Are top domain names worth it?
April 4th, 2007
Does having a top domain name really matter as much as it used to? Seth Godin discovered some undeveloped domains, such as an.com, ot.com, and new.com:
Imagine walking down Fifth Avenue and seeing big empty lots. Not sure what these folks are waiting for!
If having a short, one-word domain was all it took, then Pets.com would still be shipping dog food, Clothes.com is where I’d get my shirts, and Search.com would be bigger than Google.
April 5th, 2007 at 1:45 am
Top Domains are great for B2B plays. On the B2B Side, you trust a company with a good name that comes up high in google, you shouldn’t but you do. An example, I own BootStrapper.com, people therefore think I am the expert BootStrapper (I Happened to have bootstrapped two companies) but there are plenty of consultants out there that have accomplished more than me BUT I have the brand and I can support it with action…B2B is good to have a good name.
On a consumer side it hurts more than helps. It is better to have a domain that can become verbed like googled or yahooed or can become a noun like Myspace. From a consumer perspective a single domain name isn’t sexy, it will get you noticed once but will not sustain a brand. Better spend $10 and get a name with some zing that you can build buzz around than search.com…
Richie Hecker
www.BootStrapper.com
April 5th, 2007 at 9:37 am
A ‘top’ domain name neither bad nor good any more. Its about as useful as a Madison avenue headquarters address. Now, no one cares if you’re based in a village, or have a made up name.
I dont agree that its helps B2B or hinders B2C - ask wine.com. They are 10x the size of the nearest online wine retailer
April 14th, 2007 at 6:50 am
I also prefer ‘catchy’ domain anmes. But something like “search.com” would be totally awesome for type-in traffic.