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The .Com memorability factor

by — Uncategorized 18 Comments

Study shows that people remember domain names as having .com on the end.

One of the problems with using a top level domain name other than .com is memorability. While it might stand out to people as new or unique, many people will remember your domain name as a .com.

This is especially the case when people can’t see it, such as hearing a radio commercial for a website. But it’s even a factor when people do see the domain name, and that’s clear in a clever study performed by Kyle Byers of GrowthBadger.

Kyle surveyed 1,500 people and didn’t tell them the study was about domain names. He asked them how trustworthy a site was and the only information he gave them was a domain name. It ended in .com or one of seven other domain name extensions.

Overall, the ones that ended in .com had the highest trustworthiness score.

But the most intriguing thing to me was quantifying recall. After asking about the website, Kyle threw in a bunch of other questions to create some time between reviewing the domain and a final question: what was the domain name they saw on the first screen?

People were more likely to remember the domain if it was a .com. And if they misremembered the domain extension? They almost always misremembered it as .com:

Graph showing people who misremember domain names and which top level domain they choose

If they misremember the TLD, most remember it as .com. Graphic courtesy GrowthBadger.

This doesn’t surprise me but quantifies the effect.

Kyle has an interesting takeaway that domain investors will like:

The domain he tested was MattressRankings.TLD. The .com is on the aftermarket for about $4,000; the others can be hand registered. Kyle asks, isn’t it worth paying extra for the aftermarket domain in light of the findings?

ICA to hold public update for domain owners

by — Policy & Law 3 Comments

Domain investor advocacy group will make its next member call public.

Internet Commerce Association logoThe Internet Commerce Association (ICA), a group that advocates for domain name owners, is holding a public webcast on Friday to update domain investors on policy issues. This is ICA’s first public call; previous updates have been for members only.

The webcast is scheduled for April 12 at 1 PM EDT. Registration is now open.

Among the topics ICA will cover:

  • NTIA permitting Verisign to seek price increases from ICANN for .com
  • ICANN’s failure to recognize the difference between the legacy domain extensions which were originally created by the US Government for the public benefit and the new gTLD extensions
  • Potential unrestricted price increases for .org, .biz and .info
  • ICANN staff independently pushing significant policies that were not approved by the ICANN community
  • The move by the Australian .au Domain Administration to abolish domain investing in .au domains and to delete long-standing domain portfolios held by .au investors
  • Whois information in the wake of GDPR
  • Bad UDRP decisions
  • The effort by trademark interests at ICANN to create a special “UDRP” for Intergovernmental Organizations

The webinar is structured as an update to the ICA’s membership from the Executive Director, Kamila Sekiewicz, and General Counsel, Zak Muscovitch, as well as the ICA’s Leadership Team.

“Because the issues at stake are of importance to the domain community at large, we are opening up the call so that everyone with an interest can watch and listen as well,” said Sekiewicz.

Verisign’s Annual Report and .com price increases

by — Policy & Law 3 Comments

Verisign’s 10-K gives clues to how it is approaching a .com price increase.

.Com registry Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) published its 2018 annual report on Friday. I reviewed the document to look for information about Verisign’s hopes of raising the price of .com domain names.

Last year the U.S. Department of Commerce and Verisign agreed to Amendment 35 of their Cooperative Agreement. This amendment lifted a ban on price increases in .com that had been in place since the 2012 contract renewal with ICANN. It allows ICANN and Verisign to enter into a contract that would allow Verisign to increase .com prices 7% in each of the last four of each six years of the contract.

Verisign still needs ICANN’s approval to make this happen. So far it seems that Verisign is making two arguments to push this along.

First, that ICANN has historically deferred to the U.S. Department of Commerce on .com pricing.

Second, that its 2016 contract renewal anticipates this possible pricing change and that ICANN should approve it. Here’s language from Verisign’s 10-K:

Following the extension of the .com Registry Agreement on October 20, 2016, the .com Registry Agreement provides that we will continue to be the sole registry operator for domain names in the .com gTLD through November 30, 2024. As part of the extension of the .com Registry Agreement, the Company and ICANN agreed to cooperate and negotiate in good faith to amend the terms of the .com Registry Agreement: (i) by October 20, 2018, to preserve and enhance the security and stability of the internet or the .com TLD, and (ii) as may be necessary for consistency with changes to, or the termination or expiration of, the Cooperative Agreement. ICANN and Verisign are engaged in discussions related to these obligations, including modifying the .com Registry Agreement based on changes to the Cooperative Agreement arising from Amendment 35.

The use of the term obligations here suggests that Verisign will argue to ICANN that it is obliged to allow it to raise rates as allowed under Amendment 35. But take a look at the language in Amendment 35: Click here to continue reading…

Third day of NamesCon kicks off in Las Vegas

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Come to my two sessions today at NamesCon.

The third day of the NamesCon conference in Las Vegas is about to begin. I’m on two panels today that I invite you to attend.

At 11 am I will chat with Blake Janover of Home.loans and Mike Kugler of Vacation.rentals about their $500k new top level domain purchases. We’ll talk about what they’ve seen with SEO, how their customers have responded to the domains and more.

At 1 pm I will take part it what will surely be a lively discussion about how much Verisign gets to charge for .com domain names. Derek Newman will moderate the session that also includes Elliot Noss of Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX) and Zak Muscovitch of Internet Commerce Association.

I look forward to seeing everyone today.

My two sessions at NamesCon

by — Services 2 Comments

Join me for discussions about big new TLD sales and .com prices.

NamesCon logo

I will be both a moderator and panelist at next week’s NamesCon conference. I invite you to come to my sessions on Tuesday.

Making sense of $500k for a nTLD, 11 am Tuesday 1/29 on the RegistryOffice breakout stage

I interview two people who spent $500k on new top level domains: Blake Janover, who bought Home.Loans for $500,000 and Mike Kugler, who paid $500,300 for Vacation.Rentals. We will discuss what gave them the conviction to spend record-breaking amounts on new top level domain names and how the domains have (and haven’t) worked out for them. I interviewed Blake on my podcast a year ago and Mike about 9 months ago. Both have launched their sites and we’ll get an inside look at how their domains and websites are performing.

.Com Price Increase, 1 pm Tuesday 1/29 on the .Global Keynote stage

Derek Newman will moderate a session with me, Tucows CEO Elliot Noss, and Internet Commerce Association general counsel Zak Muscovitch discussing .com prices. In light of the U.S. government giving the green light late last year to .com price hikes, we will discuss the merits of .com price changes and who wins/loses.

I hope to see you at one or both of these sessions.