The new gtld’s got a mention in the Huffington Post today, Jonathan Long the Founder & CEO of Market Domination Media published an article that highlighted his five reasons for selecting a new gtld.
1. Availability.
2. Unlimited branding potential.
3. More affordable than .com’s that are already registered.
4. No SEO disadvantages.
5. Large inventory of short URLs.
You want to have a domain name that’s easy to remember, hence the reason why short URLs command so much money. It isn’t uncommon to see three letter domains, regardless of the letters, sell for high $XX,XXX at auction.
Let me give you a completely made up example. Imagine your business name was “The Healthy Natural Super Food Superstore.” Now, even if www.thehealthynaturalsuperfoodsuperstore.com was available, that would be a complete nightmare of a domain — much too long. Instead, something like www.superfood.store could be used, which is not only shorter, but much easier to brand.
To be fair Jonathan did not go into the potential pitfalls such as confusion and the fact that most consumers have no idea these extensions exist.
There is still much work needed to be done to educate the consumer and let them know these extensions work. The more real development that happens within the new gtld space will go a long way to help bring about recognition.
OK so why hasn’t the author 301 redirected his long .COM domain to the new extension? He knows that is a horrible business move since it’s better to have long .COM than an extension nobody has heard of.