sales Why Are Companies Reluctant to Spend Money on a Good Domain?

[Whizzbang]

The last article on “Underpinning Domain Sales” sparked an interesting discussion on the domain forum, NamePros. One of the respondents asked the question, “Why are companies reluctant to spend money on a good domain?” In this article, I hope to answer that question.

In my opinion, the dominant reason businesses don’t spend money on domain names is because of ignorance. On the whole the domain industry has not been able to mobilise itself and communicate cooperatively to businesses about the importance of domain names. I’d like to unpack this a little further.

The biggest problem has always been the question of whom should put up the PR/Marketing money to generate interest and understanding in domains. Some people point to the registries, others the registrars while others say the current domain owners should all chip in. These discussiona often degenerate into name-calling and a lot of inaction.

What domain investors need to appreciate is that once they have purchased a domain name the registries and the registrars have effectively done their job. There is NO incentive for them to try and market on behalf of existing owners to increase the demand for already registered domains so the price goes up. That’s an almost impossible job.

The job of registries and registrars are to convince existing owners to renew and to get new registrations from wherever they can. On the whole, new gTLD registries have been excellent at selling their product to the domain investor constituency based on scarcity. “If you don’t buy this domain you’ll miss out like you did in the .com rush.”

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[DN Invest Ltd]

Yeah, you can easily loose your ranking quickly once your good content goes away. DN Invest is stuck on this idea that by simply having keywords in your domain, that will automatically put your site on the first page of Google, but of course that's not how it works.

I wrote I am out, but will comment once again. Where I wrote what you are claiming in quoted post? I wrote several times "after development" as I am very aware that just a domain will not rank nowadays without quality content and SEO. But I told that after proper development it can be of big help with ranking (related to EMDs and non EMDs).

 

[todaygold]

I wrote I am out, but will comment once again. Where I wrote what you are claiming in quoted post? I wrote several times "after development" as I am very aware that just a domain will not rank nowadays without quality content and SEO. But I told that after proper development it can be of big help with ranking (related to EMDs and non EMDs).

You seem to think that the exact name is critical...when it's not the case. You said at one point: "If the owner of CustomWoodenFuniture.com decides to be on the first position and is prepared to invest (time or money) in website development and SEO there is no chance ANY other domain will be able to be ahead of his domain."
Yet, if we do a search for 'wooden furniture' on Google, you will notice that not a single website on the first page even has the phrase 'wooden furniture' in their domain name. It's not the critical, end all be all you that you keep making it out to be.

 

[AutoDealer]

I'm not sure if McD allows individual franchises to have their own domain and website...most of the websites mentioned are for things like customer feedback, locating McD's in your state/area, applying to work for them, etc. And Target is a bit different...Target you can actually go and shop on their site. You can't buy McD food online, you have to go their in person...so it's a bit different than actually shopping on their site.

This is true and a good point but I do believe that a franchise has the right to use the McDonald's name in a domain name. I worked on a case where a franchise owner was getting divorced and her husband needed to make sure she wasn't hiding any money or assets. Domain names she owned weren't listed in her inventory for the business and several included the name McDonald's. I see what you mean though. Employment and corporate business being a separate domain and separate site.

 

[DN Invest Ltd]

You seem to think that the exact name is critical...when it's not the case. You said at one point: "If the owner of CustomWoodenFuniture.com decides to be on the first position and is prepared to invest (time or money) in website development and SEO there is no chance ANY other domain will be able to be ahead of his domain."
Yet, if we do a search for 'wooden furniture' on Google, you will notice that not a single website on the first page even has the phrase 'wooden furniture' in their domain name. It's not the critical, end all be all you that you keep making it out to be.

Are you joking me or you really have difficulties with understanding?

Yes, I wrote "...If the owner of CustomWoodenFurniture.com decides to be on the first position and is prepared to invest (time or money) in website development and SEO...."
Whats wrong with that statement?

You obviously dont understand SEO. Some will argue that EMDs still have advantage, but I am 100% sure they do. However, that doesn't means that today is enough to have an EMD to rank well. But if you create quality content (like your competition) and if you do quality SEO (like your competition) you will be ahead of them 100%. Even more, you can afford to have less backlinks and content that is slightly less quality than the one from your competition, but still need to be quality. Thats it.

I dont care for current results related to custom wooden furniture. I just said that CustomWoodenFurniture.com in the right hands can be on the first position and any other domain cant get ahead of it unless it outperforms it regarding content and SEO drastically. With the work of same quality CustomWoodenFurniture.com will be the first. Period.

Search for "whisky". TheWhiskyExchange.com is so much better than Whisky.com in almost every SEO aspect (content, meta tags, PA, DA, TF, CF, bounce rate, backlinks etc.). However, Whisky.com is very close to it and with better SEO (which still can be of lower quality than it was done for TheWhiskyExchange.com) it would be ahead of TheWhiskyExchange.com, I can guarantee you that. BTW, TheWhiskyExchange.com has more than 400,000 backlinks while Whisky.com has only about 40,000. If you know only the basics of SEO you know how important are backlinks. Lets assume that both has the same quality of backlinks as I dont want to check that now. If Horst do better SEO, he will come with his Whisky.com ahead of TheWhiskyExchange.com. He will need some meta tag changes and some content changes, but not major ones. He will also need additional backlinks, but 50,000-100,000 should be enough even TWE would still have more than twice more. $3,1 million paid for Whisky.com was good investment as now he can be on the first position with significantly lower investment in SEO than it would be needed with any other domain. Mentioned changes can be done in a few hours, except backlinks. If that was any other domain than Whisky.com it will be needed a lot more work. Dont comment, just check PA, DA, TF, CF, meta tags, bounce rate, content and backlinks (that will be enough) of both domains. TheWhiskyExchange.com is sooooo much better in the terms of SEO than Whisky.com, but Whisky.com, because of the exact match, can easily come ahead of TWE. That is just about SEO. Of course Whisky.com is a better domain because of thousand other reasons.

You can comment whatever you want, but please dont imply something that I didnt say just because you did not understand what I wrote or you didnt read well. I am out of this conversation.

 

[tiawalling]

Funny how we people debate on every topic that comes up.
I came , I saw and I leave with a quote I read somewhere :
Two points on how to be successful in life ( or domaining);
1. Never tell everything that you know

 

[bashariqbal]

if I earn $100 USD spending $1000 USD / day
I would spend as much as I could

Wow, I guess you like throwing away money. If I had to spend $1,000/day to get $100...I would stop spending immediately. But you know what they say...there's a sucker born every minute.

@todaygold I think you misunderstood him. He is talking about profit not total revenue (profit of $100/day on spending $1000/day.)

 

[Kate]

People keep saying small businesses cannot afford to spend money on a domain. I say BS

Besides, a lot of very decent domain names are for sale at low $,$$$ and even below. There are plenty of names available in that range, that can make great brands. We are not talking about million dollar sales here. In fact there are a few businesses that cannot afford a better name. Like you said, a lot more is being spent in advertising and operating expenses of all kinds.

 

[nomen]

Shadyness and general dislike of domain hoarding certainly doesn't help. I think a lot of 'honest and hard-working' small business owners go for reg fee domains simply because they're intuitively being afraid of getting scammed.

 

[JagG]

You seem to think that the exact name is critical...when it's not the case. You said at one point: "If the owner of CustomWoodenFuniture.com decides to be on the first position and is prepared to invest (time or money) in website development and SEO there is no chance ANY other domain will be able to be ahead of his domain."
Yet, if we do a search for 'wooden furniture' on Google, you will notice that not a single website on the first page even has the phrase 'wooden furniture' in their domain name. It's not the critical, end all be all you that you keep making it out to be.

Just searched and guess your wrong on your quote dude... www.wooden-furniture-store.co.uk is 1st result on google search here in London UK

See attachment ...

 

[todaygold]

Just searched and guess your wrong on your quote dude

Did I say anything about being in the UK? Here is the US, that's not the case.

 

[guilty]

I believe until this day, most companies (including the big ones) do not know the power of having the right domain name. That's the reason why they spend thousands and millions of dollars in advertising rather than buying the right domain name that will drive insane traffic to their website.

There are smart companies who know the value of domains. Look at SC Johnson as an example. They have a big domain portfolio of domains that define their brands and the products they sell. That's what I call smart marketing.

 

[frank-germany]

Did I say anything about being in the UK? Here is the US, that's not the case.

for US person its always a surprise to learn there is a world outside USA .. some even use google and speak naturally english ...

.. forgot to mention ... and buy domains

 

[Ben Price]

I believe until this day, most companies (including the big ones) do not know the power of having the right domain name. That's the reason why they spend thousands and millions of dollars in advertising rather than buying the right domain name that will drive insane traffic to their website.

Can you give an example of a company who is making this mistake?

Any example will do, they don't need to be a big co.

 

[guilty]

Can you give an example of a company who is making this mistake?

Any example will do, they don't need to be a big co.

I don't know what your point is but sure.

Walmart
Mcdonalds

 

[Ben Price]

I don't know what your point is but sure.

Walmart
Mcdonalds

Can you give a specific example 'though?... e.g.what domain/s do you think Walmart and/or McDonald's should be owning, or explain whatever else it is that you think they should be doing re: domains.

n.b. Walmart already own Walmart.com, and McDonald's own McDonalds.com, so i'd imagine that your beliefs centre around them needing to obtain domains like bargains.com or hamburgers.com, is that right?

 

[guilty]

Can you give a specific example 'though?... e.g.what domain/s do you think Walmart and/or McDonald's should be owning, or explain whatever else it is that you think they should be doing re: domains.

n.b. Walmart already own Walmart.com, and McDonald's own McDonalds.com, so i'd imagine that your beliefs centre around them needing to obtain domains like bargains.com or hamburgers.com, is that right?

I gave you a random example. You should look up what paid keywords both companies use that get highest searches.

 

[Ben Price]

I gave you a random example. You should look up what paid keywords both companies use that get highest searches.

Ahh, I thought so... you don't have any examples to give. If I were you then i'd refrain from trying to give multi-billion dollar co's the benefit of your advice.

 

[guilty]

Ahh, I thought so... you don't have any examples to give. If I were you then i'd refrain from trying to give multi-billion dollar co's the benefit of your advice.

So you're saying that they better pay for advertising every month/year rather than buy a domain that will get them more customers?

 

[Ben Price]

So you're saying that they better pay for advertising every month/year rather than buy a domain that will get them more customers?

What domain are you even talking about?!..

And as for your comment "a domain that will get them more customers", are you referring to type-in traffic they may get or something else?

 

[guilty]

Short, one word generic domains that people usually type in the browser. Type-in traffic

 

[Ben Price]

Short, one word generic domains that people usually type in the browser. Type-in traffic

Do you think there would be much of an incentive for Walmart or McDonald's to buy a one word generic domain that gets a bit of type-in traffic?!

 

[guilty]

Do you think there would be much of an incentive for Walmart or McDonald's to buy a one word generic domain that gets a bit of type-in traffic?!

I don't know. You tell me. Maybe you should ask large companies that own one word generic domains to drop their domains because they are useless? and before you ask me to give you an example, here you go.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/large-companies-own-generic-domain-names-archimedes-sapitula

 

[frank-germany]

Do you think there would be much of an incentive for Walmart or McDonald's to buy a one word generic domain that gets a bit of type-in traffic?!

for those companies its not about keyword traffic
but brandbuilding
and corporate identity

so for example if McD//nald would come up with a new "dish"
they better own the name of that "food" as a .com domain

 

[Ben Price]

I don't know. You tell me. Maybe you should ask large companies that own one word generic domains to drop their domains because they are useless? and before you ask me to give you an example, here you go.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/large-companies-own-generic-domain-names-archimedes-sapitula

I think that, in common with most domainers, you just don't understand how business works. Added to that, you also seem to be suffering from the "domainer's disease" - this is a terrifying affliction that appears to affect most domainers, and causes them to think that they know something about domains that even the largest co's on earth don't know, lol.

Some large companies have bought generic domains, and they do that (for the most part) in a defensive way and their reason for buying usually has nothing to do with "branding", or profiting from type-in hits etc...

 

[Ben Price]

so for example if McD//nald would come up with a new "dish"
they better own the name of that "food" as a .com domain

Don't be so absurd. They would already own a trademark on the product name, so why on earth would they need to buy the .com?!... And if they ever decided to acquire the .com they could just take it legally...

More domainer BS, and the stupidity they tell themselves, and attempt to tell others!...