There are domain name extensions and...generic domain name extensions: the old ones and the new ones. What I call “generic” is a word, used as the extension of the domain name, and which does not offer the very meaning of a highly targeted keyword such as “club” - “physio” or “webcam” but something more “global”.
A list of Ten:There are many generic, old and new, domain name extensions. The following is an extract of these extensions with the pluses and the minuses of what they can offer to Registrants interested in acquiring their domain names. I listed 10 of them:
- .GDN : it is short, ultra cheap and “gdn” stands for “Global Domain Name”. Many domain names are available for registration. The only minus that I can see is that it is a recent domain name extension and Registrars are still getting accredited.
- .GLOBAL : it means “global” so it truly is a generic domain name extension but with 6 letters. It is longish; expensive too...
- .ONLINE : I understand it as implying “on internet” but I find it long and it is more expensive than .WEBSITE...and a lot more than .GDN
- .WEB : this domain name extension is still a pending auction. The auction is scheduled to begin on July 27th 2016. It is short and generic and I don’t know yet how much it will cost. The major problem that I can see with .WEB is that it is in direct competition with .WEBS and .WEBSITE (and maybe .SITE too). This is going to be very confusing in the coming years with so many similar strings. It could also become risky to start a .WEB website without taking into account all the other similar domain name extensions.
- .WEBS : It is unclear yet wether this extension will see the day but the ICANN has listed it in the same auction as .WEB.
- .SITE : this extension is short and not so expensive but again...what will it become in 10 years? When .WEB + .WEBSITE + SITE + .WEBS are active with hundreds of live websites: won’t it be confusing to find different website contents with exactly the same domain names but with a similar domain name extension?
- .WEBSITE : it is easy to remember but...it is as long as two other generic domain name extensions combined: .WEB and .SITE. Will you buy a “.website” domain name and take the risk not to register the same “.web” and “.site” (and “.webs) domain names?
- .XYZ : it is short and cheap but we wonder if it is generic enough. What does “XYZ” stand for?
- .COM : it is already well established and short. Even if it is a little more expensive than .GDN, we can say that it is cheap but it is definitely a nightmare to find a generic domain name available (ie: www.plane.com).
- .NET : it is also already well established but lives in the shadow of “.com” domain names.
Focussing on .GDN domain namesThere are several reasons why I believe that “.gdn” domain names could be
of interest for Trademark owners and domain name investors. Here is why:
They are cheap
“.gdn” domain names are very cheap; they are the cheapest I could find on the market at the moment. I just bought one for less than $3. Some of the generic domain names listed above can be up to 10 times the price of a “.gdn” domain names and that makes quite a difference when investing. It becomes also affordable for a Trademark to secure its assets in such an extension, even if it won’t use the domains.
Many domain names are available
The registry has few Registrars accredited but, according to it, many more are on the way. According to nTLDStats.com, there are 16,200 domain names registered; that leaves plenty of space for new Registrants willing to register a generic domain name: did you try that city or animal name that was not available in the “.com” extension?
No confusion: “GDN” means somethingThe interesting thing about “.gdn” is that it means something and the message is clear: it is a generic domain name extension.
“GDN” stands for “Global Domain Name”. By the way; how many times did we wonder what “com “ meant?
Another major positive point when dealing with .GDN is that there is no other new similar generic domain name extension: the problem of many of the extensions listed above, when they are not too expensive to buy and to renew, is that they can look very similar. I can hardly imagine investing in a “.website” domain name and missing the same domain ending in “.web”.
And what happens when you are not familiar with domain names: what happens when you launch a website in an extension...to find out that someone (or a cybersquatter) comes out to you with the exactly the same second level domain...with a very similar extension?
For investors only?
All the key elements are there: the price, the availability, almost no Premium domains and...the fact that they are still exceptions. Investors like “.com” domains because they are old and many times - when they are not just parked for cross linking or pay-per-click - that makes them valuable. I believe in niche markets and many new gTLDs offer perspective for investors; in terms of generic domain name extensions, I believe the .GDN new gTLD has a potential.
Funny: the city where I live is still available for registration.