When talking about domain extensions, a dot com domain names extension is what first comes to the minds of most people. Have you not heard that it's a .com world!

Because of the somehow inherent behavior that most webmasters develop, most people often scramble to get just the right domain name extension.

There are abound stories about webmasters who may not register a potential goldmine name with a different extension because of the popularity of .com domain names extension which grabs their fancy.

A quick fact check though reveals a different story. There are dozens of available domain names, some of which have become very popular despite them not being of .com domain names extension.

Popularity Without .Com Domain Names Extension

The question under discussion today is how will a webmaster be able to determine if a site is going to be popular, so to speak, without the traditional .com domain names extension?

Here is how:

• First, the webmaster has to evaluate his or her website's purpose.

If the website is there, created solely for the purpose of being there as a directional entity to guide people to an affiliate page, then dot com domain names extension doesn't really matter, since it will only be visited once anyway.

In the same line of thinking, if people are going to continually visit a website, people may not care whether or not the website has a .com domain names extension. Websites that contain games, updated information and message boards are the ones that people continually visit.

"Bookmark"option is a great tool which is strategically placed on a website to encourage visitors to bookmark that site on their computer. All a person has to do is click on the domain name and enter it in the box on the bookmark without caring if it's of dot com domain names extension.

Heck, there are even web 2.0 sites developed solely for that purpose. Then, whenever a person wants to go back to a certain site, all he has to do is to scroll down the list of bookmarks and click on the one he wants without minding if it's a dot com domain names extension.

• Secondly, it is wise to put into consideration the memorable nature of your domain name.

If you as a webmaster you're able to come up with a witty domain name hack, such as del.icio.us, and the content is excellent, it may make no difference whether if it is not followed by a .com domain names extension. For instance a good site that is able to allow a webmaster to register unconventional domain name extensions is New.net. It offers such extension such as .free and .love.

By contemplating some of the available domain name extensions, webmasters will be able to think about ideas for their own domain name hacks instead of using the popular .com domain names extension. If they need help with this, the word or letters used in the extension can always be typed in a keyword analyzer or search engine.

• Thirdly, take into consideration other players in the market.

A webmaster has to make the determination as to whether or not a domain name with unconventional extension will receive a higher rank in the search engines as opposed to one that has a .com domain names extension.

For example, consider del.icio.us again.

To be honest, how many people are really typing such a domain name into their browser? Not me! While it is memorable enough, all of the periods associated with that name are annoying. I hope I'm not alone here!

However, this website still has a high search engine ranking, which is probably how it is getting so much traffic. Web surfers visit this site from the search engine, bookmark it and they never again have to be associated with its unique URL. A webmaster truly wants to emulate that kind of success, without necessarily using .com domain names extension.

Don't Emphasize on .Com Domain Names Extension

If a name is memorable and keyword-rich, webmasters must go for whatever extension is available by not emphasizing on a .com domain names extension. This is to say that someone must not be limited to just one domain name extension. If they still want to use .com domain names extension after using other extensions, they're free to do so.

In fact, the more other domain names extensions lead to .com domain names extension, the more likely a search engine bot will index it higher.

They can use the unconventional domain name in search engine marketing in the hopes of getting indexed high, and the dot com domain names extensions can be used in printed media where people will more likely be concerned with the type of URL they're entering in their browser. In these cases, the simpler the URL is the better!

Are .Com Domain Names Extension Overrated?

Some say .com domain names extension are overrated while some think not.

Depending on your stand and your argument, one thing we can all agree in is that "quality" is the key. If a website has quality content, a quality product, quality service and a name that has all the good qualities of a domain name, then what really is in a name that makes it so popular?

Despite the domain name extension in use, visitors like, remember and are willing to buy from a site that has something good to offer in return or solve their problem. To conclude, alongside .com domain names extension use other extensions too.