Which would you prefer? A great .net or a good .com

**tradingnames.org** · 03-15-2010, 01:53 AM

Hi folks I am a noob and trying to learn how to appraise domains properly and get my head around some of the basic fundamentals, I was wondering how would you rank the following four domains as an example from best to worst, one been the best and four been the worst:

Lcdtv.net 1,830,000 searches
Lcdtvs.net 823,000 searches
lcdscreen.com 22,200 searches
lcdscreens.com 9,900 searches

I have chosen these examples to give me an idea of .com v .net if given that kind of choice and singular v plural, specifically in regards to a product based name.

Many thanks

John

**biggedon** · 03-15-2010, 09:04 AM

they all suck

the technology will fade when something new comes along

and one example does not apply across the board for random product/service domains

some plurals domains perform better than singular and vice versa

so any conclusion you try to draw... will be inconclusive

imo...

**britishbulldog** · 03-15-2010, 02:44 PM

Yeah led tv's are all the rage now,then it will be 3d and so on it will go forever !

**james2002** · 03-15-2010, 03:32 PM

If those are examples, would choose great .net with million searches over good .com low xx,xxx range.

**hugegrowth** · 03-15-2010, 04:08 PM

I would choose 1, 2, 3, 4 in the same order you listed.

Depends on the keywords, but say if it were Games.net and FreeGames.com, I'd probably take the .com

**Denny501** · 03-15-2010, 04:37 PM

I always lean toward the .com first so #1 would be the shorter LCDSCREEN.com, plus if I registered that domain first, LCDSCREENS.com would be a infringement on lcdscreen.com, so I wouldn't have to worry about it as compitition.

LCDTV.net would be #2...again the plural would infringe on my domain so I would not even purchase it.

**tradingnames.org** · 03-16-2010, 10:44 PM

Thanks for the replies folks, yeah I know lcd tvs are on their last legs, I was just using that as an example and it is true that any technology like that i.e. led, oled, ect will have a limited shelf life and I know that the singular or plural can be better depending on the name, I was just wondering which people thought was better with that kind of example. I find the point about the plural been an infringement on the singular interesting, is this really the case?

**Denny501** · 03-16-2010, 11:21 PM

The infringement would depend on which was registered first (plural / singular) and depending what it was, the plural may be a better domain as someone mentioned on another thread GAMES vs GAME. Lots of sticky stuff in the infringement copyright laws, but only if someone is willing to enforce it. Big corps do (ebay, microsoft, monster), just to name a few, if they don't they could end up like band aid did years ago...band aid was told by the courts it didn't protect its copyright soon enough and it became a household word, not a brand name...they call their self "band aid brand" now and I bet they have a slew of lawyers protecting it.

**tradingnames.org** · 03-16-2010, 11:26 PM

I see so are you ok if you register it first?

Also what about the following example computerprogram.com or computerprograms.com which out of those two would you prefer?

**Denny501** · 03-16-2010, 11:40 PM

That's my understanding of what I read in the copyright law...lots of different ways to get yourself in trouble if not careful. When it comes to one word domains I like the singular first. Years ago I created a domain with the plural because of the keyword, but it was 2 words "CreditWindows.com". I also created "ebaywindows.com" years back, and ebay lawyers did contact me about it, but I already sold it to someone who was a bay windows dealer.

**tradingnames.org** · 03-17-2010, 12:38 AM

That’s great thanks, any idea on the computerprogram.com v computerprograms.com example, it’s just I am looking at registering a domain with the word program on the end.

Thanks

**domainlist** · 03-17-2010, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by Denny501

I always lean toward the .com first so #1 would be the shorter LCDSCREEN.com, plus if I registered that domain first, LCDSCREENS.com would be a infringement on lcdscreen.com, so I wouldn't have to worry about it as compitition.

LCDTV.net would be #2...again the plural would infringe on my domain so I would not even purchase it.

#1 Depends which the word is.
In my opinion, movies.com is better than movie.com.

**Denny501** · 03-17-2010, 11:47 AM

In that instance, I would agree. Another would be shoes.com over shoe.com

**tradingnames.org** · 03-17-2010, 05:06 PM

Yeah I think there are some instances where it is quite easy to decide, others and maybe it’s because I am a noob I find much more difficult, I am still not sure which is better keywordexampleprogram.com or keywordexampleprograms.com, any thoughts?

**biggedon** · 03-18-2010, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by tradingnames.org

Yeah I think there are some instances where it is quite easy to decide, others and maybe it’s because I am a noob I find much more difficult, I am still not sure which is better keywordexampleprogram.com or keywordexampleprograms.com, any thoughts?

**Denny501** · 03-18-2010, 11:54 AM

I don't know about the original poster of this thread, but I appreciate your list of links. Matter of fact after quickly looking through a few, I have gained a different way of seeing plural over singular and one link was right, I do enter plurals more often when running a search, than I do using the singular...thanks for your input...

Dennis

**biggedon** · 03-18-2010, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by Denny501

I don't know about the original poster of this thread, but I appreciate your list of links. Matter of fact after quickly looking through a few, I have gained a different way of seeing plural over singular and one link was right, I do enter plurals more often when running a search, than I do using the singular...thanks for your input...

Dennis

you're welcome

the point of posting them is to show that the plural vs singular issue has been discussed since this forum began and probably will continue forever

there really is no definitive answer, as each example can have different result

glad you got some insight though

**Denny501** · 03-18-2010, 12:49 PM

I think this will fall under what this thread is and something I have thought about a few times. "How much weight does a domain name really carry"? I know as domain buyers/sellers. we all want that perfect domain name, the next "Google or IBM", the next household word everyone will know, like eBay or youtube and just type it in and go there. How much of one word, or short 3-4 letter, or character domains to most of us is actually just vanity? I know for myself if I am looking for something online I don't go and type in the URL of what I am looking for ie; "roastbeef recipe", I don't type in www.roastbeef.com I run a search for roast beef recipes and then have a choice of maybe 10,000 sites. Even after being offered 10,000 choices, I usually pick a site from the first page that fits what I need with their description.

Do you think in the past 25 years the search engine has devalued, so to speak, the domain name? If I create a site with a product I am selling, lets say "widgets" and I have GREAT content, all the keywords I can stuff into my site content and description pertaining to my widgets (including the singular by the way), a keyword loaded title, do some good SEO and advertising, would it make any difference if my domain name was www.zenhysdkro.com? If I could get my site to page #1 or #2 on the major search engines would anyone really even see what my domain name was as long as my title, description and keywords had what they are looking for?

**tradingnames.org** · 03-18-2010, 06:35 PM

Yes thank you those links were very helpful. I didn’t mean to turn this thread into another plural v singular thread, I was more interested in the .com v .net issue, but maybe there are too many of those threads too. I was only wondering about that as a secondary issue in regards to a couple of specific examples. I just thought it may be easy for a experienced domainer to answer, perhaps I was wrong, I am sorry for asking the same question twice, I don’t know much about domaining please excuse my ignorance, I am also sorry if I have asked something that has been discussed too many times already and am grateful for all your advice.

Yours humbly

John

**RTM.net** · 03-18-2010, 08:20 PM

Those links were indeed a great contribution - thanks Biggedon!

I disagree about not targetting niche transitory trends.... LCD TV technology is far from dead - it has at the very least 6 weeks to 7 months of commercial viability. Time to laser target a niche and monetize the **** out of it.

I believe in niche markets and we have done well consulting clients on it.

It boils down to "dominate the niche" vs "struggle to compete with the masses"... both approaches are viable, IMHO.... but if you have a measly $10K to invest in your project, don't think you're going to dominate the mass market ...

So, already, LCD TVs are a huge market. How about dominating it on a geo level (say a particular country / state / province?) ... or perhaps refine it on a tech level - small (under 50") TVs... perhaps bulk fleet sales (companies looking to acquire at least 200 units such as a store or display ad company)....

I agree with posters above about the singular vs. plural (and .com vs .net) being a neverending story.

I believe it's more about id'ing your target product, target market and focussing on that... run the metrics scaled to those requirements. Content over UX/UI/Domain pretty much all the time; so, yes a somewhat more compelling .net domain with great content will outrun a cheesy .com parking page.

As someone once said, I love registering a .net/org/info/etc name when the .com is just parked. It signals that the .com owner has no true vested interested in taking the .com to a real business level.

Just my $0.02 (Canadian)

Rob