Country domain names

[madmal]

Hiya

a domain country.com ......... how usefull is it?

[EBear]

I'd say it depends who you are. Here in Ireland the Irish Times has created a huge brand out of Ireland.com. If you were in the travel business it might imply official endorsement (England.com redirects to londontown.com, which I think is an official site).

The problem IMHO is you'd have to have a certain amount of cachet to support such a heavyweight brand. A local tourist board or a national newspaper, yes, but a ten-page affiliate site is just not going to cut it. Expectations surround a name like that (imagine owning macdonalds.com and selling footwear).

From a search point of view it's too generic. Give me irish-news.com over ireland.com any day (unless my intention is to create the definitive ntional portal).

My two cents.

[EBear]

Incidentally, I recall that you can't get country.info, so someone must have thought they were worth something.

[Shak]

how useful or how much is it worth?

Shak

[jmccormac]

As a brand, it may be worth something. But since spammers often abuse them, a lot of mailfilters may just ban mail form then completely. And of course with ireland.com, the Irish Times has lost millions per year. A portal consumes a lot of cash before it becomes viable (if ever).

Regards...jmcc

[cabbie]

The New zealand government paid NZ$1 million for Newzealand.com after they lost a court battle

[lgn]

I thought of registering northkorea.com. Hold onto it for 20 years until it either became a democracy or a green self lit parking lot.

To late, somebody beat me to it and is using it as a gambling portal.

[mcavill]

LOL - I'm off to look for unregistered countries .com/org/net/info/tv etc

[Shak]

mcavill,

save your time mate, nothing there worth having :)

Shak