.biz The growing .BIZ groundswell

[mole]

I was at a function yesterday, the guy beside me gave me his namecard. He was one of those millionaire SMBs family business types.

I noticed he had a .BIZ URL. I asked him, why not .COM? Without batting an eyelid nor being apologetic about the fact, he said "It stands for Business, that's what I am"

Today, I was clicking through the domain news items and came across a family business http://www.minimus.biz A confident air of "I'm a .biz!" struck my nostrils again.

Sure these are SMBs/SMEs, family businesses, call them what you like, but they comprise over 80% of all businesses formed in this world.

Having said that, MNCs like IBM and HP do use .BIZ, but as a redirectional URL to their .COM.

The point, the observation if you will, is that the .BIZ namespace is growing steadily on the fringes, so if you ever get caught with your domaining pants down one day in the years ahead, don't say you didn't realise ...

 

[seeker]

it also means he was too stingy to afford the .com
seriiously though, I agree. SMBs etc... (which are the mainstgream) will be using .biz more and more each year. it's not a matter of if, but of when.

 

[equity78]

I just sold 14 LLL.biz Mole Not at end user prices though but decent would like to sell 10 of the 140 left for what BES.biz went for $8500

 

[maxxwebb]

i own and operate my hometown "biz-ness" directory - www.sackville.biz

as it's success grows, i care less and less (or MORE & MORE) about the extension.

i'm looking at another .biz right now.

so far, so good...

 

[IAmAllanShore]

I still think it carries somewhat of a stigma of a "second-rate-attempt" thanks to all the late night TV commercials (123-HomeBasedBiz.Biz now to make $20,000 a month like us!!!) and the lack of useful sites in the extension (Not to say they don't exist... just not in great quantities). However, I do realize that for a sizeable plurality of possible domain buyers, .biz is a great alternative to a .com that is long gone.
I'm bullish, but bearly .

-Allan :gl:

 

[mole]

I still think it carries somewhat of a stigma of a "second-rate-attempt"

By that perception, .NET would be more directly affected than .BIZ. Both grew up on the Internet at the same time.

It will be interesting to watch whether people see .mobi, .xxx, .eu as "second-rate-attempts" in this coming 12 months, or more meaningful expressions of content and purpose.

Somehow, I suspect the image damage of having franchise-4you.com as compared to franchise.biz is more severe.

 

[maxxwebb]

both excellent points of view. (allan / mole)

do i wish i had the .com? (sure)
can i build a successful site / brand without it? (yup)

i also agree/believe that in some ways if it's NOT a .com, then most of the other extensions are on a level playing field (i.e. .biz is "as good" as .net)

IMHO

 

[dgridley]

I have never owned a .biz but if I were to develop a site that dealt primarily with sales or marketing, I'd go .biz.

 

[cera]

Never been a big fan of .biz - always thought it looked/sounded gimmicky and associated with mlm, scams, etc.

But I'm commin around. Some reasonable sales listed at dnjournal and the faith in the ext. expressed by some members here have had some effect on me I guess. I even have a few .biz names now.

 

[downloadfreak]

I'm not a big fan either, I have yet to see some mainstream companies use the .biz ext, anyone care to share some? Thanks

 

[harkster]

My .biz experiment

I have a poor name .com site and the good name was available in the .biz so am now promoting the .biz with intention of eventually redirecting the .com to the .biz. Majority of my traffic comes from SE's so I am not concerned about losing typeins.

Wish it was other way around but... Time will tell -- I like the challange.

 

[JMJ]

If the extension fits then wear it.

 

[singx]

If the extension fits then wear it.

lol...good one! going for my first .biz this week

 

[homebuyer]

I see no dot-biz trend. All I see is an increase in the number of wishful thinkers; but hey, if they think the dot-biz will take off some day and rival the dot-com, then I invite them to bid on my future dot-com lookalike, refi.biz. Bidding will start at 10 cents on the dot-com dollar.

 

[harkster]

duplicated -- sorry.

 

[TUFKATH]

.biz don't cost any less than .com

Edit: My mistake, I was thinking of a fresh register.

 

[harkster]

I been looking all over the place to find where anyone has said that biz will rival the com but the commies sure do get defensive every time anyone says anything good about other extensions.

The com is king and therefore the best choice but few have the xxx,xxx - xx,xxx,xxx to aquire the prime or even the xx,xxx - xxx,xxx for the secondary choice provided it isn't directed to a generic PPC page.

All that is being said is that in todays world SE referals, return traffic via bookmarks and links etc. are the source of more and more traffic. As what is to the left of the dot along with content becomes more important the non-com extensions become alternatives to using a very poor quality com name.

 

[mole]

I see no dot-biz trend. All I see is an increase in the number of wishful thinkers

I can empathise with that. I thought exactly like you back in 1995 on the .COM namespace. I could have creamed up entire categories on top keywords in those days.

 

[Domainating]

To tell you the truth, I am not very hopeful for my .biz names. Why do I have them? Some good names were available only as a dot biz, or I am using the dot biz to back-up a dot info or dot us.

Whenever I search for new names to register, the dot biz is always among the last to be reg'd.

.COM is king.
Then I like .NET
Then I like .US & .INFO

I honestly see so little use of the .biz extension that I rank it well below .ORG.

But I am glad you guys are optimistic. Maybe .biz has a niche in MLM and consulting sites. But my current dot biz names hardly get any traffic.

-Doug

 

[mole]

But I am glad you guys are optimistic. Maybe .biz has a niche in MLM and consulting sites. But my current dot biz names hardly get any traffic.

.BIZ was originally launched as a restricted gTLD, to be used for 'bono fide' business reasons only, and reselling them was not one of those reasons. Resellers didn't want to touch the extension at the beginning, a couple of people who warehoused and sold them in the early days had their names terminated by Neulevel.

Yes, .BIZ operates best within a niche, I have always felt that this "niche" was B2B services. And no, do not expect "curious type-ins" with this extension, but then again only 10-15% of all Internet traffic comes from type-ins.

If you want to get a good feel of who actually uses the .BIZ extension, you can get a very good list from the link below;
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site:.biz+biz

I own domains in a lot of extensions besides .BIZ, 2005 has been a surprisingly successful and good value year in the .COM acquisition arena for me, but I am also starting to feel a more spirited spring of acceptance and development in .BIZ not from what people say here on forums, but in the increasing number of personal encounters with more and more companies using .BIZ with gusto. Perhaps I can appreciate B2B sectors a little deeper since this is what I do offiine, and to my industry the word 'BIZ' is everyday speak.

I am not here to preach to the commie priests, but to hint that celebacy may not be the best route for a balanced life

I'm not a big fan either, I have yet to see some mainstream companies use the .biz ext, anyone care to share some? Thanks

http://www.billboard.biz

 

[harkster]

I am not here to preach to the commie priests, but to hint that celebacy may not be the best route for a balanced life

That one gave me a 'tears running down cheeks' good old time belly laugh.

 

[homebuyer]

Hark, I said "if..." Besides, I did see it written (possibly in the Denver Post a while back) 'If predictions from analysts hold true - that dot-biz will rival the popularity of dot-com - startups will no longer have to settle for second-tier domain names."

In any event, there are wishful thinkers out there, even if you have never been formally introduced to them, Hark.

Commies? Domaining is a capitalist pursuit.

 

[mole]

Commies? Domaining is a capitalist pursuit.

True, dictatorship and monopolies have no place in a capitalist free economy system. :imho: