Outing my site: www.socialdeal.net - tear it shreds for me

dreamache said:
What? I thought the the debate was on whether or not there are any inherit SEO advantages through the TLD .com VS .net? And my answer is no. Not whether or not I would bother registering other TLD's.

If I really really liked a name but the .com was not available and the .net was, I wouldn't be worrying about any SEO disadvantages. Might you lose a TINY percentage of typein traffic going to the .com? Yeah, but that's not what we're talking about.
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A "TINY" bit? Really? I think it's likely that more than 60% of type in traffic will be lost to the .com.

And I still stand by my original statement; take 2 similar sites in the same niche, with similar on page SEO, similar number of pages, similar content and similar number of backlinks and the .com will outrank the .net every time.

Someone who is better at SEO than their competitor could outrank a .com with a .net, but if all things are equal, the .com will win.

I simply think it's just a bad decision to develop a .net into what is supposed to be a mainstream retail site. If I were the OP, I would be clicking on the link that is on the .com GoDaddy parking page to inquire about purchasing the name if he's really liking the singular version.
 


If you want me to refer you to a designer that has been doing some awesome work for me, shoot me a PM or uberaff on AIM.
 
Fatbat said:
And I still stand by my original statement; take 2 similar sites in the same niche, with similar on page SEO, similar number of pages, similar content and similar number of backlinks and the .com will outrank the .net every time.

Someone who is better at SEO than their competitor could outrank a .com with a .net, but if all things are equal, the .com will win.
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Do you have any evidence to back this up? If it's true then OK, but I don't see any justification for the SE's placing more value over a .com than a .net. I don't think that .com being the most popular TLD should give it more ranking weight.

This idea is confirmed in a few other places on the net:
Google rankings: .net vs .com sites Google SEO News and Discussion forum at WebmasterWorld

Matt Cutts at Google (and other Googlers, too) has repeatedly confirmed that the domain name extension does not pay into the Google algorithm.
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.com vs .net? - SEO Chat

Sites with .com rank higher then with <TLD here>

This is another common myth that is untrue. The only time a domain extension can affect your ranking is if the search is based by country. The country-specific TLDs (e.g. .co.uk) will have priority over non-country specific TLDs (e.g. .com or .net).
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Though I do think domains like .info are probably weighted less.

Fatbat said:
I simply think it's just a bad decision to develop a .net into what is supposed to be a mainstream retail site. If I were the OP, I would be clicking on the link that is on the .com GoDaddy parking page to inquire about purchasing the name if he's really liking the singular version.
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I agree with this though.
 
Fatbat said:
Though I'm not 100% convinced, for SEO .net vs .com might not be an issue, but it's certainly an issue from a branding and marketing point of view.
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SEO debates aside, you're right about the brandability. Every email, blog comment or tweet I have to refer to the site as "socialdeal.net", had I been able to aquire the .com I would feel comfortable referring to the site as "socialdeal" knowing everybody would infer the .com.
 
Matt Cutts saying it doesn't CONFIRMS that it does.

It has been my experience on over 500 Domains now that the .coms outrank the .orgs that outrank the .nets.... Which FAR outrank the .infos.
 
Fatbat said:
I simply think it's just a bad decision to develop a .net into what is supposed to be a mainstream retail site. If I were the OP, I would be clicking on the link that is on the .com GoDaddy parking page to inquire about purchasing the name if he's really liking the singular version.
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I tried, the owner blew off multiple emails from me. That may change in the very near future.
 
The grouping is extremely simple guys, sheesh. In terms of power straight off .com and .net are on a pretty even kiel. HOWEVER!

.com because of branding is ALWAYS the most important TLD for long-term projects UNLESS you're literally banking on just search traffic that you can capitalize once, and not worry about ever again. In terms of ranking they're extremely even, but .com holds the extra 1% (51/49 etc).

If you need branding even in the slightest, do .com.
 
Sorry if previously mentioned or if you're already doing this (apparently I'm part of the TL;DR crowd) but how about offering a further discount for retweets and likes?

So 20% off xwidgets! Get further 5% if you retweet this!

Not sure if your set up allows you to do this but you should def come up with a way to incentivize (apparently this is a real word) the social spread.
 
There is absolutely no evidence that a .com carries more weight than a .net for SEO.

.com's rule the first page listings because generally they were first to be purchased and developed and someone with a .com is also more likely to put forth greater effort toward SEO vs someone who buys the .net
 
turbolapp said:
but how about offering a further discount for retweets and likes?

So 20% off xwidgets! Get further 5% if you retweet this!

Not sure if your set up allows you to do this but you should def come up with a way to incentivize (apparently this is a real word) the social spread.
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Again it seems the my explanation of the concept of the site is an absolute failure. The "social spread" is already incentivized, that's the entire concept of the site. Maybe a concrete example will help:

Dreamache goes to socialdeal.net and finds a coupon for 30% off puma.com, Gary decides his friends might be interested and "Recommends" (Likes) the deal. Fatbat sees the recommendation on Gary's wall, clicks thru and buys. Gary get's 50% of the affiliate commission for the referral. (If Fatbat stopped to join SD before buying Fatbat would get 50% and Gary would get 25%).

One of the import things to note from the above examples is that Gary didn't have to buy anything to still be able to get cash back from the referred purchases of his social spread.
 
Bofu2U said:
<devil's advocate> There's also absolutely no evidence that a .com DOESN'T carry more weight than a .net for SEO </devil's advocate>
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Yes, I should have said vice versa.

Even if a .com and .net are not completely weighted equal the difference is negligible.

That said, obviously always try to get the .com as the branding alone will pay for itself. I've seen SO many instances where someone meant to link out to a .net or .org but will accidentally put .com instead.

Everyone understands the .com extension.
 
pocketrockets said:
Yes, I should have said vice versa.

Even if a .com and .net are not completely weighted equal the difference is negligible.

That said, obviously always try to get the .com as the branding alone will pay for itself. I've seen SO many instances where someone meant to link out to a .net or .org but will accidentally put .com instead.

Everyone understands the .com extension.
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Exactly. :)
 
justo_tx said:
Again it seems the my explanation of the concept of the site is an absolute failure.
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nah probably part of that TLDR thing.

justo_tx said:
Dreamache goes to socialdeal.net and finds a coupon for 30% off puma.com, Gary decides his friends might be interested and "Recommends" (Likes) the deal. Fatbat sees the recommendation on Gary's wall, clicks thru and buys. Gary get's 50% of the affiliate commission for the referral. (If Fatbat stopped to join SD before buying Fatbat would get 50% and Gary would get 25%).

One of the import things to note from the above examples is that Gary didn't have to buy anything to still be able to get cash back from the referred purchases of his social spread.
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I think this may be a little abstract. People want stuff for free and they want it now. affiliate commissions for not affiliates may not be the correct incentive. So if when they've found something they want and it says get an extra 5% off for clicking a button then why wouldn't they? It's instant gratification and no time or effort on their part. You could always combine the two as well, do the instant gratification one and then the affiliate commission so it will help with the continuation of the spread.

Edit: about your failure to explain- While I accept full responsibly for being a huge skimmer, in reality you gotta think most people land on a site and if they don't get the concept RIGHT AWAY then they're certainly not going to go searching for it. So while it's down right tacky that I continue to skim when I'm supposed to be helping out my IM buds with their sites, in truth, I'm pretty much representing the majority of your audience. :-/
 
SEO wise, it may or may not make a difference.

If you're aiming to build a brand, a real brand, that is recognizable, will be here for a hell of a long time, won't be confused with other brands/businesses, you go for a .com, period. Yeah there are .orgs and deli.co... and a few other exceptions, however I've been branding for 13 years now and you'd have to be stupid imo to purposely go for a .net or .anything other than a .com - ESPECIALLY if there is already a .com out there - ESPECIALLY if that .com has something remotely close to what you are doing, and already has some seo/branding out there.

While you can outrank stuff, branding and building equity within a brand, does not happen on just seo alone, and there are but a few exceptions to the rule i.e. wordpress.org etc.

If I were you OP - I would rebrand it if it's still a fresh site/idea, get a .com and no offense but socialdeals isn't something I'd force myself to go hunt the .com for or make silly offers just get a new .com

EDIT: If you're building quick sites, it's whatever. When I build sites, they are rarely quick, rarely lil' landers, and rarely lil brands, thus for me it makes no sense to get anything but a.com.

.002.
 
turbolapp said:
Edit: about your failure to explain- While I accept full responsibly for being a huge skimmer, in reality you gotta think most people land on a site and if they don't get the concept RIGHT AWAY then they're certainly not going to go searching for it. So while it's down right tacky that I continue to skim when I'm supposed to be helping out my IM buds with their sites, in truth, I'm pretty much representing the majority of your audience. :-/
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Your point is dead on, I need to make sure to convey the concept to "skimmers" since that maybe the only chance I have to lure them into using the site. When I provided the example I wasn't intending to sound defensive; I know full well that I need to work on clarification. What I was doing with the example was trying to get feedback as to whether model seems worthwhile if the communication breakdown was taken out of the equation. Thanks for the feedback.
 
Concerning all the points about .net vs. .com, I am building towards a brand, ranking difficulty or lack there of is completely secondary. Had I never heard of SlickDeals.net I probably never would have thought a .net was acceptable either and I'm definitely back in that camp again. I'm going to revisit the name with my co-founder
 
One suggestion.

Since I can't stay focused very well (ADD?) I'm overwhelmed by the number of offers available to me.

Maybe have a few "featured" deals (place the rest off the home page) and split test the featured deals based upon IP location.
 
turbolapp said:
nah probably part of that TLDR thing.



I think this may be a little abstract. People want stuff for free and they want it now. affiliate commissions for not affiliates may not be the correct incentive. So if when they've found something they want and it says get an extra 5% off for clicking a button then why wouldn't they? It's instant gratification and no time or effort on their part. You could always combine the two as well, do the instant gratification one and then the affiliate commission so it will help with the continuation of the spread.

Edit: about your failure to explain- While I accept full responsibly for being a huge skimmer, in reality you gotta think most people land on a site and if they don't get the concept RIGHT AWAY then they're certainly not going to go searching for it. So while it's down right tacky that I continue to skim when I'm supposed to be helping out my IM buds with their sites, in truth, I'm pretty much representing the majority of your audience. :-/
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On the instant gratification thing, I wonder if you could do instant paypal transfers to people instead of a monthly affiliate commission. There's your instant gratification.

That'd be awesome, although a tax nightmare.

As far as the site goes, I'd make the "Earn cash back on deals from your favorite brands and when your friends buy!" portion of things on the main header bar. It's not jumping out enough.

Also:

Courage-Wolf-20-BITE-OFF-MORE-THAN-YOU-CAN-CHEW-THEN-CHEW-IT17.jpg


Fuck yeah. Good for you, 2 years of hard work and sucking could turn into 2 years of total balling.
 
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