There’s been a trend brewing where casinos and other types of companies are choosing to stay away from .com and instead go with the much hipper .io domain extension. Is this good or bad and does it matter?
There Will Be More
You have probably noticed a large increase of websites ending with .io instead of the classic .com pop up over the last couple of years. Most people might not pay attention to it, especially if you are unaware of it, but once you’ve seen one of them you’ll quickly see more of them.
For example there are numerous casinos that use .io. Off the top of my head I can think about Winz.io, Bspin.io, Bitcasino.io and Sportsbet.io. Also, one of the most popular casinos out there, mBit, recently moved from .com to .io.
What is the point of .io and why do companies choose to go that route? Does it make a difference for a crypto casino? Let’s try to find out, shall we.
mBit Casino recently moved from .com to .io
A Significant Trend
Like I mentioned in the beginning, there has been a significant trend to use the .io domain extension, especially among tech startups.
If you look around for answers, you can find a variety of reasons why people believe a move like this could be the way to go. Some think it’s because it’s memorable, short and catchy which can also give the brand itself a fresh and exciting feel. Others are convinced a lot is because of the similarities between .io and Input/Output or even 1/0, making it trendy for tech companies.
Could there be other reasons as well. Of course.
Domain Already Taken
There are an incredible amount of websites under .com and it can be a real struggle finding one that is available as well as free. With .io you have a lot more options.
Trust vs Memorability
Trust is a huge thing when it comes to any business and reasonably so. If trust is something you value as a company, there have been surveys about it and if there is a difference between extensions.
Are you trustworthy as a company?
Earn People’s Trust
As you can see in the image above, on a scale of 1-5, having a .com address comes with a certain level of trustworthiness (3.5) that is higher than any other, including the 3.0 for an .io.
You won’t be successful if nobody can remember your name
Do People Remember You?
The same thing goes in terms of how memorable your URL is in people’s minds. Once again, a .com sits at the top (44%) with a pretty safe distance from the rest.
It Takes Time for People to Warm Up
At this moment, I believe a lot of people would be a little hesitant of giving out credit card information etc to an .io company over a .com. I’m not saying one is more shady than the other, not at all.
However, anytime something new comes along, it takes time for people to warm up to it and I think that’s the case here as well.
What Kind of Company Do You Have?
It’s easy to ignore things such as future plans when picking a domain extension but it can have a massive impact down the line.
Let’s say you come up with a brilliant business idea and for the sake of this conversation you call it uniqueslots.io. After a while, you want to expand your business to other areas of the world and a part of doing so means to protect and secure your brand.
Winz.io
Secure Your Branding
You might have to make sure you buy the branding rights to .net and some others but also secure the .com spot. Easy peasy, right? Nope!
This is when you find out that some other company has had uniqueslots.com for 15 years. That company does not have the same great business as you but because they have had the .com address and company name a lot longer than you have, they actually have more legal rights to it than you do.
You may end up having to pay millions for the name or you could even have to change the name of your company. This is all because you wanted to be cool and not pick a .com address from the beginning.
Does It Matter for a Crypto Casino?
The topic of this article refers to crypto casinos and even though it can have a negative effect in terms of SEO purposes but I don’t necessarily see a scenario where a casino would have the issues I just brought up in the examples above.
This is why I don’t think it really matters as much that a casino uses .io instead of .com. As a matter of fact, I can see how it’s something different and it can come across as being a new way of thinking which will always attract a portion of the player demographics.
What do you think?
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