Owning an Existing Keyword gTLD (BlahBlahBlah.org) and the Emerging Keyword gTLDs (.BlahBlahBlah)

I'm naturally curious to see how this will play out in a world were traffic is the lifeblood of websites

[Webwork]

I'm the registrant of a few keyword gTLDs.

Some industrious folks have bet considerable money on the idea that keywords, as domain roots, are a real value proposition. Ergo, we now have .vacations, .bike, .builders, .camera, .agency, .cleaning, .clothing, .holiday, .holdings, .insure, .promo, .singles, .WHATEVER.

I have a hunch that the new model is likely to benefit the existing holders of keyword domains. Why? How? By focusing the netizens minds on the idea of keyword . . domains.

This will be a test . . but there's a VERY LARGE sample of folks who may now "test" for keyword domains as a result of this new paradigm.

I'd call this an added incentive to build.

Your thoughts?

[RedBar]

My thoughts?

It's all too late in the game, most people have become set in their ways of using the WWW, most know where they want to go and most know how to get there and most do not want to have to learn something new!

I have no doubt that one or two of them may do ok with a lot of money thrown at them OR if one of them comes up with something completely new, otherwise, I'm bored and uninterested, at the moment.

[phranque]

my thoughts are that the keyword.gTLD will have more inherent authority than the foo.kTLD.

[dailypress]

when does the first one come out anyway? and seriously .luxury pre-registration on godaddy for $799/yr?

I'm confused again... Who would pay that much?

[graeme_p]

Lots will be bought by big businesses with high value trademarks.

Lots will be bought even my smaller businesses who worry about branding.

[topr8]

>>I have a hunch that the new model is likely to benefit the existing holders of keyword domains. Why? How? By focusing the netizens minds on the idea of keyword . . domains.

i'm in agreement, there will be big money spent on promoting the .blahblahblah domains, as all those in that game will have a vested interest in doing so.

the spin off will certainly be that the public will begin to think about keywords again, meaning if you have keyword domains in the .com and .co.uk (et al) space, then you are going to benefit from this in a big way.

i disagree that people are set in their ways ... i remember loads of people saying mobile internet would never be up to much and desktops will never be superseded.

>>I'd call this an added incentive to build.
my mantra has always been build, build, build!

>>my thoughts are that the keyword.gTLD will have more inherent authority than the foo.kTLD
i'm not so sure, i'm invested in keyword.gTLD so i hope that is true, however as time passes i think it will change completely. many new businesses will start on the kTLD space simply because all the good .gTLD's are gone ... thereby slowly changing the public perception.
i'd predict there is a whole generation of kids/teens who are going to be growing up with these kTLD's and will think them just as authoritative

[graeme_p]

You may also benefit from typos: foo.kTLD.com

[lexipixel]

i remember loads of people saying mobile internet would never be up to much and desktops will never be superseded.

Yes, mobile is gaining marketshare --- but not on the .MOBI tld --- it's still a ".COM" world on any device.

[topr8]

>> Yes, mobile is gaining marketshare --- but not on the .MOBI tld

oh yes i agree, my point was not about TLD's in this case, but rather what had seemed inconceivable not so long ago is now almost a reality.(eg mobile use of the internet will be the dominant use)
... and thus these new tld's one day in the future might easily have authority, although it seems a ludicrous proposition right now.

[lexipixel]

my point was not about TLD's in this case

Understood -- but it was such a good setup to mention ".MOBI". There's a real winner, huh?

The only interesting non-.COM tld I've seen get some play is .TV -- and that's an aberration of the Country Code TLD system, (ccTLD for the islands of Tuvalu).

[insert famous misattributed P.T. Barnum quote here]

[piatkow]

You may also benefit from typos: foo.kTLD.com

Based on the way that I once had a batch of link requests for example.com were "corrected" by the linking sites to www.example.com I think that a lot of people will automatically add a .com to a kTLD.

I edit a print magazine which happens to be named "foo kTLD" with a site at fookTLD.ccTLD I am still wondering if I should pay out for foo.kTLD

[ergophobe]

my thoughts are that the keyword.gTLD will have more inherent authority than the foo.kTLD.

Unfair comparison. The comparison is foo.keyword.gTLD versus foo.kTLD or keyword.gTLD versus .kTLD

I think at current costs, the kTLD is primarily a branding exercise for those who already own the .com or have the funds to get it. If the cost drops a lot, then the game changes, but that's a ways away I think.

Look at the persistence of "www" in domain names. Completely unnecessary in 99% of the cases and has been for at least 75% of the lifespan of the web as a meaningful medium, and yet there it is. It will take some time to educate people to not automatically add .com to the end of all domains.

Therefore, I would say that if I were going to go to all the trouble of owning .keyword, I would want to own keyword.com first. I would not buy .keyword without owning keyword.com, which for the short-term at least will still hold more value.

If I could get keyword.org, keyword.net and keyword.ccTLD, I would want them (just as I might now if I had significant branding invested in the .com), but it would not be imperative.

I wonder what percentage of web pages are requested by typing a URL into an address bar and how that's evolving over time.

[moTi]

the kTLD is primarily a branding exercise

exactly.

company blahblah, website blahblah, visit me on the net. do you honestly think, people would search for a dot-blahblah right away instead of the generic tlds blahblah.com or blahblah.cctld? doesn't work that way.

no, in any case you will have to throw money at ".blahblah" to get it recognized. it's counter-intutive, not top-of-mind for people who reach for your web presence. you will have to work against the habits of internet users. you could as well create and promote a completely new brand name. and what exactly will stand before the "dot" in your domain if your brand name comes after? see, you will have to promote that as well.

people are conditioned to the gtlds since 20 years now. android phones have a shortcut ".com"-key for web addresses. besides, all other new introduced tlds in the recent years were non-starters.

forget it. don't let them fool you again. it's a pure money grab.

[Simsi]

You may also benefit from typos: foo.kTLD.com

I don't know if that was intentionally brilliant or unintentionally brilliant but either way, it's brilliant :-)


On the OT, my thought is that it will matter for brand builders a lot quicker than it will matter to those competing for search engine traffic.

[graeme_p]

Unintentional. I wish I could claim credit for it!