In a press release issued today by domain name registrar Easy-Domains.co.uk, entitled “The new gLTDs mean a new Internet” (yes the title is wrong and should have been gTLD’s) which talk about the new domain extension, the registrar throws domain investors under the bus.
The press release starts off:
“If you run a business or organisation (SIC) online, you will recognise (SIC) the feeling you get when someone else has snapped up the domain name you need. This is especially true if you already have an established offline business, and are finally making the leap into the online world. You may find that you pick the domain name you need and then choose a .com ‘string’ after it, assuming that all will be well.””
“”In recent months however, the market has become so saturated that it has become nigh on impossible to get the exact domain you need. It has been established wisdom for years now that unless you ‘have a .com’ you’re not going to achieve that vital online communication with your customers. But what happens if the .com you need is simply not available?””
Well the .com extension hasn’t gone through any tremendous`growth in the past months so that’s an incorrect statement. Moreover if its been “established wisdom for years now that unless you ‘have a .com’ you’re not going to achieve that vital online communication with your customers” what changed that? The fact that there are now more domain names that most people have never heard of?
As for their feelings on domainers here is what Easy-Domains.co.uk had to say:
“Perhaps the biggest winners here are the businesses that wish to stand out online. Having a domain name that truly reflects what you do, and is also new and unique, means that you gain an extra step ahead of the competition.”
“It’s a healthy move, and one that should ensure the Internet continues to be an exciting, and more inclusive space. ”
“And frankly, we will be glad to see the back of those domain name traders who snap everything up even before we think of our next big idea.”
Of course we know that “domain traders” are the most likely going to be buyers of new gTLD’s as they already understand and know about the new gTLD’s and therefore Easy-Domains.co.uk can look forward to seeing our front’s again.
What a pathetic company Easy-Domains.co.uk are. I shall make a note never to use this mob.
Hehe, “In recent months however, the market has become so saturated that it has become nigh on impossible to get the exact domain you need.” More like the last 10 years!
Love the use of the word “nigh” though 🙂
Personally i am happy too see new gTLDs arrive, not only for speculation, but also for the diversity it creates, and most of all the creative names that arrive from them.
I like .IO especially much, im not really sure why, probably because the geeky nature of it, and that it almost always indicates high quality content when finding a site on the TLD.
Best regards,
Fredrik Näs
CEO http://Domaintower.com
The spellings of ‘organisation’ and ‘recognise’ are correct British English spellings. However it is just a blog post from what appears to be a small registrar rather than some huge Godaddy type monolith. And if his intention was to get eyeballs on his site, he seems to have done something right – even if most will not buy.
The thing about the new gTLDs is that they are creating confusion. The launch of .eu/mobi/asia/tel also created some confusion in the European markets and the main beneficiaries were the ccTLD registries. They saw massive growth as a result of the .eu fiasco and Domain Tasting. In EU countries, most new gTLDs are going to be relatively hard sells because of the way that these markets have matured. The .ccTLD/.com axis represents about 80 to 90% of the domain footprint of those countries. Domainers may drive some registration volume in the new gTLDs but if they don’t gain public acceptance, and more importantly usage, in the first year of operation then might be destined for .tel, .pro or .xxx registration figures, if they are lucky. (.tel went from 213,239 at the start of January to 148,476 at the start of February as a pile of IDNs were dropped (30.37% of the .tel zone). The .mobi mTLD lost 10.43% of its zone over the same period.) There is a consolidation trend with non-core gTLDs being dropped while businesses concentrate on their core .ccTLD/.com domains. That’s the storm that the new gTLDs are facing. Perhaps the US/Canadian market will be big enough to make some of the new gTLDs viable but remember what happened with all those American English language keyword portfolios registered by US/Canadian domainers in the .eu ccTLD? The EU has at least 27 different languages. Overspeculation in English language domains killed .eu in the English language markets. The same foreign language dynamics problem could play out on a massive scale with some of the new gTLDs. But a few might work.