Dot Com Domains Still Domain of Choice for Startups

[Webwork]

From DomainNameWIre.com[url] [domainnamewire.com...]

Last year I reviewed the domain names that MassChallenge’s incoming Texas class of startups used for their businesses. MassChallenge just announced its new Texas class, so let’s take a fresh look.

84% of the companies that had a domain name when they were announced last year used .com. This year it’s 75%.

Here are the domains used by this year’s class:

.com 39
.co 5
.net 2
.io 1
.xyz 1
.org 1
.careers 1
.ai 1
.in 1

[jmccormac]

If it's Texas then it is the US. The .COM is still the default ccTLD for the US whereas outside the US, it is beginning to lose market share to the local ccTLDs. It still is the top global TLD but its days as the first choice TLD outside the US are coming to an end.

Regards...jmcc

[Dimitri]

Not surprising.

[buckworks]

Even if I chose to use a local TLD I'd want to get control of the corresponding .com if I could.

[Dimitri]

Agreed. I think that, a business needs to own the .com , even if it is using a ccTLD, or gTLD as its main domain. This can only lead to problems, if someone else owns the .com.

However, it's a scam when companies are proposing you to register ALL the TLD for your name. This is a big waste of money in my opinion.

[jmccormac]

Even if I chose to use a local TLD I'd want to get control of the corresponding .com if I could.

A lot of businesses do just that. The problem is that people don't see it because the .COM will be redirected to the primary brand ccTLD website. Apart from the keyword generic domain names, the majority of new registrations that are developed tend to pair their ccTLD with the equivalent .COM if it is available. Most of the commentary on this comes from people who have never seen or compared domain names so they don't realise the dynamics of these markets. (It is like that old "all the good domain names are taken" rubbish.)

Regards...jmcc

[mpansare]

Yes, Dot com is still the tld of choice for many businesses, if you dont get desired DOT com then instead of going for some thing very longer one it is always best to adopt a different TLD like .net or .org or .co or say .io.

(Moderator Edit: There are MANY ways to secure premium domain names in the domain aftermarket, from marketplaces to drop catching services to private or brokered sales.)

[edited by: Webwork at 1:14 pm (utc) on Jul 11, 2019]
[edit reason] Per our terms please avoid promotional posts [/edit]

[Dimitri]

it is always best to adopt a different TLD like .net or .org or .co or say .io.

This is only my personal opinion, but I wouldn't say "always best", to me it would be "always worse". I already exposed my feeling in my previous comment. If you don't own the .com , chances that one day or another it get you into troubles. If the .com owner is running his business already, they may argue you are using their name, and this is misleading , and also, people might go directly to the .com site, instead of going to the .net or .org... just saying.

[jmccormac]

Was just thinking that I might have some data on this. I ran a 30 million .COM web usage survey in June (did a full non-COM gTLD survey in May 2019) and have the approximate registration date for gTLD domain names. It might be possible to correlate the domain name age with usage.

Regards...jmcc

[RedBar]

it is always best to adopt a different TLD like .net or .org or .co or say .io.

Whilst net and org are ok for SEO purposes in G.com, I've yet to see any co or io ranking well, I'm not saying they can't just never seen them ranking on the first couple of pages.

[Dimitri]

I've yet to see any co or io ranking well

If you were located in the "British Indian Ocean Territory", Google would certainly return some .io :)

[tangor]

While .com remains the gold standard ... the growing number of sites world wide is taking its toll ... and many can't afford the registration costs (minimal as those fees might be). Other TLDs are gaining traction and .com is losing when that happens ... however....

In the case of a domain name that is a TRADEMARK, the holder of that mark is extraordinarily stupid if they don't tag/own all of the possibilities, even with ICANN willing to help litigate trademark claims when approached.

[RedBar]

Google would certainly return some .io :)

Try it, I did !

[jmccormac]

While .com remains the gold standard ... the growing number of sites world wide is taking its toll ... and many can't afford the registration costs (minimal as those fees might be). Other TLDs are gaining traction and .com is losing when that happens ... however....

I'm not sure that the number of websites world wide is growing at the same rate that was a few years ago. Domain names are still being registered but many of them are not being developed into working websites. The pricing of renewal fees is certainly having a major impact on the non-core gTLDs. Apart from brand protection activity, the .BIZ and .INFO gTLDs have very little Western market activity. Small brand owners in countries with strong ccTLDs may be considering dropping .BIZ and .INFO registrations and concentrating their brand protection registrations over .COM/NET/ORG. The .ORG, .BIZ and .INFO renewals on some registrars are now higher than those for .COM renewals.

Regards...jmcc

[tangor]

Thanks for the domains update @jmcc!

Must confess my head is too wrapped up on "my stuff" I don't always see what is happening "out there".