advice How important is .com for your OWN website?

[Ashash]

This is not a domaining question, but being that Namepros members know the value of a domain better than most, hoped I would get some thoughtful input.

I am developing a website to sell a series of informational books. Of course all the names I want in .com are gone, or for sale at huge prices. The books are not going to make me a millionaire so not prepared to spend huge bucks on a domain.

I have, however, found nice catchy names in other gTLDs.

Would it be better to have a less catchy name in .com, or a catchier name in a lesser known gTLD, e.g., .BOOK (example only, not the gTLD I would use)?

What proportion of the general public are even aware that domains exist in any extensions other than .com, .net, etc, or their own country's TLD?

I don't want to have to put "BOOKNAME.BOOK (type this exact URL to buy my book, don't type.com!)" or something similarly clunky on the book cover so that potential buyers are not trying to type in BOOKNAME.BOOK.COM, for example.

Due to the nature of the books, I anticipate a good percentage of sales will come from someone seeing another person's copy and wanting to order for themselves, so the domain name for the sales site will be printed in large font on the rear cover.

What thinks the Namepros brains trust?

 

[Leo2k]

Would it be better to have a less catchy name in .com, or a catchier name in a lesser known gTLD, e.g., .BOOK (example only, not the gTLD I would use)?

I would prefer the catchier name in gtld or cctld.

What proportion of the general public are even aware that domains exist in any extensions other than .com, .net, etc, or their own country'

Very less people know the ngtld's but most people who use internet are aware of their cctld's.

I don't want to have to put "BOOKNAME.BOOK (type this exact URL to buy my book, don't type.com!)"

To avoid that confusion you may print www.bookname.book (include www) and most buyers will get the clue. Even if they try with .com they would try the actual url once they see that adding .com is not working / throwing error. If you still worry, you may add the following text below the url in small letters (.com .book ) to give additional hint.

 

[arjun29]

I think: Get a DOT COM from HugeDomains. You can get decent names for 1k-3k and can have 36months payment plans as well. Having a strong brandname and .com will motivate you even more (you being inclined to domain names).

 

[Recons.Com]

Got to be .com (or cctld if country-specific)

If it is not the exact title dot com, then you are asking the customers to dedicated another compartment of their brain to you, which most won't bother.

So either pay up for the name you are looking for, or go creative and come up with a name that no one took yet. Shouldn't be that hard for a book title, given that you can go 3-4 words there.

 

[Jannes]

If you're "developing a website to sell a series of informational books", why would/should you use (or especially pay extra for) bookname.anything?

To be honest, selling informational books is hard. I think they are best used as lead magnets (you give them for free and build a mailing list) in order to sell something more lucrative, such as courses or consulting.

 

[Ashash]

If you're "developing a website to sell a series of informational books", why would/should you use (or especially pay extra for) bookname.anything?

To be honest, selling informational books is hard. I think they are best used as lead magnets (you give them for free and build a mailing list) in order to sell something more lucrative, such as courses or consulting.

Without giving anything away, the books are a bit like toilet paper - not in terms of crap (I hope!) but in terms of single use only. Sort of like workbooks.

 

[Ashash]

Thank you so much for your input everyone, I managed to find a .com domain name to handreg that I am actually quite pleased with. Not that it really means much I guess, but GD valued at $2400, so I guess that's a bonus, although I have no intention of selling it.

 

[MKA]

Would it be better to have a less catchy name in .com, or a catchier name in a lesser known gTLD, e.g., .BOOK (example only, not the gTLD I would use)?

A less catchy .com is almost always preferable. Normally when you look at the .ai, .io, etc. domain you're looking at businesses that have already settled for a name, or simply aren't aware of the advantages of a .com.

Not to mention that new gTLD are all over the place with their renewals.

What proportion of the general public are even aware that domains exist in any extensions other than .com, .net, etc, or their own country's TLD?

No idea, but it's not whether people know they exist or not that tends to be the issue, it's how people remember them. Most people won't remember that a domain isn't a .com.

I mean I still mistakenly add the .com when I attempt to type-in access sites that I don't visit that often.

I don't want to have to put "BOOKNAME.BOOK (type this exact URL to buy my book, don't type.com!)" or something similarly clunky on the book cover so that potential buyers are not trying to type in BOOKNAME.BOOK.COM, for example.

Even if someone recognizes .book as a TLD it's not necessarily going to be the case that they recognize "bookname.book" as a website. They might think it's a social media handle, or just a logo variant.

So you may have to specify it, i.e. "website: bookname.book" as opposed to simply "getbookname.com" which will immediately be identified as a website.

 

[Ashash]

A less catchy .com is almost always preferable. Normally when you look at the .ai, .io, etc. domain you're looking at businesses that have already settled for a name, or simply aren't aware of the advantages of a .com.

Not to mention that new gTLD are all over the place with their renewals.


No idea, but it's not whether people know they exist or not that tends to be the issue, it's how people remember them. Most people won't remember that a domain isn't a .com.

I mean I still mistakenly add the .com when I attempt to type-in access sites that I don't visit that often.


Even if someone recognizes .book as a TLD it's not necessarily going to be the case that they recognize "bookname.book" as a website. They might think it's a social media handle, or just a logo variant.

So you may have to specify it, i.e. "website: bookname.book" as opposed to simply "getbookname.com" which will immediately be identified as a website.

Thank you, all excellent points, I especially did not even think about it looking like a social media handle.