All Posts Tagged With: "TLDs"
My Thoughts on Vanity TLD’s
Over the past week, the domainer blogosphere has been buzzing about the new vanity TLD’s that are set to show up in the middle of 2009. In case anyone missed it, for roughly $100,000.00, pretty much anyone that qualifies a registry (any company can easily become one) can apply to have their own TLD. These custom TLD’s were quickly coined as vanity TLDs.
I think for most of us, the question is not what this is, but how will this influence not just domainers, but the internet as a whole. Are trademark owners going to need to protect their names by getting their domain for each new TLD that is created? Will domaining cease to exist (at least in its current form)? How will the search engines adapt?
Of course, I don’t have an answer to any of these questions, but I have my theories just like everyone else seems to. In my opinion, dot coms will continue to get a boost in value for anyone trying to establish an online brand. On the other hand, though, this may open up a lot of opportunities for someone looking to build online stores, niche blogs, and other types of sites that simply require a strong keyword domain, not necessarily a dot com domain name.
As far as search engines go, this will also be an interesting thing to monitor. About a year ago, after extensive testing on my part, I noticed that I have a much tougher time getting an info domain to rank than I do an equivalent com/net/org. I truly believe there is a natural penalty on info domains that makes it more difficult to gain Google’s trust, and I would imagine I would get similar results with other search engines. Does this also apply to other TLD’s that are commonly associated with spam? I guess what I’m trying to say, is that search engines will initially let things shake out, but eventually it will deal with the new extensions and I have a feeling they will continue to give a strong favortism towards com/net/org.
What do you think about the vanity TLD’s? How will they influence domainers?
Domain Preference: Net or Org?
It is inevitable that every week at some point the question appears on every domain-related message boards. That question is which is better: dot net or dot org?
I find this to be a very good question, as it is widely accepted that dot com is king across most of the world, and certainly in any relevant country. If dot com isn’t the standard in your area, you probably use a ccTLD. Either way, it still leaves domain investors with a question that needs answered. Should I invest my money into dot net or dot org domains?
In the long run, this really comes down to a matter of opinion. You’ll even find some that argue for dot info as the second best TLD you can get. In my opinion, dot org is the 2nd best, but here are some positive and negative things to think about for each:
Dot Net
- Seems to have the highest resale value on the market.
- Gives the feeling to users that you couldn’t find the dot com.
Dot Org
- Can be a first choice extension for many organizations or websites that that are informative by nature.
- Most orgs were registered by endusers that wanted them. Investors have a tough time reselling them due to lack of demand.
Dot Info
- Many feel this is second best for geo domains.
- Four digit TLD
- Not commonly known among the non-power users of the internet.
In my opinion, if you are investing to flip/resell the domains, dot net will probably get you the best results. If you are planning to develop or hold for an end-user, dot org is the best way to go and the way I go more often than not. It just sounds good and is easy to remember. If it wasn’t for the dollar promotion on info domains I probably wouldn’t own more than just a few. It is probably just personal preference, but I really dislike four letter TLDs.
So, as you can see, dot org is my preference. It also helps that domainers have largely ignored dot org, leaving a bunch of very high quality domains available on the registry. Just yesterday I picked up GeoDirectory.org which I hope to develop sometime in the next few months.
Which do you prefer? Dot net or dot org?
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