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.

 

[sky]

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

I think it remains to be seen if IdahoAluminumCarburetors.com is more memorable than Carburetors.pro. If I had to pick, I'd go with Carburetors.pro for my own business. Of course Carburetors.com would kick my ass by getting more traffic, and I'd have to compete like hell to compensate, but compared to more convoluted, longer, harder-to-type .COMs I'd stand a pretty good chance, I think. Unfortunately we're just talking out of our sassafras right now because we really don't have the marketing data or any great examples to analyze, do we?

 

[infmoney]

Good point. But if you wanted to compete for a reasonable price you could always buy AluminumCarburetors.com for x,xxx and still be in the game.

Once someone leaves your site, the next time they look you up will be with the .com.

Even I make the mistake with my email, which is comcast.net. I have typed the .com plenty of times.

I think it remains to be seen if IdahoAluminumCarburetors.com is more memorable than Carburetors.pro. If I had to pick, I'd go with Carburetors.pro for my own business. Of course Carburetors.com would kick my ass by getting more traffic, and I'd have to compete like hell to compensate, but compared to more convoluted, longer, harder-to-type .COMs I'd stand a pretty good chance, I think. Unfortunately we're just talking out of our sassafras right now because we really don't have the marketing data or any great examples to analyze, do we?

 

[jmcc]

I think it remains to be seen if IdahoAluminumCarburetors.com is more memorable than Carburetors.pro.

But where does carburetors.pro belong? What market does it operate in? Where is it?

If I had to pick, I'd go with Carburetors.pro for my own business.

It could work with a lot of SEO but would people think that the .pro means that it is a site for fixing them rather than selling them?

Of course Carburetors.com would kick my ass by getting more traffic, and I'd have to compete like hell to compensate, but compared to more convoluted, longer, harder-to-type .COMs I'd stand a pretty good chance, I think.

In the US market perhaps.

Unfortunately we're just talking out of our sassafras right now because we really don't have the marketing data or any great examples to analyze, do we?

I suppose it is anecdotal evidence but I track approximately 20 million ccTLD domain names in addition to the major gTLDs. The ccTLDs tend to be at the more extreme end of business building in that they tend to micro-target markets (cities, towns, even neighbourhoods). The patterns also exist in .com and to a lesser extent in the other TLDs. It may be due to the more recent nature of some ccTLDs that the good, descriptive and generic domains are gone but there is definitely a different process of memorisation of domains at work with ccTLDs.

Regards...jmcc

 

[hawkeye]

Edit ... rambling on..

**sorry to SKY for the wrong quote before.

 

[Kate]

I think it remains to be seen if IdahoAluminumCarburetors.com is more memorable than Carburetors.pro. If I had to pick, I'd go with Carburetors.pro for my own business.

It's your prerogative, but why haven't end users been flocking to .pro and other alternate extensions if they are credible alternatives.

Of course Carburetors.com would kick my ass by getting more traffic, and I'd have to compete like hell to compensate, but compared to more convoluted, longer, harder-to-type .COMs I'd stand a pretty good chance, I think.

It's also a question of credibility. When consumers see your business on a TLD that they are totally unfamiliar with, it's easy to dismiss you - maybe you're a scammer
You can use a .biz but you'll still look cheap. No longer viable when you run a high-profile operation.

 

[mwzd]

Over 2 million .com domains expire every month, which is almost 2% of all the registered .coms

But will it ever 'die', probably not, too much legacy development.

What the scenario will be in 20 years is that it will probably lose it's prominence as the goto for web branding, in the short term though - don't drop your two word .coms just yet.

 

[jmcc]

People using your same argument are saying .NYC

I would not include .NYC in that group. New York has a very strong identity and if the registry does its job well, it will perform like a genuine ccTLD (rather than a repurposed ccTLD like .co).

Regards...jmcc

 

[Peter]

.com as an extension will not die as such. There are numerous factors which have caused a slowdown in the rate of .com’s being registered in comparison to cctld’s and other extensions.

Firstly there are so many domains registered using the .com extension that it is a much higher ask for it to maintain the same % of new registrations. There is also the issue of finding quality names that are relevant to the registrant’s requirements. Due to this difficulty the registrant would start looking towards other extensions.

1 issue that has threatened the dominance of any extension are search engines and browser features. Search engines are starting to care a lot less of what extension is used (this used to be quite a big indicator of quality). The more people use search engines also limit the importance of the extension and the domain itself. Browser features can threaten the importance of the domain extension as well. For example for some time if you type a word into the address bar it may try to go automatically to the word with .com appended to the end. The shift has pretty much moved completely towards the browser carrying out a search using your favourite search engine (or at least the 1 configured as the default search engine.

Another potential technology that has threatened to impact the relevance of a domain name are for example smart tv’s. The shift is moving away from using pc’s to access the internet. This has mainly been taken up by smart phones. We still currently mainly use the same old method for browsing the web but we are greatly reliant on apps to disseminate information and of course we have no knowledge or reason to care what domain it is connecting too. Smart TV’s also use apps or directory style systems (yeah a bit of a shift backwards).

Nobody truly knows how we will be accessing the internet in say the next 5-10 years. It is pretty much granted that we will still be using domain names but the reliance will most likely decrease dramatically.

 

[ecalc]

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?

'You' probably would reg a .pro but the typical small business person wouldn't because he/she has never heard of .pro and probably never will. Step into the shoes of the small business owner. A kumquat seller. Hmm, I need a domain name. Google search: domain name. Top sponsored result: godaddy. Top organic result: godaddy. Click. Welcome to godaddy. Your new website starts with a domain. Search for a new domain .com (<- DEFAULT) go. Wow, somebody beat me to kumquats.com. Filthy squatter. Wait a minute, what's this, never heard of these but I can get kumquats.us for $3.99 or kumquats.biz for $5.99. Cool, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, thank you for your purchase, done.

I poked around godaddy to see where .pro is squirreled away. Couldn't find it.

During the 12-month period May 2011 thru April 2012 .pro registrations grew by 8002. During the 24-month period May 2010 thru April 2012 .pro registrations grew by 382. Go back 36 months, net growth 90. Look at the bright side - momentum is building. *cough*

source: http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registries/reports/pro/pro-transactions-apr12-en.csv

 

[JB Lions]

"Unfortunately we're just talking out of our sassafras right now because we really don't have the marketing data or any great examples to analyze, do we?"

Actually, we do. It's called the market. You're giving examples that they can be used, except businesses are choosing not to. It's been available, what's going to change in the future that's going to have businesses all of a sudden running to them? If anything, with these new extensions coming, it'll be devalued. If a business doesn't want to use a .com, they're going to have many more alternative extensions to choose from in the future, some that might make more sense than a .pro.

 

[Archangel]

Stay away from random 2-3 word domains and you'll be set. People looking for used cars will STILL remember UseDCars.com -- UsedCars.pro in no way would be better or a smarter buy. I daresay that about cars.pro vs UsedCars.com. Of course, UsedCars.com would have a big price tag but it'd be a fraction of cars.com.

 

[999names]

My friend is a lawyer. A few days go when we were eating lunch he was as usual on his iPhone emailing and texting. We started talking about technology and domains. He is familiar with domain names. I asked him, when the .law extension comes out do you see yourself or your partners switching domains from .com to .law.

He paused then he said "well we work with Latin America and if we get a .law extension then the Spanish clients might not understand therefore we have to get .abogado and .law together" which he said he does not think that they would do that.

I then talked to him about how many lawyers he has known who actually paid for domain names more than the registration fee he said he does not know of any. We then went through his 200 contact emails of his lawyer buddies to evaluate what domains they use.

Let me tell you guys as a domainer I was shocked that none had any top of the line names. Most of the names were LastNameLaw.com, LastNameAndLastName.com, LastNameLastNameLaw.org
So my goal about explaining all this: .com .org will be fine. however more people will become more and more and more creative in order to get their .com and .org.

 

[DU]

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.

The argument matters to very few people - those who have invested or hold a significant part of their future. The larger your portfolio wealth the more you have to lose. The wrong perspective is being used here by most people. It's not about "what will be the next big thing to make me a lot of money" it's about "what will be the next big thing that could COST me a lot of money". No one here is going to invest in the next big TLD names and make it rich.. some people with a valuable portfolio might lose a lot.

If you're on this forum asking about the future of TLDs you're not looking in the right industry, or, at the right future. The money will always be in entrepreneurship. The dynamics of naming and accessing information will improve and the goal of major investment to own that space directly competes with the naming space. Search engines and platforms want to remove the whole notion of "xxxxx.com"

The only survivors in terms of name are likely to be the top 1-2% of names which no-one here holds. This is because they are inherently brandable or usable as a platform or access to information. NewYork.com will likely be valuable even if the name space changes drastically.

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

How come no one questions how we remember it's netflix and not netflicks? Because people aren't as dumb and stupid as domainers seem to think they are.

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.

Domainers are always saying that businesses don't understand the value of traffic. It's almost refreshing to hear that some don't underestimate the prowess of some of the marketing agencies around the world.

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

This is an argument hammered home by the big boys everyday. The question is - what is that traffic worth?

If I bake cakes in a little town - does it matter than 1,000,000 people come to my little cakes.com website? Not a jot. The domain is worth far more than my business. It's far more important that everyone in my little town gets to my cake shop. This is nowhere near as difficult as it used to be.

Not every domain buyer wants to buy the globe. They want to buy something serious, something sensible, something valuable to their needs. I am 100% convinced that I can buy ANY local company a domain that works well for their business for under $5000. For most? Under $1000. For a lot? Under $300.

or they'll forget the .pro & type in site.com. This is another reason owning a .com is an important thing.

It's important if you sell or monetize traffic. Some benefits also apply if you are a large company that can benefit from the traffic.

The only time you really have this issue to really be concerned about is if a LOCAL competitor has the same name in .com.

I would never say take TampaLandscape.net if someone had TampaLandscape.Com, for example. it's about knowing and understanding your market place. GreenGardens.net might be brilliant if GreenGardens.com is for some site in New York - they are NOT your competitor.

Most people can drive by a store and turn around and try again. The same is true for web searches. How many times do you think people search for a term.. not find what they are looking for and try searching again? Green Gardens.... too broad ... green gardens tampa... now we're talking. You're #1, you've got your local listing, your phone number is right there.

Most advertising is STILL word of mouth and local advertising. Most people do not run large global businesses. Then again - these aren't spending the big bucks on domains and aren't who we are talking about here. We are all talking about Ford, Chevy, Chase, British Airways, Man U, etc.

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

The new gTLDs will make this more so. You don't need anything right of the dot. I've worked for companies that used the .COM for extranet, .net for intranet - they don't need that anymore. They control their own namespace 100% of the time.

Visit us at BankOfAmerica no dot, no nothing.

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.

Most one word names are TOO generic. We can talk all day about one worders but they are purely brand plays. No one looks for Books or Shoes, or televisions. They look for "A book", "red dress shoes", etc. keyword generics however are not marketable. No one really wants their store to be called "Shoes".

This is why things like CatFood.com aren't that impressive to businesses it's worth ONLY the traffic. Most people are looking for Whiskas or whatever cats eat.

I think it remains to be seen if IdahoAluminumCarburetors.com is more memorable than Carburetors.pro.

I know which is more meaningful. One is in Idaho and specializes in Al Carburetors.. the other is something to do with carburetors?

If I had to pick, I'd go with Carburetors.pro for my own business.

I'd go for it on my business card but I'd redirect it to the .com

Of course Carburetors.com would kick my ass by getting more traffic, and I'd have to compete like hell to compensate, but compared to more convoluted, longer, harder-to-type .COMs I'd stand a pretty good chance, I think.

This is only a problem if they are a direct competitor. Most likely they are an ad site and your best bet would be to put an ad for Carburetors.Pro on their leadgen site. If you can't compete, use them.

It's your prerogative, but why haven't end users been flocking to .pro and other alternate extensions if they are credible alternatives.

They are credible. They work exactly the same way as every .com. There is no real reason why one is more or less credible EXCEPT that people are used to .com. Don't get me wrong - I think that .COM makes sense (especially given the statement I made earlier with <$1000) but you can make good sense of .TV, .PRO, .US if you want. It depends on what entiry you are and want to be. I wouldn't put a lawyer on a .biz for example but I may put a handyman on a .pro. The markets are different the expectations are different.

A person comes to estimate the price of your new pool. Do you go with the one that drives up in a suit and bentley or the one that drives up in a truck with mud and equipment in the back? you have someone come to clean your fleet of cars- do you take the guy with the broken down looking van or the one with the shiny as heck ford diesel with all the gear professionally maintained. What difference would their domain url make to you in your recommendations to friends? All you need to remember is their name and location and you WILL find them because you WANT to. Different businesses have different needs.

It's also a question of credibility. When consumers see your business on a TLD that they are totally unfamiliar with, it's easy to dismiss you - maybe you're a scammer
You can use a .biz but you'll still look cheap. No longer viable when you run a high-profile operation.

This is true. I'm going to run a poll one day to prove a point. You need to buy an expensive camera for a wedding.

You can only go to the following sites. Rank in order which site you think would be the most likely to fulfill your need.

camera.com
Bhphotovideo.com
amazon.com
ritzcamera.com

I would bet that camera.com would be last in almost all cases for people under the age of 40. We've learned to not trust keyword domains.

I would not include .NYC in that group. New York has a very strong identity and if the registry does its job well, it will perform like a genuine ccTLD (rather than a repurposed ccTLD like .co).

More speculation on what will and won't work That's what makes things interesting.

The success of all these tlds, imho, will be based on what their business model is. If you must have a store/presence to be allowed to register a .NYC and it must be developed? Then you have something. If not? The whole thing will provide nothing better than a newyork.com or a nyc.co. Who cares?

The value of the tld is in the platform and in the method of use.

The internet is changing. Addressing the internet is changing. The structure, organization, and method of access are ALL changing. The needs and the purpose are changing. Most traffic on the interest will not be people based in the future... if the people with the money that create the platform .NYC for example do it right.. there will never be a need to register any domain with "ny" or "new york" in it. The problem is that you have to TRUST the platform and that's the toughest component. The internet is still for cowboys and will be until someone makes a bold change - that bold change will be greatly rewarded.

The internet is not trustworthy outside of known brands. That's why Amazon.com is now successful but JoesStoreSomewhere.biz isn't. What domainers have wrong is that its somehow the .com vs .biz that violates the trust. It's not. it's called branding, marketing and investment in mindshare. Yes. Mindshare. That's the most critical marketing of all... the piece of someone's mind you can convince to trust you. it's what Barack and Mitt are trying to do every day (but doing the opposite).

Anyway, that's my bullshit post for the year. There's always one. It's too long to read and gets ignored. The next post will be "I like .Co coz it's great" and Johname will thank me and if all is right with the world.

Bottom line. No one here has an effing clue what's going to be happening because no one here is DRIVING the CHANGE. If you are? Let me know, I'd love to be a part of it.

 

[alien51]

Let me tell you guys as a domainer I was shocked that none had any top of the line names. Most of the names were LastNameLaw.com, LastNameAndLastName.com, LastNameLastNameLaw.org
So my goal about explaining all this: .com .org will be fine. however more people will become more and more and more creative in order to get their .com and .org.

Domainers are the ones who are very pricky with domain names and extensions. It's understandable, because domainers are salesmen.

But if you put yourself in the shoes of an end-user, a lot of them are satisfied with getting less-than-perfect domains. And they work out just fine for their clients and customers. People will just bookmark their "ugly" domains with no issues. Because the bottomline is "content" or good customer service, and people will bookmark you, seek you out from obscurity. Just like people (and the Interpol) seek out Demonoid.ME no matter what extension they end up with.

Brandables don't need .PRO, because the .COM is not even taken. Because few people think somebody would want to reg it. Let alone domainers. So getting a domain like smithlawpartners.COM would work out just fine.

 

[Archangel]

Spot on, DU, spot on.

 

[JB Lions]

Spot on, DU, spot on.

Minus the misquotes

Originally Posted by JB Lions View Post
If I had to pick, I'd go with Carburetors.pro for my own business.

I have to deduct a few points for that.

 

[jmcc]

Most one word names are TOO generic.

That's something that a lot of domainers still don't get. The type-in nature of some of these domains has been overtaken, somewhat, by SEO.

More speculation on what will and won't work That's what makes things interesting.

It is an irregular verb: I extrapolate; you speculate; that domainer over there throws darts at a printout.

The success of all these tlds, imho, will be based on what their business model is.

I remember reading the application for one of the early gTLDs that had that famous business school mistake - defining its target market as a percentage of .com domains. That gTLD has been overtaken by events. And many of the new gTLDs will find themselves similarly sidelined but it may take between three and five years for it to happen.

Regards...jmcc

 

[domainventure]

Will the .com vanish ? SURE! It will! At least the following groups will want you to believe.

1. The new gTLD registries
2. The new gTLD registrars.
3. The marketers.(Selling shovels at the fool's gold rush)
4. The lame duck, next wannabe FS buying and hoarding tons of .Crap domains and taking it to the Maserati showroom.

Total population of groups #1 through #4, about 500 give or take a 100.

For all others, .com will be the king, will Always be the king!

:wave:

 

[999names]

DU you had me think bro, specially where you listed out those websites which one would you go to buy a camera from?

It had made me think because you 're right I would never go to a domain like camera.com it is very true I d think scammy sorry that is the wrong word I 'd feel it is filled with ads and it would be a waste of my time. Same with cars.com Although it is a legit site I was thinking I d go to carmax .com before going to cars.com
I think domains will go the way of coin collecting. If anyone has collected coins will understand what I am talking about. .com is prestige .org is trust just like ANA that grades coins from P1 to MS70 eventually in the near future there will come an organization that will grade domains I am not talking sedo or godaddy or estibot valuate estimates I am talking about an independent organization like ANA which you send your coin to grade it and stamp it and it is trusted by insurance companies worldwide.

It is a cowboy environment still in the domain land I agree.

Well said

 

[JB Lions]

"camera.com
Bhphotovideo.com
amazon.com
ritzcamera.com

I would bet that camera.com would be last in almost all cases for people under the age of 40. We've learned to not trust keyword domains"

Don't know about that, you listed a bunch of known sites vs. a parked page. More to do with marketing/branding/developed sites. Could easily list well known keyword domains like:

art.com
blinds.com
calendars.com
carparts.com
diapers.com
diamonds.com
dog.com
cooking.com
envelopes.com
fabric.com
giftcards.com
giftcertificates.com
golfballs.com
hotels.com
magazines.com
maps.com
perfume.com
shoes.com
ties.com
wine.com

etc. just a few I picked real quick from my coupon site. Those are all well known, developed sites with affiliate programs.

Side note, just checked those 20 domains. 19 of them are page 1 Google for that keyword, the only one that didn't show up on page 1 was dog. But at least they get the #1 result in Yahoo.

 

[DU]

"camera.com
Bhphotovideo.com
amazon.com
ritzcamera.com

I would bet that camera.com would be last in almost all cases for people under the age of 40. We've learned to not trust keyword domains"

Don't know about that, you listed a bunch of known sites vs. a parked page. More to do with marketing/branding/developed sites. Could easily list well known keyword domains like:

Amazon is known but picked because it's a big generic brand on a name that doesn't really make "sense" - the point being that their brand and trust is WAY bigger than the name. Funny thing is that Amazon was selected to appear high on directories being "A"... how times have changed.

BHPhotoVideo.com - I'd be interested to know who else thinks of them as a big brand. I know and have used them. I don't know much about them actually other than they were recommended by a site I trust. Didn't realize they were considered a large established brand.

Ritz Camera - this is an established brand and picked for that reason

Camera.com - I have never visited this site and I don't know what it is. I assumed it was parked. Confirmation of this was a success


My point wasn't really to find valued keyword domains but to just to make people think about how they use the internet.

Based on your list I went to diamonds.com. I don't trust it, I don't like it and I wouldn't ever go there before (or after) visiting Tiffany, Kay, BlueNile, Jared, etc. Reality is that I would go to a local jeweller here that I know and trust (Ackerman in Tampa, for example) they have http://www.ackermanjewelers.com/ - it works because they have an incredible reputation. They could be at ackermanjewelsandwatchesandstuffintampa.com and do just fine

I've only used cooking.com from your list.

Art.com seemed like a reasonable site.

But you sort of talk to my point a little. No one here is going to own those names. People here at NP might own aviatorwatches.com but not watches.com. They might own pinkelectricguitars.com but not guitars.com. No one here is going to land guitars.newTLD and make millions of dollars. The owners of those other names might be at risk. If diamonds.com is just an affiliate site (I can't tell on face value and don't have time to research) then in the future I may have even LESS reason to go there because they simply won't exist on a specially curated platform. It's this trust/platform/curation/linked environment that I expect to be what challenges the existing paradigm. These new TLD might not cause that shift but I think they might be a part of initiating or forcing an evaluation of the value of that shift.

The company that can provide a mechanism to protect consumers from scams and provide consumers with what they need is the one that survives. This is why Amazon is so big. Why ebay/paypal and even Sedo survive and other companies fall by the wayside. If I were a handyman more than ANYTHING else I would (a) Get on AngiesList and (b) Get on the BBB and make sure I had a landing page that pointed directly to my state licence/bonding/insurance information.

But basically the low end .com market is fine for now and even if it goes away won't wreck a major economy but disappoint a bunch of hobbyists. The people with the big portfolios with the names like you list reliant on affiliates and so forth are the ones that need to be thinking about their future.

The scope of monies to be lost is far greater than the amount of money to be made imho (among pure domainers/speculators/non-entrepreneurial types). There will always be money to be made in the internet space - but I separate that from the people peddling in names.

---------- Post added at 01:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:37 AM ----------

It is an irregular verb: I extrapolate; you speculate; that domainer over there throws darts at a printout.

I don't speculate. I pontificate. I believe you have a mathematics background whereas I have a background in being opinionated (ok..applied science).

I'm well aware that I could be wrong but I've been watching people and realize how malleable and easy to manipulate they are. It's actually scary - worse when you can stop, take a deep breath and realize you are just as easily manipulated as anyone. Takes a lot to learn and realize and stop it happening.

 

[JB Lions]

"the point being that their brand and trust is WAY bigger than the name."

Anything can be branded, keyword domains or names like this. That happens to be the #1 merchant on the internet.

"BHPhotoVideo.com - I'd be interested to know who else thinks of them as a big brand."

It's pretty well known, #158 on the top 500 list, been around almost 40 years.

"If diamonds.com is just an affiliate site"

Just to be clear, none of those are affiliate sites. They're all merchants that happen to have affiliate programs as well.

I'm actually not sure what point you're trying to make You're comparing generickeyword.coms to other types of .coms, when this is a .com, will it die, talking about other extensions thread. Are you saying, if you build some of the quality sites already mentioned, on some other extension, they can just do as well, because it's not really the extension that matters but the other factors you listed. Sure, and there are some examples out there. But mostly they've stuck to the .com for some of the reasons already mentioned. Go thru top 500 internet merchants, Fortune 500 companies, your own bookmarks etc, it becomes pretty clear. You're talking about "trust/platform/curation/linked environment" but keep in mind the consumer and all the years, marketing, familiarity with something.com and after that, something.org. Talking about mainly the United States with that. There's nothing out there that's going to take that down. And I can't imagine too many companies wanting to experiment with something else (another extension, because the ones that have, failed) when they can go with the proven one. .com generally doesn't leak to another extension, all the other ones leak to the .com (same keyword) in varying degrees.

 

[999names]

The way this thread is on fire tells me Are domainers scared? Are we scared that really .com will not be the ALL ALMIGHTY .com anymore? I don't know but it is the unknown that we are afraid of.

 

[JB Lions]

The way this thread is on fire tells me Are domainers scared? Are we scared that really .com will not be the ALL ALMIGHTY .com anymore? I don't know but it is the unknown that we are afraid of.

No. It's really one of the silliest things on domain forums when somebody says so and so extension is going to topple .com or .com is going to die. And in the end, your money can easily buy other extensions. I think there is room for profit is just about all of them, depending on what keywords you get and your acquisition cost.

 

[DU]

Are you saying, if you build some of the quality sites already mentioned, on some other extension, they can just do as well, because it's not really the extension that matters but the other factors you listed.

I think you answered that yourself.

Anything can be branded, keyword domains or names like this.

Just to be clear, none of those are affiliate sites. They're all merchants that happen to have affiliate programs as well.

Ok. I wasn't sure. Diamonds.com was kind of a crappy site then

Sure, and there are some examples out there. But mostly they've stuck to the .com for some of the reasons already mentioned.

Sure, you're not going to move from the best name to a worse name. You aren't going from Diamonds.com to Diamonds.us. I could see someone going from DiamondsAreAGirlsBestFriend.com to Diamonds.me

Go thru top 500 internet merchants, Fortune 500 companies, your own bookmarks etc, it becomes pretty clear.

I'm sure if you go through the top 500 internet merchants most of them have a pre-internet brand/revenue stream and live on a domain they registered in 1994.

I don't believe this is the market people are talking about when we ask if .COMs are going to die.

I do think that if you have a choice of mycompany.com vs company no dot anything then the choice will be obvious. It gets sketchy when you have multiple names competing for that no dot which is something ICANN clearly hasn't resolved properly.

My believe is that eventually you will go to "some platform" and just look for diamonds and be presented with what is likely your best choices. When you go to a mall you don't question why there isn't more choice than Zales/Kay/Local Jeweler - you just go there and use them. I think the internet is heading the same way. For that reason I believe the platform will take over. You will go to AngiesList and just pick "handyman" and pick.

These lists are making money by owning all the data all the knowledge - both purveyors and consumers.

but keep in mind the consumer and all the years, marketing, familiarity with something.com and after that, something .org.

And I can point you to people that will ONLY shop online at Amazon. Nowhere else. PERIOD. They don't even realize that it's not always amazon anymore. If you put in any product - I will assure you that 50% of the time you will not be buying from amazon at all. That's the power of the Amazon platform now.

There's nothing out there that's going to take that down. And I can't imagine too many companies wanting to experiment with something else (another extension, because the ones that have, failed) when they can go with the proven one.

You think like a domainer. It's something.com vs something.noncom. I'm looking at it going - there doesn't need to be a .com or a .noncom.

There will be, of course, for a while because the infrastructure is what it is, but with clouds, walled in social sites, etc. things will change.

For a long time people lived on "AOL Keywords" remember. It doesn't take much to take us back there.

Take your business card. Over the last year I would say that 20% of the cards I have list a unique url and those are usually small internet companies. I would say 80% list linked in links. I would say 50% have a twitter link.

I know groups and people that discuss things with via meetup.com. I am connected to EVERYONE I want to know through FB and LinkedIn. I don't need anyone's email anymore because I can get to anyone I want through those other means. You think businesses don't realize this?

Anyway, I don't want to take over the conversation with missing the point of will .com ever die so this will be my last post (or I will owe someone 49 NPs)

My point is not that .com will die but that domainers need to step out of the dark room and take a look around at how the world is changing. It is changing. I don't think .COM is going to disappear any time soon.. It's not a .com vs .me vs .something issue.

You have to look at .citi and wonder what that means, surely? Why would CitiBank want .citi? and Canon .canon? You have to have an answer for that question before you can even begin to think about where things are going. I know those companies have.