.Com is the favorite in Costa Rica.
I just returned from a weeklong vacation in Costa Rica. I hadn’t been to Costa Rica in 15 years, and my visit reminded me why people like to vacation there, but also the niceties of living in the United States (like well-paved roads).
Of course, I also paid attention to what types of domain names people used. Here’s what I observed:
1. Almost all of the domain names were .com.
2. Very few businesses used .CR domain names. A more common approach was to use .com with CR right before the .com.
3. Even though many businesses had a .com domain name, many used free email accounts for email (such as @yahoo.com or @hotmail.com).
One of the funniest photos I took was of this jack-of-all-trades storefront near the beach. How about some SEO work with your kayak rental?
John Kenney says
Great place!
Annnt says
Hope you stayed at the famous
Hotel Delrey in San Jose, CR
Joseph Peterson says
Not surprising to see tiny nations using .COM instead of their native ccTLD.
Economy of scale is 1 reason. .CR is about 10 times as expensive as .COM. And .CO.CR is about 5 times as expensive.
Also, Costa Rica’s economy is rather tourism-focused. Choosing an internationally recognized suffix that costs 10% – 20% as much as the official local ccTLD is an easy decision.
Beautiful place … as long as you don’t mind that small chance of being eviscerated in a pyroclastic flow some sunny Tuesday.
Ralph says
With all due respect and esteem, is there anything other than .com? Every so often, I will come across someone who claims to see some sort of potential in cctlds or, sometimes, even in the new gtlds (ha!ha! ha!). Head scratcher for me since that seems like a no-brainer and obvious dead end. And this seems to be the case no matter what country you find yourself in.
Joseph Peterson says
@Ralph,
With all due respect and esteem, is there anything other than basketball? Every so often, I will come across someone who claims to see some sort of potential in soccer or sometimes even in cricket (ha! ha! ha!). Head scratcher for me, since that seems like a no-brainer and obvious dead end. And this seems to be the case no matter what country you find yourself in – whether that’s the USA or America or the United States.
Who needs to look at the external world? I’m just going to stick my head up my own [bleep] in order to eavesdrop on my own gut feelings.
James Kite says
Well, in my neck of the woods .com.au is top dog, with .com being second place .
.com is really for the world stage, trying to be a part of the global economy, while closer to home the cctld is best for the local market.
Presumably this may be further embraced with .Sydney and .Melbourne, but pricing on these will probably minimise any actual use.
.com.au is comparable with .com, while the other two are 7x the cost.
Pricing on the new gtlds is their biggest weakness in take up and use.
Joshua ten Brink says
I follow your blog (thanks for all the hard work you share) and live in Costa Rica where I do most of my business. Most businesses here use the .com because if you are trying to reach the international market and even the local market you get better recognition (most people would have to look up what country a .cr stands for). Particularly US tourists recognize .com so really the .cr is rarely used. I have a decent portfolio of Costa Rica related domains and frankly do not even own one .cr domain. Got a kick out of your SEO comment – everybody dreams to be a surfer by day and SEO by night.
George in Miami says
Joshua ten Brink,
“if you are trying to reach the international market and even the local market you get better recognition”
What you just mentioned, is the main reason .com is king.