Thread: Why are .com's still preferred by Startups?

Hi,

I am curious to know why startup companies in India still prefer to go with .com rather than a .in

Does .com have a significant edge over the .in's in any way?

Also would like to know if .in domains will be worth the hype?

For international business affairs .com has always an edge on ccTLD, but if company is limited to India market then I think .in should be preferred. It may be also a matter of traditional thinking where .com was always there and .in is something relatively new and people often don't like changes. What I heard .in is growing faster than .com (in India) at this time so we should be confident here.

.coms are global, .in is still mainly India and some parts of Europe and Asia.

For a new company, the .com is a no brainer, you don't have to add the extension to the branding.

But .IN is catching up fast, there are hundreds of companies not based in India using .in and startups in the US too like outside.in

For a company brand name, I would go with .com as well, simply for a global reach. But also register the .in for an India focussed website.

.in/.co.in have a lot of growth left and .coms will have a much slower growth rate (most domains will just change hands). Clearly India being one of the fastest growing market helps the .in/.co.in domains in the long run and many global corporations are looking for a presence - physical and virtual for the indian market.

Indian companies may realize the value of .in/.co.in domains later than global and foreign companies. There is an old Indian saying for this..(you don't value something in your backyard until someone else does).

For keyword value .in is much cheaper. I notice a lot of indian firms register some strange choices for domains. It's a type of marketing that has to become more popular. If you want to attract business in India then .in is ideal. But anyone can use it with a good key word, why not?
Here is an example of indian company picking a strange name : f37.in

the problem with any start-ups around the world these days is that it's very difficult to find your desired domain in a .com .net or .org extension, hence the increasing popularity of ccTLD such as .in

if the company aims to have an international presence then i would recommend going for the .co extension along with the .in

It depends...
Some in India have a bit of an 'equality complex'. They want to demonstrate that they can do whatever anyone in the west can, etc, etc... This is why .com still plays so heavily with startups in India. Because .com is what plays in the West and there are a lot in India who simply duplicate what they see in the west rather than taking a more targeted approach.

Still, that said, the last time I was there, I was starting to see .in names pretty regularly. Obviously, Indian business still has a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go before they're online to the same degree of ubiquity as western business, but they're getting there and it's one of those things that when it happens, it will happen very quickly.

Originally Posted by Dman

It depends...
Some in India have a bit of an 'equality complex'. They want to demonstrate that they can do whatever anyone in the west can, etc, etc... This is why .com still plays so heavily with startups in India. Because .com is what plays in the West and there are a lot in India who simply duplicate what they see in the west rather than taking a more targeted approach.

Still, that said, the last time I was there, I was starting to see .in names pretty regularly. Obviously, Indian business still has a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go before they're online to the same degree of ubiquity as western business, but they're getting there and it's one of those things that when it happens, it will happen very quickly.

".COM" is king because of "equality complex" is BS, theories made out of thin air.

Originally Posted by Ace

".COM" is king because of "equality complex" is BS, theories made out of thin air.

The 'equality complex' isn't even debatable. Many Indians in the business world have a huge complex about being perceived as 'equal' to the west and are very sensitive when differences are mentioned. This effects and directs how they conduct themselves and their business in international dealings.

As to why .com is still used by Indian startups, there's no doubt that a lot of these groups simply repeat what they see done in the west. I've worked with plenty, I've been to India on a few occasions, love it there, but it is what it is.

Originally Posted by Dman

The 'equality complex' isn't even debatable. Many Indians in the business world have a huge complex about being perceived as 'equal' to the west and are very sensitive when differences are mentioned. This effects and directs how they conduct themselves and their business in international dealings.

As to why .com is still used by Indian startups, there's no doubt that a lot of these groups simply repeat what they see done in the west. I've worked with plenty, I've been to India on a few occasions, love it there, but it is what it is.

Stop calling it a complex, all humans are born equal, isn't that the premise of your fore-fathers?