To WWW. or not?

[Blue Wren]

Hello

Just a quick poll so to speak.

If you're starting a new site would/do you www. or not?

Thank you

 

[aus11]

I still like the www. But it for no other reason than personal preference.

 

[James]

recently I have been trying to drop the www. for new domains I build out, also a few older ones I have switched over which are not established.

 

[Blue Wren]

Cheers guys.

 

[findtim]

recently I have been trying to drop the www. for new domains I build out, also a few older ones I have switched over which are not established.

Why can't we just get rid of the whole thing?

http://www.

seems useless nowadays

tim

 

[FirstPageResults]

I added a poll

I prefer to add the sub domain for no particular reason.

 

[findtim]

i voted yes UNTIL they get rid of it all.

my servers don't use any of that for ftp and google doesn't care either ( but they add it in for you )

tim

 

[Honan]

Hello

Just a quick poll so to speak.

If you're starting a new site would/do you www. or not?

Thank you

You mean using both with and without, eh?

 

[payattention]

I feel not using www is a mistake and I'll explain why.

Trust - www has nothing to do with the trust of a site but I think your average user subconsciously takes familiarity into account when deciding whether to trust a site or not. Does your average user understand why your site doesn't have www in the URL yet their banking/shopping site does? No, but they might notice it missing and wonder why. I don't know of any sites that have discussed or studied this, it's merely intuition.

Most browers have already removed http from being displayed and while it's technically still there and can be added back, the url is now easier to read (reasoning for it's removal in the first place). This puts a bigger emphasis on what's left and more reason to leave www IMO.

Links - Ignoring power users who are the small minority, if you ask anyone for a website address, they'll begin by saying www. and I think it's fair to say most people will assume you are using www when linking to you. I don't want people linking to URL's that don't exist. http://site.com and http://www.site.com are different. I want links to the actual site regardless of Google's ability to figure it out.

Marketing - I've seen it a few times but don't have any specific examples but the actual website will be http://website.com yet all the marketing and promo stuff displays www. I think it looks sloppy and I question the company's "we give a f*ck about getting stuff right" ability.

There is no downside to using www yet there potentially is when not using it. It's such a minor thing that I see no reason not to use it at all times.

 

[Ash]

There is no downside to using www yet there potentially is when not using it. It's such a minor thing that I see no reason not to use it at all times.

This makes sense.

Now I have a question... seeing as how I originally set Lucky Dip Design up without the 'www', is it now too late to change it?

TIA

Ash.

 

[James]

This makes sense.

Now I have a question... seeing as how I originally set Lucky Dip Design up without the 'www', is it now too late to change it?

TIA

Ash.

To be honest I wouldnt worry, many new websites are built on non-www, www. in itself is a legacy protocol.

If you are worried about people making a mistake with the links it takes seconds to find new link partners and ask them to drop the www. from the url.

Take a look at some big companies which are using non-www domains

Look at Mahable - huge social news portal non-www

Look at Twitter - non-www.

Most companies who use www. are legacy domains built over time, if you built a site and links with a specific domain over time and then change the site structure is its not really advisable.

 

[Rhythm]

Redirect?

 

[snoopy]

I think the www. makes it very clear that it is a website. Would tend to use it and probably promote it (eg advertising) with the www.

Agree with what Jonathan have said also, give people what they expect.

 

[Ash]

Thanks all... I see where you are coming from James and that was my logic in setting it up without the www but after reading Jonathan's comment it made me think the 'www' is worthwhile.

Might not bother to change it for Lucky Dip Design but certainly for future projects I think.

Thanks Rhythm and snoopy for your input too.

I have never actually set up a redirect before so I'll look into that as well.

Cheers, Ash.