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If You Saw It What Would You Think?
Posted By: gpick* on 12/19/2006 8:04 AM (CST) 500 Points
Yes, another if you saw it what would you think from me.

We've been going over multiple names for a service and just haven't made a decision. Even when we've made up our minds, another potentially better idea pops up. Can you empathize? (that's not the question.,:))

We recently came up with a name for our service that seems to be the best name we've had so far. We were lucky to get the .NET domain name just as it was about to expire but the .COM domain name is under development from another company, for an entirely different type of service/product and they are unwilling to sell, "at any price".

I am working on a branding plan but an still unsure about whether popular sentiment leans towards....... you don't have the .com, you don't have a name.

If you saw Connect Us dot net (I can't include the actual domain here) , what would you think? Would you immediately think that the company just couldn't get the .com domain? Do you think a lot of people, when hearing the name, would automatically assume it is at the .com address?

Popular sites like YouTube, Google and MSN are all .coms. I can't even think of another successful company who owns the .net ONLY. So, I guess my question is (and I'm close to answering it myself), IS THERE VALUE IN HAVE JUST THE .NET NAME AND WOULD YOU BASE YOUR COMPANY BRANDING ON IT?

Posted by: BJC Member Response
12/19/2006 8:36 AM (CST)
2 years ago you may have had more of a problem but people are becoming more aware of the .net addresses. If they can't find you under .com, the next most commonly one used is .net. If the company that will own the .com is a strong brand, even if it isn't in your industry, then I would look for another name. If it's not a strong brand or is local in a different area than you are, it should not be a problem.
You may want to work something out with them since you are not competitive to have a link to your site in the corner of theirs and vice-versa.
 
Posted by: greg Member Response
12/19/2006 8:45 AM (CST)
I once tried a .net for the primary address. My marketing did a fantastic job at sending everyone to the .com. Everyone gets the first part of the domain, then fills in the .com no matter what it is. Even .orgs have a huge problem with this. So much of a problem that if they can't get the .com as well, they won't get the .org any more because scammers feed on the people that can't remember the extension by grabbing the .com.

I'd have to say, if your success depends on people remembering the name, think twice about it. If it will depend primarily on links and print media, you are better off.
 
Posted by: adammjw Member Response
12/19/2006 9:35 AM (CST)
I wonder how strong will be your presence offline.
Do you embark on a branding initiative with already a well-rooted service or it's totally new?
If the latter and you see its success as mostly dependent on your online strength and customers' ability to remember it I would seriusly reconsider the name.
Otherwise you may be forced to expend much more to rouse and then maintain your brand presence.

Adam
 
Posted by: Marketing-Riot Member Response
12/19/2006 9:43 AM (CST)
I think using the com and net together is even more confusing than just using the net address.

There is a lot of debate over the .com versus the .net and .org domain names. Some say your company will appear to be second tier when using the .net address. Good arguments for .org are it signifies a non-profit and I agree.

I personally feel .net is popular enough not to cause you a problem and I don't really agree with analysis of .com being superior to .net or .org.

It's a gamble I would take but you may not wish to.
 
Posted by: jojo Member Response
12/19/2006 9:44 AM (CST)
i say go with the .net domain. youre not the only one dealing with that kind of problem. as .net addresses start to proliferate, soon everyone will start registering/searching with that address side by side .com.
however, it is still to your advantage if you have .com. but on the other hand, to answer your question, if you use the "connect us dot net", it would sound like someone else got the domain that you wanted first. so maybe what you can do is to "re-spell" the domain that you want. for instance, instead of textme.com, do txtme.com
hope this helps
 
Posted by: msumner1* Member Response
12/19/2006 10:00 AM (CST)
i personally see .net as an out for people who either couldn't come up with an original .com, or couldn't afford the .com they wanted.

i can't really think of a single successful website that has a .net address that doesn't also own the .com version of it. however, it doesn't necessarily follow logically that the .net sites aren't popular BECAUSE they are .net. it's possible that if they can't afford a good .com, they can't afford a decent marketing budget to promote their site.

if you market it right, people will remember it and you won't come off looking like a 2nd-tier company.

it should be obvious to people that connectus.com isn't your site though because it looks like crap and doesn't seem to serve any purpose, and i agree that most people would jump right to the connectus.net after seeing the .com version.
 
Posted by: Inbox_Interactive Member Response
12/19/2006 10:43 AM (CST)
I personally don't care much for .net addresses...as has been stated you will be spending a lot of money driving traffic to the .com site.

However, it really all comes down to why and how people get to your site.

If you are doing email marketing or paid search or anything with a link, it doesn't matter what the URL is because you are taking them right there.

If you are doing snail mail, again you have the opportunity to show the complete URL in print, so there should be no confusion as to where to go.

For me, only if you are doing billboards or radio or even TV where you are hoping that people will remember your domain name long enough to type it in is the whole .com or .net thing an issue. I suppose word of mouth marketing would benefit from a .com, too, but maybe you're not relying on that.

Whether people will go to .net if the .com is not what they are looking for also depends on the audience. A tech-oriented crowd might do that, but Joe Public will not. He will see that he didn't get what he wanted and move on to the Joke of the Day.
 
Posted by: bigstarnow Member Response
12/19/2006 4:05 PM (CST)
connectus.net is fine. net and web give a feeling of connection.
 
Posted by: Eric Hoover* Member Response
12/19/2006 4:05 PM (CST)
I tend to agree with the responses posted above. With everyone (6 - 60) utilizing the web, users are much more savvy than users even two years ago. I do not believe that people automatically assume .com any more.

As long as your URL is clearly visible in any and all business communications, the .net vs. .com issue should not be the reason your business succeeds or fails.
 
Posted by: jillm Member Response
12/19/2006 6:11 PM (CST)
I think that if I had to choose, I would go with .net given that .com is not a viable option. Especially since your other fallback is .biz, which strikes me as 50 times (maybe 100 times!) worse than having a .net domain...
 
Posted by: Carl Crawford Member Response
12/19/2006 11:57 PM (CST)
Well here are a few examples of dot net sites that DONT have the .com address and are still successful.

www.boingboing.net (The worlds most popular blog)
SourceForge.net (The number one place of the web to get open source software)
del.icio.us
imageshack.us
etc
plus a whole host of others.

If your product or service is useful people will remember the name.

Believe it or not most people are smart, if they are looking for clothing form your company called punkroker.net but accidentally go to punkrocker.com and find a wood working site they will try other actually use google to find you or try different extensions.
 
Posted by: Marketing-Riot Member Response
12/20/2006 9:25 AM (CST)
Can't you promote net as a positive difference like we're not just any dot com - we're a dot net? What's wrong with doing that? Bring attention to your difference - don't be embarassed by it. I think it's only negative if you make it negative.
 
Posted by: Papadoc (Steve)* Accepted Answer
12/21/2006 12:58 PM (CST)
There are lots of .net domains out there that work just fine. It largely depends on your anticipated methods of marketing the site. If you plan that most people will get to you via search engines and come back because they bookmarked you, then you should be fine. Nobody notices much less cares whether they click on a Google listing for the .com or .net domain. A click is a click.

If you are planning a lot of offline advertising where you depend on people remembering the name until they can get to their computer later, you will probably drive a decent percentage of traffic to the .com site. Yes, people are more savvy than they have been in the past but mistakes will be made and given that not everyone will note the top level (.net, .com, .or) domain, more mistakes will be made assuming .com than vice versa.

You might also consider doing a unique version of your desired choice to get a .com. It can differentiate you if you push it and there's no threat of a second tier company if you do it right. If connectus.com is taken, consider connexus.com or something. There also happens to be a meaning in that modification as well. All too often people tend to go for names that are generic sounding anyway and they are easily played off of it you are successful by modifying it slightly or pluralizing it. (e.g. econnectus, iconnectus, connectsus, connectingus or throw a hyphen in there).

I tend to be in favor of coming up with names like Google, Vonage, YouTube, that would be easy to ward off the leeches. Someone might register e-Google, but they aren't going to get away with it. These take a bit more marketing, but if you work with someone that understands language and speech patterns, you can end up with some great alternatives.
 
Posted by: easyE Member Response
12/21/2006 10:16 PM (CST)
The domain name suffix is known as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) and it describes the type of organization. However in the last few years, the lines have blurred somewhat between these categories. Currently in use of these gTLDs. Here are some of the more common ones:
.com--For businesses, commercial enterprises, or online services like America Online. Most companies use this extension.
.net--For networks; usually reserved for organizations such as Internet service providers
.org--For non-commercial organizations
.edu--For educational institutions and universities
.gov--Reserved for United States government agencies
.biz--Reserved for businesses
If you go with .net, then make sure you do your homework and get the best out of SEO. Good SEO is the key!
Good luck!
 
Posted by: spam Member Response
12/22/2006 1:28 PM (CST)
I own perhaps 50 or so domains. Some are 4 letters some 5 and some 6. I like short and the .com is the default choice. Why? Because domain names were not expected to become as pervasive as they have. If done correctly in the beginning they would have done .god for religious sites, .sex for porn, .spts for athletic teams, .manu for manufacturers, .law for attorneys .acct for CPA's and bookkeepers and so on. But we are stuck in a world of myopia.

here is Spam Sorenson's simple chart...


Priority name - points

your best name.com 100
your best name.net (biz, us etc) 50
any strangename.com 70~80 (must be under 6 characters)
any strange name.net (biz, us etc) 40~60

Look around, simple domains even stupid ones are OK! google, yahoo, amazon, ebay. They are not descriptive. they became names because they had good marketing.

The .com is the default choice until the world matures.
 


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