discuss About.com Rebrands to DotDash.com ...A Good Move?

[Silentptnr]

Why would they do that? If you go to About.com you are redirected to the new name DotDash.com...

"About.com -- the 20-year-old general interest site with hundreds of thousands of articles about everything from "The right way to handwash clothes" to "What to do if you hate your in-laws" -- has a new mandate, and a new name to to go with it.

The New York-based, IAC-owned company, which actually began as MiningCo.com, is now "Dotdash," a nod to the company's history of having a "dot" in its previous names and logos, and a "dash" meant to represent what comes next, said CEO Neil Vogel. The dot and dash also represent the letter "A" in Morse code."

Source: http://adage.com/article/tech/a-dotdash/308884/

I have no idea why they would go from About.com to DotDash.com. What does everyone else think?

 

[Internet.Domains]

 

[dande]

The idea behind the re-branding involves a complex though process that ordinary mind won't understand. Sure, its a very good move, though the benefits may not be immediate. As weird as it may sounds, DotDash is a kind of easier to relate with than About.com

 

[Arca]

The .Dash on their site can be confusing, are they planning on getting .dash, what if a registry gets .dash? do they even care?

Since more than 99% of the general public is unaware that the new gtlds exist (and are therefore able to recognize .keyword as domain extensions), nobody besides ngtld domainers are going to contemplate whether dotdash's ".dash" branding might refer to a domain extension.

Until keyword.keyword starts being recognized as domains by the general public, dotdash.com will do just fine without dot.dash - but they should have stayed with about.com instead.

 

[Arca]

The idea behind the re-branding involves a complex though process that ordinary mind won't understand. Sure, its a very good move, though the benefits may not be immediate. As weird as it may sounds, DotDash is a kind of easier to relate with than About.com

Dot = . (full stop, a sentence terminator/punctuation mark)
+
Dash = — (another type of punctuation mark)
=
DotDash = .— (two kinds of punctuation marks)

How is it easier to relate to a combination of two words referring to typographical marks that don't create a meaningful brand when put together, than it is to relate to "about" - a meaningful dictionary word and a super-powered authoritative one-word .com domain? Please explain to my ordinary mind the "complex thought process that ordinary mind won't understand" that justifies such re-branding and makes this a "good move".

 

[LucidDomains]

they are probably selling the about.com domain.

 

[1Darko]

Dot = . (full stop, a sentence terminator/punctuation mark)
+
Dash = — (another type of punctuation mark)
=
DotDash = .— (two kinds of punctuation marks)

How is it easier to relate to a combination of two words referring to typographical marks that don't create a meaningful brand when put together, than it is to relate to "about" - a meaningful dictionary word and a super-powered authoritative one-word .com domain? Please explain to my ordinary mind the "complex thought process that ordinary mind won't understand" that justifies such re-branding and makes this a "good move".

Well someone obviously had the same thoughts in 2011 when they registered the trademark:
Tue Dec 20, 2011 ·- DOT DASH Eyewear; Sunglasses; Parts, Fittings And Accessories For Eyewear And Sunglasses, Namely, Cases, Chains, Cords, Frames, Support Bands And Straps 9 (Computers, Software, Electronic instruments, & Scientific appliances) REGISTERED
Tue Dec 20,

 

[Arca]

Well someone obviously had the same thoughts in 2011 when they registered the trademark:
Tue Dec 20, 2011 ·- DOT DASH Eyewear; Sunglasses; Parts, Fittings And Accessories For Eyewear And Sunglasses, Namely, Cases, Chains, Cords, Frames, Support Bands And Straps 9 (Computers, Software, Electronic instruments, & Scientific appliances) REGISTERED
Tue Dec 20,

But what is significant about that? Even though a small sunglasses business decided to brand themselves as dotdash in 2010-11, it doesn’t do anything to make dotdash.com a better brand than about.com. It's still just two typographical punctuation marks, as their logo illustrates:

 

[wormfood]

we should start investing in morse code domains

sex in morse code
http://www.hosterstats.com/historicaldns.php?domain=dotdotdotdotdashdotdotdash.com

 

[Silentptnr]

It seems like the same old strategy thinking that a new name will turn things around. The fact is, there is a good chance that they made a deadly mistake.

Personally, I predict they will package and sell off this "DotDash" thing, and keep some part (hopefully the profitable part) of the business and that part will remain as About.com.

These companies are pretty smart. I think this is a move to actually hold onto About and shed the weak parts in a Dot Dash package.

 

[Recons.Com]

They should have considered changing CEO instead...

 

[MapleDots]

It's still just two typographical punctuation marks, as their logo illustrates:

Is it just me or could the logo in your picture also be a part of the male anatomy?
Maybe a way of saying screw you without actually saying it

 

[Recons.Com]

So they went

from ! to .-

 

[Recons.Com]

Next in the news:

Amazon goes for DotSlash with the logo of . /

CEO Bezos explained the move by constant drive to slash prices for consumers...

 

[MapleDots]

Next in the news:

Amazon goes for DotSlash with the logo of . /

CEO Bezos explained the move by constant drive to slash prices for consumers...

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[ikhub]

Was anything about Cannabis posted in about.com and the stakeholders risked to test it themselves?

 

[ikhub]

Because it is easier to tell the name without nodding your head and moving your lips simply with two hands

 

[Silentptnr]

www Dot Dash Dot Com????

Why not....

httpDash
wwwDotDash
AboutDash (I like this one )
DotAbout

They are all available for hand reg.

 

[offthehandle]

Really strange move from them....I mean sure the CEO is right that About.com was not as popular as it used to be.

About.com, had normal human editors and it used to be a good resource, I have not seen them rank organically on anything in along time. I am actually shocked reading this, but I am also not shocked. I assume that G xxxx e indexed all their articles and information, gobbled it up and spit them out and they lost the edge. Some of you know how this scraping works, G xxxx e is simply there to put everyone else out of business, what I predict is that no smaller information websites with organic ranking are going to survive in the coming years. Right now they are ranking a particular website as "The best", answer- or in the case of dictionary term or spelling look up's THEY are the answer. But that is a ploy and only temporary after their AI engine database is filled up, they will discard all ranked websites and re-present the information themselves. Use the example of song lyrics, type in any song name, and now all the sites that used to rank for that have been cut off at the knees, g xxx e is now the expert.

 

[bmugford]

This ranks up there with Buy.com re-branding as Rakuten.com -
https://www.thedomains.com/2013/01/...ne-buy-com-to-change-its-name-to-rakuten-com/.

Brad

 

[ikhub]

This ranks up there with Buy.com re-branding as Rakuten.com -
https://www.thedomains.com/2013/01/...ne-buy-com-to-change-its-name-to-rakuten-com/.

Brad

This comment to the article makes sense

Good Lord! I can’t handle this domainer mentality anymore!

What is wrong with this rebranding? When is the last time any of you purchased anything from Buy.com? I didn’t even know what they sold until I visited the site. Apart from being easy to remember how is having Buy.com as the domain helping them at all?

Take a moment and try to understand the value of a BRAND…

A brand takes a meaning, an emotion, and gives it life in the mind of the consumer. A generic word can’t convey the EMOTION that a brand does and EMOTION is what sells.

Mike, your own blog is TheDomains.com. It is a BRAND, and a good one at that. You have made it something special as a result of your hard work and dedication and now anyone that knows domains knows that TheDomains.com is a GREAT blog. If you were to change over to DomainBlog.com you would be a deluded fool.

When you try to brand based on a known word (like Buy) you run into trouble because most people already have some sort of relationship with that term and that relationship might not be what you want it to be. Creating a brand, while costly, allows a company to create that relationship with the consumer, it gives them a blank slate on the minds of the users. This is why we drink Coca-Cola, not “Sugar Water”. This is why we wear Calvin Klein, not “Clothing for Duchbags”, this is why we buy Macs not “hipster computers”, this is why we use “Google” not “SearchEngine.com”.

When will we realize there is SO MUCH MORE to a business than it’s domain name?

This rebrand is likely a good thing. Rakuten has a huge brand. Big enough to pay 250 million dollars for a company. This brand will now influence Buy.com customers, they will hopefully start having emotional responses to the Rakuten brand just like earlier customers have.

God Damn it, I feel like I’m part of a f*****g when I read comments like these. The cult of “Generic Domains are what make life worth living and don’t try to tell me otherwise or use logic to influence me”. I grew up in a mild cult, I know what the “group think” is like and this comment thread has NAILED IT! A bunch of people patting themselves on the back as they agree with each others bullshit.

There are at least 500 major commonly used words in the English language, each of these words has a corresponding .com domain name (money.com, sex.com, gold.com). How many of the companies that own these domains, and have BRANDED the company name around the domain, are THE most successful companies in their industry…

 

[MapleDots]

This ranks up there with Buy.com re-branding as Rakuten.com -
https://www.thedomains.com/2013/01/...ne-buy-com-to-change-its-name-to-rakuten-com/.

Brad

OMG, seriously????

What the hell is a Rakuten?

 

[ikhub]

OMG, seriously????

What the hell is a Rakuten?

Rakuten is a brand but buy was too generic, implying I have to spend money every time my wife visits that site.

 

[Silentptnr]

I think About was well branded. I think the old name is way better.

 

[3sixty]

Rakuten is a huge Japanese e-commerce company. They bought buy.com for their customer base and movement into the US market. Changing buy.com to rakuten.com consolidated their brand.

 

[ikhub]

I think About was well branded. I think the old name is way better.

About was well branded considering the content of the current site at least. Maybe they have some other plans which will make the word 'about' irrelevant.