Mia Vals is out with an article on TheNextWeb.com, “10 reasons to use a new domain extension for your business”
Mia took umbrage with some of the alt spellings that have been popular with startups over the last decade. She mentioned one of the reasons to think about new gtlds as price.
That is not always true, Mia was quick to point out 4L.coms that are not even real words that are priced for $7,500. She then discusses 3L.com,”3 letter ‘qbi’ at $200,000. The same names, or much better names in fact, could be bought on almost every new extension for less than $50 – that’s a significant cost saving.” If you want a 3L domain to match your business the .com is the best. Mia did not mention that several new gtlds have premium pricing far larger than a one time .com purchase. In a mobile world short matters is a point most leave out.
The other point is there have plenty of times a startup could have gotten a catchy .net or .biz or even a .info or .io, some people want the .com, they want the mindshare, the extension that to this day is the undisputed champ.
The article is not a bad article, I just think people need to make sure they point out all the good and bad of both potential options. There are going to be end users where new gtlds make perfect sense, not everyone needs a Ferrari to get to work, and most people can’t afford one. For a small business that can get a great keyword for regular pricing it makes sense, people will eventually remember and get used to .shop or .site or .tech. I think when there is a plural and singular and you can only secure one, go for the .com with an extra something.
From the article:
It’s time to stop flooding the internet with skipped vowels and incorrect spellings just to get a short domain name that kind-of fits your company name. Even better, startup founders no longer have to name their companies after the best domain name they can find (it happens!).
New domain extensions, or generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) – the letters to the right of the dot – have gone on sale over the past few years that greatly increase your choice when it comes to finding the perfect fit for your business.
Here are 10 reasons to think about one of the new extensions the next time you register a domain.
Availability: Is www.yourcompanyname.com taken? Use any of the new domain extensions that make the most sense for your business. A photographer can use .photography, a journalist can use .press and a tech company can use a .tech. If you’re looking for a generic domain, you can go for options like .site and .online
Price – A four-letter .com domain that’s not even a real word in the English dictionary will cost you upwards of a few thousand dollars. SEDO currently has ‘vajj’ listed at a buy it now price of $7,500 and a 3 letter ‘qbi’ at $200,000. The same names, or much better names in fact, could be bought on almost every new extension for less than $50 – that’s a significant cost saving.
Keeping it meaningful – Matt Schaefer, who runs a tech channel on YouTube with more than 100,000 subscribers, is using www.mattschaefer.tech. When you see the URL, you know you’re not only going to Matt’s site, but also what to expect when you get there. Award-winning Italian startup Horus Technology will be using blind.tech for marketing its wearable device designed to assist the blind and visually-impaired making it another easily-recongizable name. Two Y Combinator alumni from San Francisco — Seth Bannon and Ela Madej, are also looking at using impact.tech as a go-to source for the impact entrepreneurship movement in the tech world.
Read all 10 reasons on TheNextWeb.com