In a post on BDB.co.uk the author Rachael took a look at digital marketing trends for the upcoming year, the changing or possible extinction of the homepage was number two on that list.
The premise behind the end of the homepage stems from our mulit device universe. How sites act and react with smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc… Personally I think the homepage will stay in tact, I do agree about using certain naming conventions or new gtlds for specific campaigns. I think this is how the new gtlds are used best.
You have your ship anchored on .com or cctld and then you can use new gtlds as satellites for specific campaigns. I don’t think a major fashion brand ever switches to a .sexy but I can see using Dress.Sexy for a very targeted specific campaign.
From the article:
2. Death of the homepage?
Could 2015 spell the end of the homepage?
In a multi-device world the generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) architecture opens up further opportunities to engage with digital content.
As you can see at the very end of this URL example traditional top level domains are those such as .com .net and . org. Though since 2013 the global body for managing domains Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has drawn up a new list of more than 600 variations of the traditional TLDs. These include .store / .tech / .corp and also locations such as .London .Berlin .Africa and Chinese and Arabic character specific variations are now available.
There is also the use of sub domains to alter traditional website page structures. In the webinar I cite the example of Microsoft where you can see how each of the subdomains creates a specific hub where content can be housed. This again shows how the pages can be more campaign-able and how you can create dedicated areas that customers can revisit. Implementing a combination of these approaches could make a real impact to the online customer experience.
Read the full article on BDB
I think in the long run URL will be standardized on Domain Name + Extension with subdomain disappearing. This will be easier for consumers to remember: name + extension = domain name. I also think .com will become the anchor and complemented with ccTLDs and other extensions appropriate for their marketing etc purposes.