Two Reasons To Discount International “.com” Geo’s
Quick note from abroad. I’m in Italy to start this week off and I must admit the “.it” TLD rules the domain game over here. I have not yet seen one .com.
Prior to coming over here I tried to schedule my trip using primarily geodomains. As my first destination, I started with Florence.com and realized that this gold mine of a domain is not being properly utilized. However, after spending only one day here, I have realized two things that make me hesitant about pursuing that domain (besides its potential extremely high price tag).
- The use of the Italian word for Florence, “Firenze”, is extremely prevalent locally. I think this would crush the local side of that geodomain. I find that an interesting topic itself. Elliot recently acquired FrenchRiviera.com, and excellent geodomain. However, I am curious with how it will compete with Cote d’Azur in France, which I understand to be the more local way of referring to that destination. A Google Trends comparison of both of these destinations (Florence vs Firenze and French Riviera vs Cote dAzur) shows that his domain does have a distinct advantage, while the same cannot be said for this Italian counterpart. While I have not doubt the “destination” side of his domain will dominate and be fantastic, I am looking forward to hearing about his experience with building that domain out on the “local” side.
- The “.it” extension prevails in this country, from what I have seen. I will need more time to tour the country, perhaps enjoying some food, wine and sun while laboring at this tough job, and will form a definite opinion on just how strong the “.it” extension dominates the “.com”.
These observations point toward two things. One, the “.it” extension should be used for any local Italian business. Two, “.com” geodomains internationally should not be priced the same as “.com” geodomains in the U.S., because they lose out on the “local” half of the business.
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some nice thoughts here…I don’t think the local thing is too much to worry about. They don’t need hotels and they already probably know which restaurants to go to and whatnot. I’ve looked at all the sites at associated cities and most if not all make there living on the tourist side
Yes outside the US its a different world, and ccTLDs rule. Dot-com doesnt work as well therefore.
Yeah the locals don’t need info about hotels. They already know alll the hotels.
Right. Don’t worry. There’s no money in there!
No money in that IDN thing either.
I mean shit – who is going to use it?!
Some countries reserve their geo.ccTLD domains for the local municipalities, that’s where IDN.com kicks in.
I think it’s important to understand each country and how they market online. Some countries use their own ccTLD quite a bit while other countries tend to use .com or some other extension. You also have to determine are your marketing for the local market (where local traditions really matter) or for a different market (like English speakers who are looking at a particular country or region – where local domain extensions are less likely to matter).
OI makes a very good point here. If the ccTLD is reserved by the government for the geo, then .com moves absolutely back into the prime position. It depends on the country, as Mickie says.
Interesting comments here. As a destination marketing professional with a special focus on Mexico travel, I can say that all of our .com geos are geared toward the US market.
Here in Mexico the .com.mx extension leads the local market. This makes sense for small to large companies focusing on the local market specifically.
Just as with Italy’s .it or Spain’s .es, here you see .com.mx all over the place on a commercial, non-tourism plain.
However, if you’re marketing a destination to the US/Canadian travel market – as we do – the .com makes the most sense.