.info .info is NOT popular in Germany

[armstrong]

By using google search for keyword site:.ext (a technique discussed in http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11458 ), you get the following results for very popular german keywords:

----- kaufen (buy) --- game (spiel) --- reisen (travel) --- buch (book) --- liebe (love) --- average
de --- 6,570,000 --- 6,410,000 --- 7,000,000 --- 7,120,000 --- 6,770,000 --- 6,774,000
com --- 2,230,000 --- 1,920,000 --- 2,380,000 --- 1,870,000 --- 1,670,000 --- 2,014,000
at --- 851,000 --- 714,000 --- 823,000 --- 1,180,000 --- 883,000 --- 890,200
ch --- 684,000 --- 544,000 --- 1,090,000 --- 948,000 --- 595,000 --- 772,200
net --- 753,000 --- 394,000 --- 636,000 --- 647,000 --- 612,000 --- 608,400
org --- 273,000 --- 185,000 --- 197,000 --- 518,000 --- 250,000 --- 284,600
info --- 252,000 --- 69,200 --- 161,000 --- 189,000 --- 52,800 --- 144,800
cc --- 154,000 --- 145,000 --- 156,000 --- 41,200 --- 106,000 --- 120,440
us --- 233,000 --- 205,000 --- 4,430 --- 27,700 --- 6,650 --- 95,356
biz --- 83,000 --- 36,200 --- 18,800 --- 45,400 --- 12,500 --- 39,180

This shows that .info isn't as popular as everyone seems to think, at least for use in websites targetted for german speakers. In fact, it seems that .org is almost twice as popular as .info, and .info is only marginally better than .cc, a cctld everyone loves to scorn.

Your thoughts and opinions on this matter are most welcome!

Regards,

Apollo

 

[Kodeking]

I don't think info is really popular anywhere

 

[RJ]

Quite interesting results.

With .info extension being relatively new compared to com, net, org, de and having seen some impressive sales of German .info's, is it possible .info's are only at the beginning of a new trend? I'd like to see how these numbers change over the coming months.

 

[armstrong]

The current thought is that .info is popular in among Germans now, next only to .de. The DNJournal article ( http://dnjournal.com/columns/dotde.htm ) even goes as far as to claim that .com is considered optional.

But if the actual German website market consists 17% of .com's and 5% of .net's, vs. 1% of .info, then this proves that .com is hardly 'optional' for anyone serious in capturing the German market. These numbers imply that .com is still queen among Germans, and any claim to the contrary have no real-world basis, except perhaps in the eyes of .info stakeholders.

 

[redhippo]

well, polls and genaral opinon is coms are worth dying for...
and they rest are only "goldmine" in the eyes of the beholder:tri:

 

[Darren]

What country extensions are .ch and .at?

Also, why is this targeted at .info, why not .biz or .cc? They are lower in sales that .info.

 

[armstrong]

Originally posted by Darren
What country extensions are .ch and .at?

Also, why is this targeted at .info, why not .biz or .cc? They are lower in sales that .info.

.ch is Switzerland and .at is Austria, the two other countires where German is most widely used.

The reason .info is highlighted in this thread is because it seems to be widely-believed among domainers that Germans prefer .info as the alternate to .de. My 'research' shows otherwise.

 

[jj2ii3344]

Nice analysis Armstrong! I have to check on some .ch and .at domains for registration now, hehe. Thanks!

 

[Ron Jackson]

Originally posted by -RJ-
With .info extension being relatively new compared to com, net, org, de and having seen some impressive sales of German .info's, is it possible .info's are only at the beginning of a new trend?

I think RJ- is exactly right. No new extension is "popular" right now but we are seeing clear signs that buying interest is emerging.

To achieve widespread popularity in any major medium takes many years. I have lived long enough to see FM radio move from the ghetto of the radio spectrum to utter dominance, UHF television reach a par with VHF, and Cable TV surpass the viewing audience of the major networks combined! These were all things people thought would never happen. They all did happen but it took many years for them to reach maturity.

Our report came from Sedo.de who is by far the leader in the German domain resale market. No one is in a better position to spot sales trends. They report four figure .info sales to us every week (there will be another one this week - well over $3,000). They tell me .info is selling for about 25% more than the same terms in .biz. I personally am currently negotiating with a major German bus company for a 3-letter info I own (their initials). They currently use a hyphenated .de.

In short, I see nothing at all surprising in the search results. info is newer than any of those other extensions. I am not so much interested in what today's stats show as what the stats 2-3 years from now will show. Any investor in new extensions would be wise to view them from the same perspective IMO.

If you need a quick payday today, stick with com net org. They priovide the bulk of my sales, however I also invest in the new extensions because I like to cover all of my bases. I am not counting on big returns from them until we are a little furthur down the road (though I have in fact already made a profit in my new extension investments to date).

 

[danielu]

Originally posted by Kodeking
I don't think info is really popular anywhere

I think that the only way you could use .info is for websites with information about events (like conferences, ...)

something like: INMCNY.info (just a made-up name, asuming that there is an event like International Network Managers Conference - New York :P )

 

[armstrong]

That's a very limited view of .info. How about info about places (england.info), people (royals.info), products (safetoys.info), and services (longdistance.info)? There are lots of possibilities, but we are not yet at the point where people automatically put in *.info when looking for information.

 

[danielu]

Anyway, I think that .com will remain the best choice for businesses for a long time.

I say that .info could be used only for events and information provided by non-profit organizations (.org beeing used for information about the organization itself)