How important is a domain name?

[Kuffy]

I'm having a radical rethink about domain names and the way end users should use them. Ultimately this affects our profitability, and the value of our investments. I tried 3 searches - " car insurance ", " bank loans", " watering cans ". In all cases the sub-directory of the search result was significant, and the domain name had little relevance. With omni-boxes being used for both direct navigation and search entries, and Google "correcting" spelling and deciding what the surfer should see, rather than what he has asked for, I think it may be worth our while to start to educate surfers in better ways to navigate the web. I can see a time when a name may be irrelevant, and companies will use a numbered directory in a Google cloud for their sites. Especially if this gives them priority in the SERPs.

 

[RegBoss]

I would think products like Amazon Echo are more of a threat to domain names than manipulated search results.

That is a valid point. Amazon software will point to their products. Voice search in general changes the game. Voice search prefers natural longer phrases. Not a 4 letter mumbo jumbo .com Algorithms crawl the content of sites. SERP keyword domains mean little with Google anymore. That is what I have read anyway.

 

[offthehandle]

I agree that Kuffy states is really correct and more and more monopolistic. Kate also reinforces the point that Domain names for branding is the market.

IMHO, The average person lives and dies by Facebook or Google results. Bing and others are not even close to "market share". Direct type in, I dont feel peoples memories from billboards and TV will recall long tail anything. Not unless they immediately navigate the moment the commercial appears. And with smart TV's now, I bet they will have a pause button to allow you to see the offer in the advertisement and rediect to some ip address, maybe an 437658.xyx lol....

Say a company isnt Uber with 4 char. Besides its an app, who needs search?
Perhaps something longer like Slumberbum. Com , prospects will forget how it is spelled and since it is a less memorable name is posted on a billboard, then when the interested prospect goes to his phone or computer a few hours later and asks google, they may never display that name in their search! Just paid competitors who bought that competitors brand name PPC for SERP. This past year we have seen more changes in Googl es search results. They are now the weatherman, the how-to learn or fixit expert with ranking youtube videos, the tutor to answering your question, they have scraped and gathered up so much human intelligence in content for their own answering of "search intent". This intelligence was taught off the backs of small business owners, experts in their own niches. Chewed up and spit out. Independent websites created by humans are being made impotent by goo gle. It's really sick. Look at Amazon and "retail" another Goliath, but no Davids throwing fatal rocks and winning. People love Amazon, and why not? Time savings, convenience, pricing. They will continue to lose money to gobble up the entire market and "put out of their misery" of all low margin, long hour, small family and small owner non corporate retail businesses. Goo gle is on the way to do the same with controlling onlime ad revenue too. Convenience and speed is the key. As a search tool I love goo gle! As a company trying to take over everything? No way.

It is why I like to hear about Presearch.io, I really would like to see them become the "Linux that takes over the Windows server platform" business. Look at hosting how Linux and wordpress and all open source was transformed what we enjoy today. 78 billion in ad revenue, meanwhile traditional news media websites is polluted with slow loading advertising.

These older brandable domains that are misspelled like Moneyy.com will never show up in goo gle and will only be found if memorized and unless the prospect remembers to direct navigate. The spelling correction will kill off finding the site with (2) y's. I dont use Chrome but can only imagine how bad it is getting with fake earnings on no SSL certificates and other games and search steering. The political mingling makes it sound even worse.

I know people who never venture outside facebook's confines, so there is no need for a domain name at all, they never use google. Unless they want to find something they need to buy. Same with linked in, search for "experts" within their walls, not outside.

I wish there was a new relevant open search directory system, like the yellow pages with a few ads. There are a few really good ones obviously, they prevent scraping but you need to know where to find them to begin with.

The bottom line is the majority of consumers and average people want the easiest, fastest and cheapest. Commodities are done, food and clothing, etc. but not luxury brands. Domain names catering to retail if small businesses who want to adapt from retail to worldwide ecommerce, need a niche. A niche that Amazon and Google can't take away. And a memorable brand name they can afford. 5 char and 2 short words for $200-2000.

This week bad news for upstarts too like Snap, Facebook is now doing exactly like microsoft years before - copying competitors ideas since they have marketshare and snap will be history. Youtube wont be replaced by FB videos, but it will confine users inside their walls, no need for Vimeo, etc. The FANG is the future, and we all should view it like 80-90 years ago.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robber_baron_(industrialist)

Brand name short domains will only continue to increase in value imho. Look at sales numbers of past few years of Sumo, Lola, snap, uber, lyft, etc. but 5 char and beyond? 2 words? I think we are in for a pricing war and challenge from all directions.

End users can find decent 2 word domains and hand register 12+ character names all day long too, just study the drops.

The bottom and mid price range of the market are being hit. Not the high end.

 

[frank-germany]

I beg to differ. The nicest looking site in the world means nothing if people can not find it. Have you ever set up and ran an adwords campaign? I have several times. Even a few hundred dollars makes your site traffic explode as long as the campaign is running. Business are willing to pay to be on first page search returns. The days of some India hack coding to the top search returns are long gone. Maybe in a niche or category that does not involve much money.

talking about adwords

 

[RegBoss]

talking about adwords

Exactly. Google reps will even help you set up a campaign. Lots to get right to utilize your keywords. Competitors watch and will outbid you per click to stay in number one spot. It is all about money who gets seen first and the most. If you have not tried one it will open your eyes. The increase in Ad sense revenue actually pays for about 1/2 of Ad word campaign costs. My experience anyway. If you want eyes on something, you can pay for it and get it. Money talks and BS walks.

 

[frank-germany]

Exactly. Google reps will even help you set up a campaign. Lots to get right to utilize your keywords. Competitors watch and will outbid you per click to stay in number one spot. It is all about money who gets seen first and the most. If you have not tried one it will open your eyes. The increase in Ad sense revenue actually pays for about 1/2 of Ad word campaign costs. My experience anyway. If you want eyes on something, you can pay for it and get it. Money talks and BS walks.

I was talking about adwords

try to promote affiliate stuff

ps
doing adwords since 2004


https://cybercashworldwide.com/site-suspended-by-google-adwords

 

[Kuffy]

@offthehandle

Thanks for that useful and thoughtful post.It made me think about the future for domain names, and this was the reason I started this thread. I think I'll start to prune my portfolio today, and start to build for the future.

I picked up SoftWasp.com last night, and I can think of several uses for it. In this age of social marketing, political turmoil, and the emergence of voice input, I believe that names like this have some ggod investment potential if used wisely.

 

[baseballworld]

Importance has to do with what the person is going to be using the domain for really.

 

[Kuffy]

Imho Importance is the difference a domain name will make in finding traffic, and simplifying revisiting. There is no point in having a great memorable name if Google has taken over the navigation bar, and doesn't list you name on the first couple of pages. There used to be a choice - direct navigation or the search box. Now there is just the omni-box which gives Google complete control. If you couple this with ISP and government filtering, then we are entering a rocky future.

 

[wakguano]

Very important . I wouldn't reg a business/company if i dont have good domain for it

 

[offthehandle]

Very important . I wouldn't reg a business/company if i dont have good domain for it

That is the driving point, provided the business itself is growth oriented and is web based. I see situations all over though where other "DIY", pardon the pun kuffy... do-it-yourself solutions like a facebook page works fine- like restaurants, no need at all to have JoesBurgers. Com or .whatever, unless its a chain or franchise. I looked up a trademark name today, from a dictionary word name is shared by tons of companies and 2 had domain names in use, primary was a .net, 2nd a .cctld for two separate, and .dot com with a domain investor. Surprised that the .com was unsold and not important as it was a multi-million enterprise.

There will always be companies wiling to buy domains match their brand. The trick is to guess which ones to speculate on.

 

[Hootsifer]

For a business company with huge income, life or death really. Like Rick Schwartz says in so many words, places like Sears and the ones going out of business needed to secure dot com's for their business long ago.

 

[Jv1999]

That has never been true. In the beginning you could use IP addresses, and you still can. Then there are subdomains. and sub-directories referenced by Google.

This is the market site that I created to be specific for the travel industry -
http://marketsites.namesilo.com/site/712/

it's just a number of somebody else's sub-domain. I was going to use one of my domain names for the site, but I decided that was just a waste of a domain name that I could sell. I'm aware that I'm building traffic for somebody else's site, but I want to get max exposure in the short term for minimum effort. I might create some sites in Google space, and I'm not sure if I will use a domain name with them. If the web site title is more significant than the domain name for Google, why should I pay an annual fee, when the better result can be obtained for nothing.

So what can we do? Well the first thing is to stop thinking about what it was like in 1999, or even 2016, and think about 2018 and on. If we allow 4 or 5 companies to dominate the Internet, then we will have to lick their boots and beg for money. You can help by letting surfers know that Google is not the only search engine, and it may no longer be giving the most relevant results. Include links to alternatives like Duck Duck Go. Educate users into using direct navigation, and if this gives search results rather than the site they wanted, then explain how they can bypass the search engine intervention.

Wait you mean I can put a website on an iP address instead of a domain? Saves me 10/year ^_|^

 

[Kuffy]

Wait you mean I can put a website on an iP address instead of a domain? Saves me 10/year ^_|^

I think you are being deliberately obtuse. You know about URL forwarding, and you know about sub-domains, and thigs like WP sites. If Google is going to rank them with fancy domain names, then the name may not be essdential. In fact one might end up redirecting the traffic to a site in the Google cloud.

 

[Jv1999]

I think you are being deliberately obtuse. You know about URL forwarding, and you know about sub-domains, and thigs like WP sites. If Google is going to rank them with fancy domain names, then the name may not be essdential. In fact one might end up redirecting the traffic to a site in the Google cloud.

So you can't just use the iP of your webhist for your webs?

 

[Kuffy]

So you can't just use the iP of your webhist for your webs?

Now you are getting boring. Of course you can as long as it's on your server. Do you know about local host? I could use google.com if I could modify the surfers computer. In fact that's how some trojans work.

But you need to stop living in the past. This thread was supposed to be about future trends, and how they will affect the domain industry. It has already been pointed out that mis-spellings and non-radio test names may reduce in value. It has also been suggested that length of name may not be important with voice input, and what is the future for emojis? These are all things that I am considering at the moment, as I try to optimise my portfolio for the future.

 

[frank-germany]

Now you are getting boring. Of course you can as long as it's on your server. Do you know about local host? I could use google.com if I could modify the surfers computer. In fact that's how some trojans work.

But you need to stop living in the past. This thread was supposed to be about future trends, and how they will affect the domain industry. It has already been pointed out that mis-spellings and non-radio test names may reduce in value. It has also been suggested that length of name may not be important with voice input, and what is the future for emojis? These are all things that I am considering at the moment, as I try to optimise my portfolio for the future.

>>it has already been pointed out that mis-spellings ... may reduce in value.
they don't have more value then the parked income creates


>>it has already been pointed out that non-radio test names may reduce in value.
they already have that reduces value today.

do you need a phone number after it's stored in the phones adress book?
-->yes

do you need a domain names
after it was scraped by google
--> yes

will there be a future for domain names?
-->yes
as long as there is internet

domain names are used for more purposes then SEO

 

[Kuffy]

will there be a future for domain names?
-->yes
as long as there is internet

Now you are starting to understand. What price domain names on Googlenet or Amazonnet. and what about the darkweb?

 

[frank-germany]

Now you are starting to understand. What price domain names on Googlenet or Amazonnet. and what about the darkweb?

honestly I don't care

 

[Moosan]

Here is another relevant example of How important is a domain name?
https://www.namepros.com/threads/mo...mption-effect-of-names-on-box-office.1035731/

 

[Joshua Harding]

The value of a name primarily rests in its psychological implications. Brands that are recognizable/unique/simple or any combination thereof are valuable in that they have the ability to rapidly propagate via word of mouth. Occupation of mental real estate is extremely important, and by extension, valuable, in business.

 

[jamesthomas]

Hi all,
Domain name is one of considerable factor for seo ranking as well as website boosting.Below are the some importance of domain name:
A domain name adds credibility to your small business
Having your own domain name makes your company look professional. If you publish your site through an ISP or a free Web hosting site, you’ll end up with a URL . And since many people don’t yet trust the Internet and e-commerce, you’ll want to do what you can to prove that your small business deserves their money. If you’re not willing to pay the money to register an appropriate domain name, why would consumers think you’d put any effort into creating valuable products or services.

A domain name says you're ground breaking. Having your own domain name demonstrates you're a piece of the Digital Revolution, and it infers that you're exceptional on rising advances. Regardless of whether this is valid or not, having your own domain name may very well put you in front of your rivals.

A domain name adds versatility to your Internet nearness. Owning your own domain name gives you a chance to bring that name with you on the off chance that you exchange Web has or change to your own in-house server. On the off chance that you don't claim your domain name, you'll need to take another URL, which will decimate the marking that you developed with your first address.

Read more...

 

[poweredbyme]

Buying domain for search engine traffic is a waste for the last few years even if you buy old domains with old backlinks. Indeed domain is not needed. I see many social site pages (facebook, youtube, pinterest, and so on) in search results. They perform better than other sites as they are technically better optimized for search engines. Today's SEO is based on content, hosting quality and optimized codes. Domains have no effect.

 

[Kuffy]

It used to be that you needed a shop to sell goods. There were door-to-door salesman, and mail order companies, but most goods were sold through shops. The Internet changed this, and you don't even need a store to sell groceries these days. Go to any town, and you'll see loads of empty shops, and shops that have become charity outlets. Now the Internet is changing, and a few mega-organisations are taking over. People make good livings by selling through Amazon and Ebay, and by putting shops out of business. Many of them don't have their own paid hosting, and as they expand, and Amazon continues to dominate the retail market place, hosting will no longer be a requirement for retail selling. As hosting declines, so will the demand for domain names.

I've noticed another trend as well. YouTube and other globalist organs are demonetising contribution, and removing them from listings. This is especially true of alternative news outlets. As a result of this, some have started to supply apps for mobiles, so that readers can bypass the normal Internet connection process. This could be another trend away from domain names.

So what can we do? They has been talk of armed attacks on Google offices, but this is stupid, and just what the Deep State wants. A much better approach is to deprive them of revenue. Don't buy through Amazon or Ebay unless you have to for some reason. This will preserve the retail mix for a bit longer. Use a mix of search engines, and don't think that Google is the only option. Consider alternatives to Windows as an operating system. Look at other computing equipment, and don't just buy Apple because it is fashionable. There are a load of other things you can do as well, such as to refuse to use contactless payment cards.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

A lot of really interesting and innovative views in this thread.

A quality domain name has value that goes beyond simply website search (or even how easy it is for potential customers to remember), since it reflects on the company that owns it. Of course quality is in the eyes of the beholder but in my opinion all of the following are important:
(a) Do potential customers/users know and trust the TLD? That is why .com and .cc have continued to have the price differential. The companies running the new gTLDs need first and foremost build general acceptance imho.
(b) Does the name build positive feelings? We only need to look at TV advertising to see how much it means to have viewers 'feel good' and be engaged. I think here is where the new gTLDs have a real opportunity, when creatively and professionally selected (and assuming that general acceptance grows).
(c) Is the overall domain name aesthetically pleasing? I guess this is where I have the problem with tacking on .com if you are not a business, and with names that are contrived. Of course Apple has its detractors, but at least when at its best, it showed that attention to simple design is real elegance. Again, there is an opportunity for new gTLDs in building aesthetically pleasing names, and also huge value to the existing .com which are elegant.

Thanks for listening, and thanks to everyone who contributed to the post.

 

[Kuffy]

- Each computer on the Internet has an Internet Protocol (IP) address: a unique string of four numbers separated by periods, such as 165.166.0.2.

Thisis not true - it's why we have subnet masks, and DN servers. They allow multiple domains, computers and servers to share the same IP address.