Will .Com ever die?

[D. Wells]

I am a strong believer that ".Com" will always be King, but when I talk to a lot of other domainers, they suggest that ".Com" will die within the next few years.

Just wanted to here some opinions on this.

 

[DU]

And your insightful reasoning behind this is...?

Interesting that you didn't ask for insightful reasoning behind:

com's will never die just increase in value!

Then again, maybe not.

 

[BrandonG]

2 MB of RAM is plenty
Why would I want more than 4 channels?
Cars not powered by gasoline?
A phone with pictures?
Free wireless?
Pre-cut salads in a bag?
CDs? Lower quality than albums!
MP3s? Lower quality than CDs!
Streaming? Too poor quality.
Digital photos? 1MB? 8MP? 12MP?
24 hrs of music on TV?
24 hrs of Sport on TV?
Why does a 24 hr music channel have reality tv?
Videos will kill the radio!
Books? Always and forever!
Online stores? I don't think so.. I want to "see" what I buy.

etc. etc. etc. etc.

Limit it to just internet?
Why would I need an email?
Why would I need a personal email?
Why would I need 5GB of storage?
Why would I need multiple emails?
Why would I need to tie my emails to my personal wallet?
I have a 56KB modem, I rule!
I have a ISDN, I rule!
I have 1 MB Cable, I rule!



blah blah blah blah blah..


BUT .COM? Here forever. Here to stay because some things are just constant and the internet? One of the most stable constant things there is. I mean .. it's built for scalability.. we'll never ever run out of IP addresses with IPv4 - are you kidding? That's ridiculous.

The difference between .COMs dying and your examples are that your examples are upgrades of previous technology. This is just a different name of the same technology, I suppose just more allowing of user-customization.

My personal opinion is that .COMs will always remain the true, main extension of the world however they will slowly become less prominent throughout the years as these gTLDs take over. I personally would rather have "BransSurf.shop" over "BransSurfShopMiami.Com" any day. I've become less interested and jaded by valuable .coms nowadays though. :zzz:

 

[kristiws]

I must say if and only if .com pulls through with the release of thousands of extensions in the next couple years then for sure NOTHING I mean nothing can destroy it and you will see .com prices going through the roof.

At the present people with .com are either selling them quickly cheaper or sitting on them taking a wait and see attitude to see what will happen with the new extensions.

Till then we really don't know if .com will die.

 

[DU]

This is just a different name of the same technology

Well then if it's something as complicated as that, nothing will ever supplant .com.

The difference between .COMs dying and your examples are that your examples are upgrades of previous technology.

And you don't believe that there will be any advances or innovations that will change the way you access the internet?

I don't know ANY of my friends phone numbers. None. I do know what I list them as.

I know plenty of apps that use the internet but have no idea what IPs they use.

I don't use YellowPages anymore because I have a new way of FINDING that information.

But, as you say, it's just a name so none of that matters.

 

[zoomactive.com]

com's are already dieing.

Not yet they aren't, check here: http://www.dailychanges.com/

 

[GoKaizen]

Yes, when the Internet dies!

 

[sky]

.WEB :lol:



More like, "mom, why didn't you buy quality .com back in the day, instead of those .MEs and .WEBs? We could've been living the life right now"

I bet you say the same thing about lottery tickets.

At what point will there be enough alternatives that the mystique of COM wears off, at least to the point where they won't go up in price anymore? Is it possible that it will get so watered down and people so used to domains being dot <anything> that they can't justify paying an exorbitant fee for a .COM?

 

[JB Lions]

"that they can't justify paying an exorbitant fee for a .COM?"

That's kind of a myth that keeps getting perpetuated on domain forums and such. If you're talking something like one word generics, yeah, it'll cost you. And I've posted about this before, this from a few days ago - http://domainnamewire.com/2012/08/29/end-user-sales-8-29/

End users are getting .coms for low x,xxx (and higher) all day long or you can simply get creative, make up a word and get one for $8.

 

[sky]

"that they can't justify paying an exorbitant fee for a .COM?"

That's kind of a myth that keeps getting perpetuated on domain forums and such. If you're talking something like one word generics, yeah, it'll cost you. And I've posted about this before, this from a few days ago - http://domainnamewire.com/2012/08/29/end-user-sales-8-29/

End users are getting .coms for low x,xxx (and higher) all day long or you can simply get creative, make up a word and get one for $8.

Gee, a 'creative' brandable 1 non-word .COM for $8, or $x,xxx for a two word .COM or $15 for a keyword .PRO, for my own business.... Guess I'll go for the .PRO. Google won't treat it any differently than .COM. I think Fniggles.com is still available. Got eight bucks?

---------- Post added at 01:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:52 PM ----------

Old .COMs never die, they just get outbred.

 

[infmoney]

Google may not(I'm no seo expert), but your customers will search the .com version instead and you'll be helping the .com owner unless its a non-generic domain. You will also look less professional as everyone knows .com is king. Just watch tv and you'll see priceline, hotwire, godaddy, hotels and others all advertising with their .com.

Gee, a 'creative' brandable 1 non-word .COM for $8, or $x,xxx for a two word .COM or $15 for a keyword .PRO, for my own business.... Guess I'll go for the .PRO. Google won't treat it any differently than .COM. I think Fniggles.com is still available. Got eight bucks?

---------- Post added at 01:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:52 PM ----------

Old .COMs never die, they just get outbred.

 

[hawkeye]

I bet you say the same thing about lottery tickets.

At what point will there be enough alternatives that the mystique of COM wears off, at least to the point where they won't go up in price anymore? Is it possible that it will get so watered down and people so used to domains being dot <anything> that they can't justify paying an exorbitant fee for a .COM?

Sure, anything is 'possible'. But as corporations, businesses, etc etc, have been pouring and spending multi-billions of dollars into advertising and promoting their internet addresses with .com to the world's masses for 'years', it's kinda easy to see that they are not going to spend new multi-billions of dollars remarketing themselves with a new tld 'just because they'll be available'. Many may use other tld's down the road, but .com will always be their main go-to tld. By the time .com gets so 'watered down' to be irrelevant as 'the tld', it will be a 'long, long' time down the road and when probably no extension will be needed.

 

[JB Lions]

Gee, a 'creative' brandable 1 non-word .COM for $8, or $x,xxx for a two word .COM or $15 for a keyword .PRO, for my own business.... Guess I'll go for the .PRO. Google won't treat it any differently than .COM. I think Fniggles.com is still available. Got eight bucks?

---------- Post added at 01:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:52 PM ----------

Old .COMs never die, they just get outbred.

Right, and you've seen how many successful businesses go your route? And most businesses don't think little, just search engines. They understand all the other marketing out there and why it's better and easier with a .com.

 

[snowbird]

Alright everyone. Im about to place a completely different perspective on things here. Everyone here is asking what the next KING domain extension is going to be. Where in reality, why does there have to be an extension at all? Im predicting at some point down the road, the extension will become the domain itself for many companies. Think about it. For security purposes banks are already talking about getting their own extension. .boa (bank of america) .bbt (BB&T). How much longer will it be before netflix says hey, we can have .netflix for our videos. familyguy.netflix. csi.netflix. Sure the old extensions will still exist just because they are there. They still make good domains for personal websites, non profits, etc. But if Verisign really wants to turn major profit from businesses, they can make tons of money by making extensions the new domain and charging a little extra for them. Why get a .com when you can get .whatever for $50 or $100/yr. just by showing legal proof of owning that business name. Its so much shorter.

 

[NPer]

I bet you say the same thing about lottery tickets.

Buy one for me, then if it wins, hand the money over. If it loses, don't come running to me for payment. How many times did you win the lottery? :talk:

Buy crap at your own risk...

 

[JB Lions]

"Everyone here is asking what the next KING domain extension is going to be."

There is no next King, that battle has already been fought and won. The battle is more for, who's going to be the best alternative extension.

"How much longer will it be before netflix says hey, we can have .netflix for our videos. familyguy.netflix. csi.netflix."

Never, they already have netflix.com. It works just fine. You have to understand, a lot of these big companies know a little something about marketing, something that seems to get lost on a lot of people. There is no need for a change, no need to confuse their customers, there is no benefit at all to do such a thing.

 

[Archangel]

Throwing my hat into the ring:

Belief of next-generation web users being accustomed to newer extensions is a proven pipe-dream. In the 1980s (yeah, not many even knew the internet existed back then), there was .com & .net. By the year 1998, there was com/net/org and I think .co.uk was here at that time (I'm from the US, cut me some slack). The 'next generation' were given .info & .biz. I know ppl who have never heard of either. And that's relatively common. The idea alone that the net-users of the 2020's will be accustomed to a new extension is, in itself, a pipedream. Smoke and mirrors, my compatriots, smoke and mirrors.

.com IS LESS POPULAR right now. But this is to the almighty ccTLD. Some countries prefer to use their ccTLD more than .com. But we're talking about the general gTLD's. If .com had been around for as long as it had, then tell me, how will it die? It made it in the late 80s, when the 'internet' was a foreign word. It was #1 in the 90s & #1 in the 2000's and is #1 now. ppl refer to this industry as the '.com business' for a reason: .com will never lose focus.

I should also say this:

STOP READING PROPAGANDA!

Of COURSE companies will tell us that .foo or whatnot will 'be in direct competition to .com.' Why? Easy: $. They tell us .me is the 'personal domain' in the US so it'll have appeal here & would sell. They also claim .tv is for television for the same reason. BOTH the .tv & .me are ccTLDs. But companies will say anything to earn a buck. And the domain industry is never short on fools who eat up this bullshit & believe .com will one day fall. Proof: when a new extension is released, it has pretty much every dictionary term registered within 24 hours of its release. There are idiots who believe what they read from business who care about money and nothing more. If you wanna be any good in this industry, sever ties with ALL of the ppl you know who think .com will ever have a challenge.

No, .com is more or less immortal. It'll never die.

 

[snowbird]

Hey im just putting a different light on things. A new idea. Sure right now it may not seem feasible, but give it time. When there is money to be made, it will be tried.

Never, they already have netflix.com. It works just fine. You have to understand, a lot of these big companies know a little something about marketing, something that seems to get lost on a lot of people. There is no need for a change, no need to confuse their customers, there is no benefit at all to do such a thing.

You need to realize JB Lions, Obama was for change and America was foolish enough to vote for change. It is up to the world to see if change is still desired. bahahaha.

 

[sky]

If I'm a small business and I can't get the perfect 1 word keyword .COM domain and have to pay $25,000 for a two word .com, why wouldn't I just get the perfect 1-keyword .PRO and build up the SEO and marketing with the money I saved?

 

[jmcc]

I am a strong believer that ".Com" will always be King, but when I talk to a lot of other domainers, they suggest that ".Com" will die within the next few years.

It is not a good thing to ask domainers about the future of any TLD.

In terms of volume, .com TLD had 104,499,237 domains in its zonefile this morning. That gives it a significant market presence in all markets. As a global TLD, it is the default choice.

Where .com is beginning to lose is in markets where there is a strong ccTLD. That's because most business is local rather than global. A strong ccTLD begins to make having the ccTLD version of the domain in that market important and the effect is to push .com TLD, in those markets, into second place. The best examples of ccTLD positive markets are Germany (where .de is the main TLD in the market) and the UK (where .uk is the main TLD in the market). As country level markets progress in terms of telecoms, bandwidth, hosting and economy, they shift to being ccTLD positive. The USA, and to a lesser extent Canada, uses .com as its de-facto ccTLD. Without this effect, .com would not have quite the market position that it enjoys today and .com has benefited from the poor marketing of .us ccTLD.

As a global TLD, .com is unlikely to die off in the near future. The new gTLDs will have a minimal effect in comparison to the ccTLDs. In some countries, .com is no longer the king.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Archangel]

Answer: you'll lose traffic. Pretty much everyone outside this industry assumes all urls are .com, thus if you have site.pro, ppl will more than likely try to access your website with sitepro.com or they'll forget the .pro & type in site.com. This is another reason owning a .com is an important thing.

If I'm a small business and I can't get the perfect 1 word keyword .COM domain and have to pay $25,000 for a two word .com, why wouldn't I just get the perfect 1-keyword .PRO and build up the SEO and marketing with the money I saved?

 

[JB Lions]

If I'm a small business and I can't get the perfect 1 word keyword .COM domain and have to pay $25,000 for a two word .com, why wouldn't I just get the perfect 1-keyword .PRO and build up the SEO and marketing with the money I saved?

I just linked you to a post showing you can get them for low x,xxx. That blog has those type of posts from time to time, just have to read them.

You can look just at the travel sector, as far as making up names. Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz etc. Get creative. The most valuable tool a domainer can have, is the one between their ears.

As far as money saved, you should think long term. Think of lost business to the .com. How much is even 1 customer worth to you? Might be a life long customer. There will be some confusion there.

Just for kicks and this would be interesting for people to do, to get results. Because development plays a major value in an extension. I have a Stores bookmark folder, with places I've shopped at or I might in the future. 38 stores. Every single one of them a .com.

A small business is like a big business, they want to make money. They want something easy. They want something people are familiar with. As far as extensions, it's .com.

Sky, what's your favorite business on a .pro you shop with? I know I don't even have 1 .pro bookmark in the rest of my folders and I have way too many bookmarks.

 

[jmcc]

Google won't treat it any differently than .COM.

Interesting point. Search engines have, to some extent, made the right of the dot redundant.

However the reality is that how people remember things decides the market leader. People remember .com and their ccTLD. After that, it gets confusing.

Regards...jmcc

 

[sky]

Answer: you'll lose traffic. Pretty much everyone outside this industry assumes all urls are .com, thus if you have site.pro, ppl will more than likely try to access your website with sitepro.com or they'll forget the .pro & type in site.com. This is another reason owning a .com is an important thing.

Well then if I'm not rich, I guess I just have to pick my poison. I figure if I can't get the definitive generic 1-word .COM (and frankly, who can?) then my choice is limited to some forgettable 2 word or 'brandable .COM, versus a strong memorable keyword paired with the 'forgettable' .PRO TLD. So, then, which kind of 'forgettability' is better? The .PRO TLD extension itself, or the less-than-ideal .COM domain name such as DoggityS*****ts.COM, or IdahoAluminumCarburetors.COM? Of *course* if I can get just Carburetors.com I get that and happy day. Max memorability, max traffic. How much traffic does a good sought after service lose by going with a strong keyword .PRO vs a .COM?

There are two different things you indicate - one is that people will cling to some idea that .COM is the only domain extension worth clicking, and the other that other TLDs are not memorable.

But from experience, I know that if a website provides a good service, you quickly remember the name of it. And .PRO is not *that* hard to remember. Like "imgshack.us" , after using it a few times, I'll never forget that URL. And I just don't see why a consumer who see's a .PRO high in the SERP with a good tagline and excerpt (the content summary the search engines show), wouldn't click on a .PRO.

,PRO sounds good, and the first time a customer clicks on a .US or a .PRO or a .BIZ and finds a good service there the mystique of .COM goes down a notch. Now they'll think, hey, what am I missing by not checking out these other sites?

 

[jmcc]

Well then if I'm not rich, I guess I just have to pick my poison. I figure if I can't get the definitive generic 1-word .COM (and frankly, who can?) then my choice is limited to some forgettable 2 word or 'brandable .COM, versus a strong memorable keyword paired with the 'forgettable' .PRO TLD. Which kind of 'forgettability' is better, in other words? The unfamiliar .PRO TLD, or the less-than-ideal .COM domain name like DoggityS*****ts.COM, or IdahoAluminumCarburators.COM?

There's something that you are missing. The market position of .com means that people don't really have to remember the .com part of the domain name or url. They do have to remember the .pro because that's an unfamiliar TLD. The Idaho domain above has a lot of anchors that make it easy for people to remember and the geographical term immediately puts it in a context that they can remember moreso than a simple one word generic domain name.

Regards...jmcc

 

[NPer]

If I'm a small business and I can't get the perfect 1 word keyword .COM domain and have to pay $25,000 for a two word .com, why wouldn't I just get the perfect 1-keyword .PRO and build up the SEO and marketing with the money I saved?

Why .PRO?

People using your same argument are saying .CO.

People using your same argument are saying .BIZ.

People using your same argument are saying .TRAVEL

People using your same argument are saying .NYC

People using your same argument are saying .CRAP

So whose argument is more credible?

Are all of you right? Just because of what exactly?

So you are saying that end-users want to pay reg-fee instead because .COM is taken? Yet those using your argument are buying names in these CRAP extensions and asking ridiculous prices to end-users. No wonder .COM prices are going up!

You making are a scarce commodity even scarcer.

You wonder why end-users choose .COM over .CRAP? Here's the answer: if they going to pay a premium on a .PRO, why not just go for the extension that has proven to be successful, than one that isn't (and the .PRO is anyway priced ridiculously-because you and others bought it for resale.)

All these extensions are good for .COM actually... just make them even more valuable!