .ph?
If you want, PM me the name of the restaurant and what its "food class" is. I'm sure we
can find something that should satisfy your client.
.COM is still king...
I know that in Japan, a .co.jp is more prestigious than a .jp because the .co.jp is highly regulated (one address per registered company). But in other countries, the choice does not matter.
Since I don't know the specifics of your situation, I'd say in general, go with the one that is easier to remember. If most people assume it's .com.ph, use that. However, if there's no difference, go with the one that will look better. In my opinion, shorter domains are better than longer ones, so .ph would be better.
If they're affordable, get both, advertise the one that looks best and is easiest to remember, and make sute the other one brings the customers to the right place, too.
Thank you both for weighing in on my question. Interesting as well to know about the preferrability of a .co.jp for Japanese-based companies/businesses.
This has become an interesting topic (marketing/geographic/perception issues of different TLDs) for me.
Just from this discussion, I'm now beginning to think that it would behoove me (and my one-man-band of a company) to know more about these topics so I can be of greater value to my small (but growing) client base.
Thanks again
I don't know the Philippine domain market preference, but I know that every market I have worked with in which the second-level domain names have become available the trend is to steer away from the third-level domain names altogether. I've seen this happen firsthand in the .jp and .cn markets, and I'm advising the same change for my sites in .sg. Singapore will be opening up the second-level .sg early next year, and I am already planning the move away from the current .com.sg format.
Second-level domains are generally considered more prestigious than third-level names in my experience. So, if you can get the second-level .ph name, I'd recommend that.
If anyone knows of a good site that has clear explainations of each of these - without being too technical that my eyes start to glaze over - I'd appreciate a sticky mail with the url.
Even though I really don't know much about this part of our biz, I have to agree with Bill that .com.(whatever) or .co.(whatever) is much less appealing (to me) - visually as well as being able to remember it - than just a plain old .ph/.jp/.sg et. al. extension
top level
second level
example.com =
second-level.root
third level
example.com.ph =
third-level.second-level.root
