Is it really worth buying all extensions of your .com

...I have them, but thinking it is just a waste of $$$

[Sunnyvale]

I have the .com ,.net, .org, .info, .ws, .biz, .us - on the 4 spelling variations of my main domain. The domain name is not going to be the type of word people would type in...let alone someone typing it in with an obscure extension. I am thinking of only renewing the .com variations of my domain. Any reasons to keep the obscure extensions? I know the one reason would be the paranoia of setting up a myuniquedomainname.info. The problem is the number of new extensions seems to continue, as does the flow of cash to registrars. I just checked and there are 36 potential extensions I could register my domain with. 4 variations of name x 36 extensions = wasted cash? In fact, that figure does not touch on registering my domain variations with hyphens.

[edited by: Sunnyvale at 9:21 pm (utc) on July 31, 2006]

[Quadrille]

Depends on your market; if you have (and use) the .com, then .biz .info etc will rarely be serious competition.

But in some areas, you cannot afford to leave any opportunity, however small, to competitors. If every remotely similar doamin is in sue, then your investent is probably worth it.

If, as with many of my sites, the .biz, .info have never been used, then chances are I'd have wasted money even buying .net

And for the sake of completeness, if you were using, say, .info, then I'd ALWAYS buy .com, even if only to 301, as .com is the 'default' for many searches and browsers, and so would ALWAYS be a risk if not secured.

But if you have and use .com, then it all depends on the competitiveness of your niche.

[Asia_Expat]

I recently moved domain names. When I set up the site years ago, I was hopelessly stupid and at the time, the .info seemed the logical choice. The .com version was parked and I didn't approach the owner to ask his price. When my major competitor realised what I was doing, he snapped up the .com version for himself.
I was cursing myself for months when I realised I'd let it slip. My site is at a point now where it can become a serious player in the future but I was stuck with the .info extension while my competitor happily rests on his laurels with the .coms
I was fortunate to find a nifty alternative domain name for my site that works well and is quite clever branding. I bought the .com of that domain and immediately secured the .org and .net versions. I also secured the .com version of a deliberate mispelling that can be used as another marketing gimmick (imaginary example: foreignexpat and foreignxpat) and will probably secure the others as well.

I never make the same mistake twice.

[Quadrille]

S'right - you never will :)

Going from .anything to .com is just about the only domain-hop that can ever be justified in SEO terms; I'd never start a .anything site unless I owned the .com - and in most cases, I'd use the .com, the exception being for 'local' reasons.

[moltar]

If you let them go right now, they are surely going to be picked up by parkers.

[wmuser]

The main domain name.com +.net, .org, .info, .ws, .biz, .us seems to be reasonable
You can afford to not register .EU and others

[John Carpenter]

The main domain name.com +.net, .org, .info, .ws, .biz, .us seems to be reasonable
You can afford to not register .EU and others

Assuming he/she is in the US and not in the EU.

[opifex]

well, I'm sticking to my guns that the name.extension is really not all that important if the pages are well designed and promoted properly. country identifier CAN be important however in certain markets as noted above. I know I can't justify frivolis expenses.

[Sunnyvale]

I have the .com and those I mentioned; however, I no longer see the point in keeping them with all the potential extensions now. If someone really wants to they can always find an obscure extension withmyuniquedomainname.xyz