Quote:
Originally Posted by Zealotry
(Post 19344807)
.com is always best :1orglaugh
|
I understand where you're coming from when you say that. But it's still very simplistic. If you're a British company, often .CO.UK is best. Many websites forward the .COM to their .CO.UK site, and the latter is displayed to visitors. The same occurs in all countries outside the USA, depending on the audience focus of the site (national versus international).
It's not so simple for adult entertainment either. CollegeStudents.com is probably better than CollegeStudents.xxx, but that's because the first one applies to the education industry. Try using CollegeStudents.com for porn, and the bounce rate will be gigantic. CollegeStudents.xxx communicates far better what the content of the site would be (i.e. adult content); and, in that sense, it has one clear advantage over the .com -- which anyone who is being sincere must admit.
Also, the cost of a premium single-word .COM is likely to be 20-100 times the cost of the equivalent .XXX domain. So even if .COM is better in an absolute sense, in the practical world, .XXX might be a better deal.
And which is better -- GirlsXXX.com or Girls.xxx? I think, Girls.xxx looks better because it's short. And I'm pretty sure that the average person on the street -- who isn't a porn webmaster -- would agree. Plus, Girls.xxx is an exact match for [Girls] searches, whereas GirlsXXX.com is not.
So Girls.com is better than Girls.xxx. But it doesn't follow from this that GirlsXXX.com or GirlsAMillion.com or GirlsUndressing.com or any of the available .COM domains would be better than an intuitive memorable brand like Girls.xxx.
.XXX is being loudly opposed by some people in the industry -- mainly because the ICM Registry has made some truly OBNOXIOUS management decisions. Really, I think all the noise and politics are confusing webmasters about what really counts with a domain name -- brand value. Customers out there understand .XXX. They can remember .XXX and type it in without bookmarks or even search engines. That equals return customers and word of mouth.
Granted, there aren't many developed .XXX sites of real quality out there. Why? Because the extension is new, for one thing. And because so many adult webmasters -- who can build great sites -- are sticking to shitty .COM brands instead. But, remember, a boycott DISTORTS reality. If the industry weren't distorted by all of the ICM Registry politics, I think many of you webmasters would be glad to have stronger brands.
And, yes, it is possible to have stronger brands on .XXX. If your websites are all using 2- and 3-word domains, possibly with hyphens, for phrases that experience negligible search volume, and maybe for made-up phrases that nobody else would even think of ... then I'd say that there are far better brands on .XXX out there. Those of you who can get past your ICM Registry bias will probably admit this. If you could have registered a single-word .XXX domain 10 years ago for the same price as a 3-word .COM, wouldn't you have leapt at that chance?
The porn industry forums are like echo chambers. Everybody agrees with everybody else that the ICM Registry sucks. So they end up believing that .XXX has no advantages at all -- which is simply foolish, guys. Go out on the street and ask Joe Porn Surfer to remember a list of 10 domains that are all made-up 2- and 3-word .COM s. Ask him to repeat the list back to you. He won't be able to remember most of them. Ask him a week later, and he'll have forgotten them all. But repeat that test with 10 one-word .XXX domains where those words make sense for an adult site. I guarantee he'll do MUCH better. And that -- plain and simple -- is brand value.
P.S. Some people in the adult industry -- people with deep pockets, who must know what works -- are buying .XXX for big prices. Do you guys really think that it's domain investors paying $500,000 for Gay.xxx? Or $300,000 for Fetish.xxx? Etc. etc. Obviously, these buyers are porn industry insiders. And NOBODY pays $500k for a domain unless they have solid evidence that they can make MORE than $500k from that domain. So who are these people? They're probably some of the same people who are telling all the smaller adult businesses and solo webmasters to boycott .XXX ... speaking out of both sides of their mouths. And why not? There's real money at stake. After all, that will help them buy up more of the .XXX space until they can monopolize it! It's not the ICM Registry who is going to create this monopoly. Hell, the ICM Registry isn't building any adult websites. No, the guys who are going to buy up the best of the .XXX brands are the big adult businesses who are already making it difficult for the little guys. They're the only people who would dare to pay 5 or 6-figure prices right now. So while all the guys in the forums are deluding themselves that .XXX won't get anywhere, they're missing their real chance to own a bigger chunk of the market. And the fat cats are laughing while everybody else is asleep at the wheel. 5 years from now, the public WILL be visiting porn sites on .XXX as well as .COM; and the guys who think that nothing changes as long as they hate it enough? ... They'll have a smaller share of the pie.
