Good analysis of new top level domains comes from an unexpected source.
I’ve read a lot of bad analysis about new top level domains. You know, the type where the reported takes spoon fed information from a new TLD promoter and just publishes it without any thought.
So it was refreshing to see good analysis of .eco, and new top level domains in general, from an unlikely source: a green entrepreneur blog.
Katie Fehrenbacher of Earth2Tech wrote a story about the proposed .eco top level domain. You’ve probably heard a lot about this domain since Al Gore is backing it. (Gore’s charity apparently gets a cut of the action.)
Fehrenbacher starts by questioning if any new top level domain has wings:
Nothing can cripple a promising web site faster than an embarrassingly bad top-level domain choice. No matter how many businesses sign up for a dot-biz domain (.biz), for example, it still connotes Uncle Gary’s online shoe site. Likewise, top-level domains like dot mobi (.mobi) and dot info (.info) have fallen short in terms of bringing in users.
So how does .eco think it will prevail on a venture where so many others have failed? Marketing money:
When I asked Childers how dot eco would succeed where top-level domains like dot mobi stalled, he said Dot Eco plans to do a massive marketing push, in contrast to some top-level domains that he says weren’t marketed properly. Childers, based in Los Angeles, has been meeting with marketing agencies and working on celebrity endorsements, and he says he expects the company to do an initial $10 million marketing campaign in its first year or two.
Childers doesn’t have $10 million to spend, by the way. He’s trying to raise it now.
Although marketing a new TLD to internet users (not domain buyers) is a step in the right direction, it’s easier said than done. It will be even harder when potentially 100 other new TLDs are vying for attention at the same time.
What would make the .eco situation really interesting is if another entity applies for .eco. Would ICANN give it to the Al Gore backed group instead of auctioning it off? How much of a role will politics play?
Johnny says
The reason .com and some ccTLDs became default standards is because of the combined weight of 100s of thousands of genially useful websites. And that is exactly the same reason why all new TLDs will fail. Spending $10 million or $100 million promoting a pig with lipstick ain’t gonna do a thing.
David J Castello says
In the public’s mind (and that’s where it counts) DotCom is synonymous with the Internet. And as all great politicians (good and bad) know, the majority of the public thinks with their heart and not with their head – unless they get in their wallet – and then they start thinking again.
To the best of my knowledge, no one has formulated how many billions, if not trillions, of dollars it would take to stamp another TLD into the public’s consciousness to even a fraction of what dotCom has achieved as the standard bearer of the Internet revolution.
The only TLDs that come close in their respective markets are ccTLDs. And that’s not branding – that’s nationalistic, heart-thumping pride.
I wish dotEco and all the others luck. I really do, but the reality is going to be something else and these people are going to lose a ton of money. The herd will not stampede simply because you scream your name. It takes an earthquake.