What is .com domain? Can I use an alternative domain extension for my company if .com is taken?

The .com domain extension stands for "commercial". It's the golden standard for a business. 99% of Fortune 500 companies operate on .com. For example Microsoft.com, apple.com, adobe.com, samsung.com and so on. If, for example, you want to visit Microsoft's website, you would type "microsoft.com", not "microsoft.co" into your browser without thinking. So, if a company is using .com domain name, then a potential customer would assume this company is from the same league. Therefore, the .com extension would give instant trustability, authority and recognition. This would lead to more sales, as a result your marketing efficiency and your revenue grows.

 

And vise-versa: if a company is using .co, .net, then a potential customer would automatically assume that this is a second-tier company. As a result, less sales and smaller revenue. Ask yourself: would you trust microsoft if they were using microsoft.co and not microsoft.com?

 

I really don't recommend .co, in my opinion it's the WORST extension you can think of. The reason is the following: since .com is golden standard, then a potential customer would frequently type yourbrand.com instead of yourbrand.co into the browser. So, if you operate on .co, you will just loose traffic to the .com owner.

I would recommend to read this regarding the .co: Click.

 

If you don't own .com, then it's safe to assume that .com is owned by someone else. So, let's assume that you are using an alternative extension, and someone else is using .com. Statistics say that 97% of users searched online to find a local business according to Safaridigital.

 

So, let's assume that a potential customer is searching for "YourCompany" in google. First of all, if .com is used, then google would probably put YourCompany.com on top. With significant probability, your potential customer would just click "YourCompany.com" (once again, we are assuming you are using an alternative extension). As a result, there is a big chance that you will lose this client.

 

Second, your potential customer would see both "YourCompany.com" and YourCompany.net (or .co) search results. Some customers might think something like "YourCompany.net (or .co) is the second tier company, since the .com is used by somebody else. I 'd better search for another, more trustworthy company" So, an alternative extension would decrease your revenue.

 

 .com is the most common and recognizable extension for a business. A potential customer would be reluctant to make an order from a company using an alternative extension, since such a company doesn't look trustworthy. As a consequence, an alternative extension would decrease marketing efficiency, and, as a result, revenue.