Pros & Cons of .com vs. New GTLDs

[Cool.Ventures]

With all the new GTLDs rolling out, I'd like to list the pros & cons:

Pros of .com:

• Ingrained in the minds for now
• Inexpensive

Cons of .com:

• "com" isn't a valid word and is not descriptive, thus defeating the purpose of not using IP numbers.
• Everything "good" is taken or squatted

Pros of new GTLDs:

• Descriptive & catchy
• Can get what you want or close to it

Cons of new GTLDs:

• Risk initially of losing visitors to the .com version
• More expensive renewals so far
• At the mercy of Donuts, etc. whatever they want to do

 

[NameOmnia]

I think there are at least a couple of threads on the forum about this topic and you might want to join the discussion there.
As for me so far I see the new .pfffffft a total waste of money. But I can be wrong....

 

[Planet9]

Here is my dilema COM versus .Technology for example

I registered 3DVR.Technology while I could have (also) gotten 3dvrtechnology.com For those that don't know 3d VR is 3D Virtual Reality which differs from virtual reality kind of like comparing being in the Holodeck on Star Trek the Next generation to watching a 3D movie. I prefered 3dVR.technology to 3DVRTechnology.com as its shorter and specific. Whether I'm right or not is another question.

 

[NameOmnia]

I would have definitely gone with the .com

 

[Cool.Ventures]

.com is at it's peak, but will go to the dumps when CNN switches to news.cnn / cnn.news and Google switches to Google.search / search.google... all within 5 years.

 

[urlurl]

not likely. google will always keep it .com and cnn witll keep its .com. they will register the other extensions in a defensive move to protect their brand.

remember O.co... dint last very long until they went back to the .com, lol

if your start-up becomes successful, and you reg'd it with an alternative extension. you will soon need to register all the other 1,000's of extensions to protect your companies identity... or you could just start and finish with the .com.

these alternative extensions are good for personal micro sites and blogs. I would not advise starting your next big idea with them.

 

[McDuke]

these alternative extensions are good for personal micro sites and blogs. I would not advise starting your next big idea with them.

I think you may be surprised to see how these take off. I really think a new search tool is going to be a game changer. I was thinking of ideas but i don't have the skills to develop....

I'm only adding 20-30 of these new extensions but i will say a few are now my portfolio faves. Not that my portfolio was anything special before the roll out.

 

[DnEbook]

The internet is currently a little seed that will grow into a huge oak with each leaf representing an extension

 

[Yo]

Why will any major Company switch from .com to a new gTLD extension they won't.
They will register the new gTLD's to protect their brand.

 

[ImageAuthors]

Pros of .com:

Naming flexibility.

Without some neutral extension that everybody assumes, you couldn't have simple, distinctive brand names like

Amazon
Ebay
Facebook
Etsy
Twitter
Instagram
NamePros
Flippa
DNJournal
Youtube
... or the vast majority of website names in existence.



Cons of new GTLDs:

They're redundant.

Nano.technology is a duplicate of Nanotechnology.com.
Eco.gallery is a duplicate of Ecogallery.com
... and so forth for 95% of the vanity extensions


Pros of new GTLDs:

You save 3 letters. So your 17-letter domain becomes a 14-letter domain.

Cons of new GTLDs:

You pay an additional tax for the privilege of needing 2 domains instead of one.
You may have to purchase 2 expensive domains on the aftermarket, since the odds are that at least one of them will be "squatted".


This list could go on forever ... So I'll just leave it on an optimistic note:


Pros of new GTLDs:

Easy to sell to gullible new domainers, which leads to enormous profits for registries, registrars, and certain domain bloggers.

 

[McDuke]

Easy to sell to gullible new domainers, which leads to enormous profits for registries, registrars, and certain domain bloggers.

Naming flexibility.

- This is why brandables will always have a home with .com

You save 3 letters.

- I'll only have to type Nano for Nano.technology to pop up but NanoTechnology.com needs to be fully typed, no? Way way more than 3 letters

Pros of new GTLDs:

Easy to sell to gullible new domainers, which leads to enormous profits for registries, registrars, and certain domain bloggers.

- I think some domainers are trying really hard to discredit the new system because their portfolios are about to take a nose dive. I personally would want Nano.Technology over nanotechnology.com.

 

[JB Lions]

I personally would want Nano.Technology over nanotechnology.com.

So you personally don't know that Nanotechnology is one word? And if given the choice between the two and you didn't pick the .com, that would be foolish.

Examples like that or the other guy thinking Poodle.blog is better that Poodle.com or Mr. Dislike thinking the major brands are going to give up their .com says a lot, nothing good.

 

[McDuke]

So you personally don't know that Nanotechnology is one word? And if given the choice between the two and you didn't pick the .com, that would be foolish.

Examples like that or the other guy thinking Poodle.blog is better that Poodle.com or Mr. Dislike thinking the major brands are going to give up their .com says a lot, nothing good.

No i didn't know it was one word. But i think the Nano.Technology still looks better. let's use a different combo

Very.Cynical i think is better than VeryCynical.com

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

I think that we have to understand that these are niche gTLDs, and, therefore, the number of regs per gTLD will be fairly low. In other words, if an end user is a photographer, he or she is likely to register MyPhotographyCompanyName.Photos and/or MyPhotographyCompanyName.Photography, but is not likely to register MyPhotographyCompanyName.shoes. It just doesn't make sense. (Newbie domainers might, but that's another story.)

What will happen, I suspect, is that the sheer numbers of gTLDs will get the word out there to end users, in addition to aggressive advertising (this will be key) by the registries. Take note, Donuts and Uniregistry.

I discuss my take (therefore, opinion) on my blog:

http://www.lifeisabrand.com/2014/03/move-over-dotcom-here-comes-new.html​

I'm not saying I'm right or wrong because we can't really definitively predict the future, especially when it comes to how the public will make these products go viral or not go viral.

*

 

[JB Lions]

*

I think that we have to understand that these are niche gTLDs, and, therefore, the number of regs per gTLD will be fairly low. In other words, if an end user is a photographer, he or she is likely to register MyPhotographyCompanyName.Photos and/or MyPhotographyCompanyName.Photography, but is not likely to register MyPhotographyCompanyName.shoes. It just doesn't make sense. (Newbie domainers might, but that's another story.)

What will happen, I suspect, is that the sheer numbers of gTLDs will get the word out there to end users, in addition to aggressive advertising (this will be key) by the registries. Take note, Donuts and Uniregistry.

I discuss my take (therefore, opinion) on my blog:

http://www.lifeisabrand.com/2014/03/move-over-dotcom-here-comes-new.html​

I'm not saying I'm right or wrong because we can't really definitively predict the future, especially when it comes to how the public will make these products go viral or not go viral.

*

The aggressive advertising needed to come with the launch, not sometime in the future. If they try in the future, someone might see it, go to register and....... the name is already taken. There won't be any good names left in the future, usually not after the first day or so at that. Not with these limited amount of good keyword, niche extensions.

Even right now and you can test this out, if I asked you to come up with a list of great keywords for new gtlds available right now, probably all gone already.

Then you have to ask yourself, how much advertising to you want to put to a niche extension? Knowing the people that see it in the future, will run into the problem I just talked about, the good keywords will be gone. You're going to try to sell something that's not going to be there.

Now an extension where you can put anything with, that makes more sense for advertising dollars, like a .web.

 

[Kate]

Not only are those TLDs niche, therefore limiting your purpose, they are only good in English. In markets where English is not the primary language, they are even less appealing as they might be to US end users.
As always, the domaining community is very US-centric

 

[McDuke]

Even right now and you can test this out, if I asked you to come up with a list of great keywords for new gtlds available right now, probably all gone already.

JBLions.land is available

oh and a 2 min search found these. I am sure there are good terms left.....

mine.construction
patio.construction
duplex.construction
kitchen.construction

---------- Post added at 12:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 PM ----------

Not only are those TLDs niche, therefore limiting your purpose, they are only good in English. In markets where English is not the primary language, they are even less appealing as they might be to US end users.
As always, the domaining community is very US-centric

yeah and the new language extensions are not going to be used because they have dot coms right...

 

[Ms Domainer]

The aggressive advertising needed to come with the launch, not sometime in the future. If they try in the future, someone might see it, go to register and....... the name is already taken. There won't be any good names left in the future, usually not after the first day or so at that. Not with these limited amount of good keyword, niche extensions.

Even right now and you can test this out, if I asked you to come up with a list of great keywords for new gtlds available right now, probably all gone already.

Then you have to ask yourself, how much advertising to you want to put to a niche extension? Knowing the people that see it in the future, will run into the problem I just talked about, the good keywords will be gone. You're going to try to sell something that's not going to be there.

Now an extension where you can put anything with, that makes more sense for advertising dollars, like a .web.

*

End users, especially small businesses, are more likely to hand reg their company names, not generics. After all, Apple doesn't own computer.com or even computers.com

It's domainers who are so enamored of generics, not end users. Usually, companies figure out the advantages of a generic long after the fact, and by that time, it's moot. For example, Facebook is doing nicely without Social.com or SocialMedia.com. A local or regional company doesn't need an expensive generic, just a good website that offers a great product of service.

I agree that the registries should have been on this sooner in their advertising campaigns, but it is never too late to start, given that there are at least hundreds of new gTLDs to be released.

Sdsinc is correct that English-based gTLDs are somewhat limiting to the English-speaking world, but the converse of this: the English language is becoming pervasive (as a second language) throughout the world. I also expect that the international community is going to take a look and see stance before creating foreign-language registries -- although .uno seems to be on the horizon.

*

 

[JB Lions]

*

End users, especially small businesses, are more likely to hand reg their company names, not generics. After all, Apple doesn't own computer.com or even computers.com

It's domainers who are so enamored of generics, not end users. Usually, companies figure out the advantages of a generic long after the fact, and by that time, it's moot. For example, Facebook is doing nicely without Social.com or SocialMedia.com. A local or regional company doesn't need an expensive generic, just a good website that offers a great product of service.

I agree that the registries should have been on this sooner in their advertising campaigns, but it is never too late to start, given that there are at least hundreds of new gTLDs to be released.

Sdsinc is correct that English-based gTLDs are somewhat limiting to the English-speaking world, but the converse of this: the English language is becoming pervasive (as a second language) throughout the world. I also expect that the international community is going to take a look and see stance before creating foreign-language registries -- although .uno seems to be on the horizon.

*

You just made a post for .com. Company names are usually original, so they're usually available in .com. We've done examples with this already in other threads. You can take something like bikes - https://www.google.com/search?q=bik...la:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

And see original names or keyword bike with another word all day long.

So see what I bolded from you in the quote. If they can do what you said, and they can, why even mess with these second rate extensions?

 

[McDuke]

Brandables like many of those bike names are gold and will remain in the .com space.

Keywords are moving to gtld's and company names or brands that work.

I see the simplicity of the old system time will tell if the public adopts the new format. I think a big chunk of .com reg's will be gone in a couple years, but it will still be king.