Company uses com.com to market .xyz domain names.
Regardless of what you think about its approach, I’ve got to hand it to .xyz. The top level domain is trying a bunch of creative marketing and sales tactics.
Here’s one a reader just tipped me off to: the company is using the com.com “typo” to inform people about available .xyz domain names.
Depending on which domain name .com.com you type in, .xyz will give you a pitch for .xyz. For example, type in baseball123.com.com and you’ll see a notice that the .xyz domain is available, along with a link to register it:
If you type in a domain name that’s taken in .xyz, it will forward you to either a general sales page for .xyz or an advertiser page.
I don’t know how much traffic com.com gets these days, but it’s certainly still substantial. It was owned by CNET (CBS Interactive) for a long time before being sold last year.
(hat tip Joe Politzer)
Acro says
Was that a sale or a lease? I can’t find any reports of com.com being sold.
Andrew Allemann says
Based on whois change, it looks like a sale. CNET/CBS have sold a number of good domains lately.
Joseph Peterson says
So consumers who not only assume .COM as a default but who assume it TWICE are meant to believe that (if they build on .XYZ) their customers won’t accidentally visit a .COM website?
That’s an odd argument.
Sam says
Doesn’t seem to be doing so today. Each *.com.com I try leads to a generic ad page with disclaimer text at the bottom, ending with the claim “Com.com has been owned and operated since 1995”.