.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.

[jmccormac]

Most of the advertising I see here in Ireland is either .com or .ie (.ie being the Irish country code domain). The .net tld is used by the ISPs but apart from that .info or .biz does not tend to be used that much. The .biz tends to be very much a minority domain but .info is only slightly better. People have become brainwashed over the years to .com and automatically think of it. However with the launch of .eu here in Europe next year, the .eu could be the next big thing. The launch of .eu may impact on the smaller gtlds such as .biz and .info and also on many of the smaller cctlds here in Europe. I'm not sure about the .us cctld as it seems to be underused at the moment. This again may be due to the prevalence of .com.

Regards...jmcc

[amznVibe]

current number of domains registered:
[whoissource.com...]

graphical version:
[registrarstats.com...]

current TLD count by number of pages in Google:

rounded to nearest half million 
.com 128 million 
.net 36 million 
.org 43.5 million 
.biz 3.5 million 
.info 4.5 million 
.nu 2.0 million 
.cc 1.5 million 
.ws 1.5 million 
.tv 1.5 million 
.edu 21 million 
.de 57 million 
.uk 34.5 million 
.us 10 million 
.ca 12 million 
.cn 14.5 million 
~ under half million 
.bz 182,000 
.tm 19,500 
.kids.us 1,640 

[cabbagehead]

Hmm ... pretty interesting.

Yeah, I know the .ie, .de, and .uk country codes are quite popular and thus I've had high hopes for .us but so far they just don't seem to be taking off, I'm sad to say. Just looking around at (a) how much the domains are selling for, and (b) how often I actually come across a .info , .biz, or .us that is in use that I like ... I have to say it seems to me that .info is taking off quite a bit more than .us, and .biz is pretty close to being a complete dud. that's just my own personal observations though.

The registered domains info is interesting. Registered versus sold and /or in use however I think is a much different story. Alot of speculation in .us but I just don't see ppl buying or using them like I have with .info.

It will be very interesting to see what happens in the coming year or two...

[adfree]

I found well sounding combinations becoming more interesting. If a .info fits behind a domain by better describing the value and scope of the site might sometimes be the better bet than any other TLD.

[cabbagehead]

Yeah - I mean I tend to agree when I'm feeling open minded. For instance - i have a domain [keyword].us which in my opinion is about the best [keyword] related domain you could have. Still, I have friends that aren't so involved in the industry and they tell me they think "anything but .com is cheesey". Of course these are the same ppl that think .com, .net, and .org don't really have any disernable meaning or purpose of their own....net and .org are just what you get when the .com is taken.

So in trying to figure all of this out, there is common sense and aesthetic taste as you mentioned but I'm still tyring to figure out who the group think crowd will affect this whole thing - it seems thre's not acceptance until they've seen the domains marketed a few times and get familiar with it.
...and here's another thing I'm trying to figure out which further clouds the picture - it ICANN going to at least wait and give these existing domains (.info, .biz, .us) a chance before they introduce another 5-10 TLDs?

I guess what it all boils down to is I'm trying to figure out (a) if its worth investing any money in good up and coming domains at the moment, and if so then (b) which domain (info, biz, us) to choose. Gosh, where's a crystal ball when you need one.

[edited by: tedster at 1:36 pm (utc) on July 20, 2004]

[henry0]

I do not think that it really matters
I recently for a client made a ".info"
that works very well
it is really realated to info
My point is that it offers what my clients targets are looking for
so we are back to the real value: Content!

[MatthewHSE]

I just registered a .us domain for my personal site. Personally, I would not want a non-.com domain for a site where I depended on type-in traffic for income.

[tedster]

Although it's not purposed to be a commercial TLD, the .name extension shows just under 1 million results in Google. Members here seem to hold strong opinions, both favorable and negative, on the .name extension ( see [webmasterworld.com...] ). But as in all cases, the public will vote with their actual usage.

Just a personal preference here, but I don't often click on a 4-letter extension (.info). It's an odd aversion on my part, I guess. But 4-letter extensions just look weird to me and I automatically shave off a couple "respectable" points in my head when I see them.

[PatrickDeese]

There are a couple industries that buy the .biz and .us domains because they expect to burn them in a relatively short period of time and simply buy something like kw1-kw2-kw3-kw4-kw5.biz because they can get them for 4.95 or less.

If the life expectancy of your domain is 3-4 months - and you want a keyword laden domain name, you may as well shave off a couple dollars, not to mention the fact that your chances are much higher of getting a .us or a .biz with just about any combination of keywords, whereas possibilities are much lower with a .com extension.

[encyclo]

As PatrickDeese mentions, domains like .biz (in particular) are almost exclusively spam domains. In my opinion, nothing looks worse than .biz.

I quite like .info, but it is still seen as a bit unusual, and I'd take a .com or the appropriate country-specific domain any day. cabbagehead - your girlfriend is spot-on - and it's always a good idea to get opinions from non-web folk when choosing an important domain name.

[johnser]

any stats on uk.com or eu.com?

[CritterNYC]

Personally, the only thing I've seen .biz used for is spam. So, in my mind, it conjures up that negative connotation. Anybody else?

[MatthewHSE]

I was talking with a family member the other day about .biz domains. His first thought was about like mine; picture of a slick salesman pushing a contract at you, saying "Now here's what I'm a'goin' to do, seein's how it's you . . . "

I believe .biz fits a legitimate need, but it sounds too much like get-rich-quick schemes, "Show me the $$$" brochures, etc. And apparently that's how it's being used for the most part.

[cabbagehead]

Hmm - yeah I kinda agree about the .biz thing. And yeah, I had never really thought about the spam angle but if that's true then yeah, .biz is not only unpopular but might even be a downright periah in some people's perception...and the lowering of the price to $4.95 for .biz some registrars definitely does not help that cause.

[tedster]

any stats on uk.com or eu.com

You can use the Google site: switch to see roughly how many Google has indexed - which is only part of the total registered, of course.

.uk.com - 162,000 results
.eu.com - 107,000 results

[iThink]

I use my-last-name.biz for personal email (no other TLD is available) and every time I have to give my email ID to someone on phone, I come across people who ask me how to spell .biz or what is .biz? That is another minus point for .biz domains.

[treeline]

My email spam filter automatically gives points to all .biz domain emails. If the rest of it is clean, it will get through, but .biz domains start at a disadvantage as there is so much spam coming from these.

[balam]

tedster mentioned...

> Just a personal preference here, but I don't often click on a 4-letter extension (.info).

It seems that I don't put as much stock into the TLD extension as other do (when making the decision to click on a link or not), but it does play a small part in my personal "algorithms."

When it comes to the .info TLD, given its relative "newness," I'm a bit more inclined to click. The rationale being that since it's a new TLD, I (occassionally naively) figure that the registrant has selected an appropriate TLD and I'll actually get information and not spam, affiliate links, inappropriate Flash or other hubris.

Speaking of spam, welcome to the .biz domain. (While it doesn't seem to have been successful, did you know that the country of Belize (.ccTLD = .bz) proposes their .ccTLD as an alternative to the .biz domain? FYI: [BelizeNIC.bz...] )

With (tens of?) billions of documents across (hundreds of?) millions of sites, I find it rather hard to pigeon-hole a site based on its TLD. Especially with the attitude of .net and .org being the replacement when your desired .com is taken.

And especially since originally all that was available was .com, .net & .org. As a private individual, where would I fit in there? I can't help but think that ICANN suffer(s/ed) the same mindset as 1950's IBM's "we see a world market of 5 computers" & 1980's Gates' "who needs more than 640KB?". "Who, on a planet of 6 billion, could possibly want a personal website?"

I like, and probably favour, most .ccTLDs. (I don't visit sites that use prostituted .ccTLDs, like .tv, .ws & .fm.) All things (apparently) equal (as can be deduced from the SERPs), I'll click the .ccTLD before other TLDs, since I figure I'll be dealing with Widgettans, as opposed to those behind a .com, whom could be of any nationality. (Assume I'm looking for info on Widgetland...)

[egomaniac]

Personally I am fine with .biz domains. When I see one in the SERPS for something I am shopping for, then that is OK with me. It says to me that this is probably a newer site, since they couldn't get the .com extension.

I like .biz better than .net or .org for commmercially oriented sites.

I get turned off to sites that are obviously commercial using the .org extension.

The .net extension has always seemed kind of nebulous in its meaning to me (and please don't reply telling me what it is - I am just expressing my opinion as asked here).

The only two letter TLDs I trust are ones that are appropriate to their actual country: .ca, .uk, etc.

I think .us domains are lame.

I don't think I've even seen a .info domain in the SERPS yet for anything I've needed to search for.

I think most brains prefer things that come in 3s. I know I do. This means I prefer .com, .org, and .biz over .info, .cc, .ws, etc.

That's my two bits.

[iThink]

Spam from .biz has been mentioned repeatedly but that will be taken care of from coming September when Verisign moves to an almost real-time DNS update of .com/.net domains. Then the spammers will have choice of using a .com or a .net domains also for spam :)

[cabbagehead]

>almost real-time DNS update of .com/.net domains

I guess I don't understand ... what is it about this change that will make it more likely that spammers will use .com / .net?

Also, anyone know if ICANN is planning to release yet even more new TLDs any time soon? That's the one threat more than anything that kills domain names as an investment. Unlike real estate, they can just keep creating more and saturating the market until "the cows come home".

[jmccormac]

Yeah, I know the .ie, .de, and .uk country codes are quite popular say.

The .de and .uk country codes are the most popular in europe. As for .ie cctld, popular is not a word I would associate with it. :) It has less than 40k domains due to moronic management of the .ie registry over the years. The number of Irish owned .com/net/org/info/biz domains is probably at least 150K. However the .info is doing better than .biz with Irish domain owners. The bulk of the Irish CNOib domains are in .com and this pattern is repeated in all the other European/EU countries that I have analysed.

Regards...jmcc

[iThink]

I guess I don't understand ... what is it about this change that will make it more likely that spammers will use .com / .net?

Most spammers use .biz domains because DNS updates for .biz are almost-instant. It mean that if a web host pulls the plug on a spammer's site, he can change the name servers and point his domain to another web host in around 5 minutes. So spammers use this as an insurance against action by web hosts. They keep multiple backup sites ready in case they need to change DNS. Please remember that DNS for .com & .net propagate in 12-24 hours for most domains.

Here is what Verisign has to say about this

[verisign.com...]

Will rapid DNS updates impact SPAM?
Verisign anticipates negligible increases in SPAM as a result of more frequent updates to the .com/.net zone files. Rapid updates to .com/.net are consistent with processes in place at other large domain registries today.

[ignatz]

.info all the way. It sounds as good as .biz sounds bad. I've recently registered a few of .info's and plan to develop develop develop.

Cheers to .info!

[amznVibe]

.uk.com - 162,000 results
.eu.com - 107,000 results

Those are PAGES indexed, not the number of domains.
Divide by 3, maybe 4 to get a rough domain count.

Too bad google doesn't have a top level page filter like AllTheWeb used to have (or IP filter for that matter).

[canuck]

After using .biz for one of our main projects after its launch a couple years ago, I have found several problems with it:

• Your average Joe Surfer is accustomed to .com for everything, especially ecom sites. Building an ecom site using a second-rate extension like .biz, can raise doubts by visitors who may see the website as an upstart or inferior to its rivals.
  
• the extension is an informal/slang term, which IMHO doesn't give a professional aura to bizness
  
• stickiness --- confusion over the extension leads to fewer repeats
  
• spam in the .biz TLD - Neulevel continues to dump .biz domains at lower prices making it very attractive for spam and fly-by-nights
  
• <off-the-wall>there is something just more aesthetically pleasing to .com over .biz... take a look at 2 similar listings in the search engines and you should see what I mean. Whether it's .com's smoother lines as compared to .biz or what I can't entirely put my finger on it.</off-the-wall>
  

[ignatz]

Whether it's .com's smoother lines as compared to .biz or what I can't entirely put my finger on it.

.biz simply looks and sounds terrible. The only domain names it seems to suit are things like "getrichquick.biz", "freemoneyfromthegovt.biz", or maybe "joinmyspamcabal.biz"

[vkaryl]

Yah.... I have a "referent" problem with ".biz".... it just sounds SLEEZY.

[canuck]

.biz simply looks and sounds terrible. The only domain names it seems to suit are things like "getrichquick.biz", "freemoneyfromthegovt.biz", or maybe "joinmyspamcabal.biz"

Agreed, I would never use .biz for a new project... seeing as I feel it's only useful for short-term or spam projects, neither of which I do.

What about strong generic .biz's? I have one -very- nice one I got lucky with in the Landrush... I've decided to sell it due to my negative experience with the TLD.