Domain names being devalued?

[mole]

One of the most outspoken critics of the proliferation of domains is the inventor of the World Wide Web Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Speaking at the World Wide Web Conference in New York back in May 2004, he argued that adding additional domain names didn't have the effect of widening their scope but merely devalued the existing domains. 'When you print money, you devalue the money you have already printed,' he told the conference.

At the time he argued that other expansions, such as .info and .biz, have only served to boost the profits of the registries as speculators tried to cash in on potentially lucrative domain names and major companies sought to protect their brands by buying up new versions of their brand names alongside the .com, .net and .org they might already own.

'It would be great if new domains were opened, but ones with social or technology context that make a commitment to the social system and to the integrity of that piece of the Web,' he said.

 

[007]

I agree. The new ones are a complete waste. I would also pose the argument though that the new ones make the .com's even more valuable. .Com is king, and when somebody runs a business off of whatever.us, people will wonder what the .com is, and go there, or maybe even accidentally type in .com when meaning to type the other extension.

I think if you buy non .com's, then the new extensions will devalue your names, but if you buy .com's, you shouldn't have to worry because they are becoming even more valuable.

 

[mole]

I would also pose the argument though that the new ones make the .com's even more valuable.

Plausible, especially if you have the quality of the keywords to the left of the dot for these dotcoms. Theoretical, if you don't.

What is worrying is this. ICANN has apparently wised up on what to select, and what not to select in STLDs;

Both .travel and .jobs represent a few of the very best online industries that continue to migrate to the WWW to do business in an exploding, exponential way.

And if .xxx is confirmed in the next 30 days, watch out world..

I would say that .COM will seem very passe in the coming years if this happens.

The .INFORMATION and .BUSINESS space of .INFO and .BIZ can only benefit from awareness that there are extensions beyond country codes.

 

[StockDoctor]

The .INFORMATION and .BUSINESS space of .INFO and .BIZ can only benefit from awareness that there are extensions beyond country codes.

That's the first thought that crossed my mind when they approved .travel and .jobs and said they were considering .xxx

 

[LeftRightOut]

New namespaces are nice if you are after keyword domains to boost search engine rankings.

I don't remember the last time I looked at the domain of a site and had a thought of "hmm it's a .org that means this site is a non profit charity". The whole thing has become a joke from the original purpose, same with .net, .info, .pro etc etc the extension does not make the site. There is so much junk out there that those who surf the web regularly trust a link more than the extension unless it's a .gov or .edu (those are the only 2 to have survived unscathed in reliability of content provision). And I would guesstimate a newbie who is going for a keyword to type in will either put a .com or nothing at all which would default to the .com

Those are my thoughts on new extensions. Squat those keywords to get your SE placings, forget type ins. You could brand dog crap these days put a few ads out and people would buy it so the whole "it's good for branding" is a moot argument in my eyes. If you have the budget you could brand something via advertising or buy a decent keyword name anyway.

 

[JMJ]

People who don't believe an extension doesn't matter these days and it's all about keyword check out my clients site I just put up a few months back.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tayst&btnG=Google+Search

Grant it there's not alot of keyword competition but the site has CitySearch's review page and several other big name sites beat and just a few incoming links.

 

[Domagon]

Watch out is right ...

If .XXX comes on-line, much censorship is likely to quickly follow.

It won't be long before politicians push bills to require adult oriented sites to be located in .XXX ... that action alone may not effect most folks, but opens the door for far greater restrictions in the near future - .XXX could be the beginning of numerous TLDs intended to restrict information - that's a very different function than what most any TLD performs now.

I, along with others, have posted numerous messages / submissions to ICANN over the years about the dangers of .XXX, .KIDS, and similar-minded TLDs.

I strongly encourage others who value freedom of speech and expression to do the same.

Ron

p.s. I long ago sold off my best adult-oriented domains, so what ICANN does in regards to .XXX basically will not effect me financially one way or the other. .XXX is among the biggest risks both legally and financially to folks with high-profile .COM, etc adult oriented domains. Many folks in the adult industry still don't know/appreciate the threat of such TLDs like .XXX to their business - hope they do before it's too late ...

 

[mole]

And I would guesstimate a newbie who is going for a keyword to type in will either put a .com or nothing at all which would default to the .com.

That's called hit-and-run navigation :santa:

URL Navigation value comes from both locating a site on the web, as well as how to come back to a site.

URL Branding value comes from having a name that is descriptive of, and true to, purpose e.g. care.org

Improper use of TLDs, I agree, has bastardized the intended meaning of web addresses, but that doesn't conclude it has lost its original meaning. Far from it.