The name of the game is radically changing (excellent read below – promise!) June 28, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, Investing, internet, marketing, trends.Tags: domaining, Domains, icann, internet, registration, tld
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The most recent cataclysmic event that shook up the domain industry is too important to go unmentioned in this blog, so here I am, making yet another attempt to write a FINAL post for this blog before I start my new one. ICANN’s decision to allow unlimited number of top level domains (TLD / web address extensions) will have a profound impact on the industry over the coming decades. What surprises me most is that authors and commenters on the top industry blogs seem to be dancing around the most important consequence of this. All I hear is “WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE DOT COM?” when they should already be thinking outside of their DOT COM box. The point is that soon enough, the name of the game will change from DOT COM, to *gasp* HOW DO I OWN AND PROMOTE MY OWN TLD?…especially as far as the biggest players are concerned. The dot com? Well, it will not disappear. Most likely, the “marginal” domains bearing this extension will lose much value as registrants begin opting for other extensions in order to have a more meaningful web address instead of going with this “status quo” TLD as a safe haven. Don’t get me wrong, the dot com will never become a dinosaur, nor will there be an extinction. The top dot coms will probably remain most valuable. There are too many financially powerful entities heavily invested in this one extension to let it fade away – this will not happen, or at least it will not happen fast.
So yes, my own goal over the next couple of years will be to control my own TLD… maybe even two or three. There will probably be a few hundred, maybe a thousand or so possible extensions that would be worth applying for with ICANN. I am still not 100% sure about how the process will work, and probably neither is ICANN at this moment, but visit their website for details and updates. These marketable TLDs will be, of course, short, generic, and highly commercial terms that other people would WANT to register their domains under!!! The two best thing to come out of all of this, I think, are (1) that it will probably make domaining much more popular and accessible, and (2) make the URLs of the future more meaningful, and hence memorable and brandable. Sooner or later, dot com will no longer be the “default” extension that pops into people’s minds when they go online and search for information. People will begin asking… “so what does COM stand for anyway??” My money’s on later though. This is indeed the dawning of a new era… though we might have to wait a while to see its day.
P.S. I can’t wait for Kesmodel to update his book to Domain Game 2.0 with commentary on how the industry will be affected by ICANN’s decision.
Rebranding, retooling, and commencing my bloggings anew (The end of THIS blog)… June 20, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, advertising, marketing.Tags: blogging, blogs, branding, developing, domaining, Domains, writing
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This is to be my last post on this blog. For more info and the reasons behind my decision, please refer to the following post from earlier this month:
For now, thanks very much to all readers and commenters, it’s been a pleasure writing for you. I plan to take a 2-3 week hiatus from writing to actually develop, but look for me to begin posting under the alias “The Domain Columnist” at DomainColumnist.Com come July… The new blog should include domain industry coverage, web development tips and strategies, as well as general marketing thoughts and insights.
Happy Domaining!
IMPORTANT P.S. If anyone is interested in acquiring the names UnemployedAlcoholic.com , TheUnemployedAlcoholic.com , and UnemployedAlcoholics.com , feel free to get in touch with me somehow… Make sure you REALLY get in touch with me though, I seem to be missing a lot of important communication lately… :-/ If you are interested, please do present an offer for the 3 names together, I don’t intend to sell them separately.
The problem with “call to action” domains May 27, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, marketing, trends, valuation.Tags: call to action, Domains, meaning, value
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I think call to action names can be great. I’ve acquired quite a number of them for my future development to be honest. However, in my opinion, these names have very minimal intrinsic value, if any, because the same “call to action” can be issued with a potentially unlimited number of word combinations. Also, different people can have different associative concept schemas linked to different “calls to action.” Unless your domain is linked to a content-rich website, that stimulates the associations you do in fact want to evoke, your “call to action” dot com is probably worthless, unless it’s already in common usage (and few of those are left for registration…)
Just a thought.
The vital importance of user-generated content and user-driven development… May 26, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, advertising, internet, marketing, seo, trends.Tags: cms, collaboration, community, content, development, drupal, joomla, ning, web
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Perhaps I am a little “late to the party” in this respect. Perhaps I am stating the obvious, but this realization has just struck me now, on this Memorial Day morning with such a vivid clarity like it has never occurred to me before. The time of the “my little corner of the universe” web page has come and gone, perhaps it was never even here to begin with. The whole point of the internet is collaboration, not seclusion. The thing is, unless you own a short, generic, top-of-the line domain (the ones that go for $100k+ nowadays), you will not be reaping substantial profits in the web business without thorough development that attracts, marinates, and retains traffic. I speak of community building of course… It has never been easier to create a community-oriented resource online. There’s Ning, there’s all kinds of PHP CMS utilities (joomla, drupal, nuke, etc.), there’s always forums and chat-rooms you can quickly integrate… if you’re too lazy to do that, start with setting up a survey script with a new question every day, week, or month, depending on what your current traffic stream is and how creative you can be. Even if your website has a ton of really great information, it is not likely to be successful on today’s web without an obvious, attractice, COLLABORATION element that would encourage your audience to stick around and contribute to the growth of this web resource.
Even when some of the most popular virtual destinations for the masses were seemingly one man operations such as Maddox’s and Tucker Max’s dirty humor pages, a collaboratie outlet for their visitors to rant, vent, and argue was ever-present, be it Tucker’s forum or Maddox’s beloved “hate mail” pages…
Ultimately, this should all result in a “stickier” website with a more interested audience, a peer-reviewed informational resource that’s richer in content, and just a more fun web place for visitors to “hang out” at, instead of a one-stop, one-click mile marker for the blazing internet traveler.
That’s all for today… Now let’s party. If you gained any useful insight from this or any of my other posts, please let me know. If it’s complete rubbish, do notify me of that as well. We’re all trying to get better, and we’ve all got to start somewhere… My current craft of choice is writing at this time, and if you’re not a bot, your honest input is much appreciated. Best wishes to all.
