A government studey in Scotland, found almost 60% of organizations there, and more than 80% of those questioned worldwide, support the idea of Scotland having it own gTLD, when they are released late next year.
Suggested addresses are .sco or .scot, which would create an alternative to the current .co.uk.
First Minister Alex Salmond commented on the survey, saying: “I think in terms of the profile of Scotland internationally, in the modern world, probably your domain name is one of the key characteristics which define you as a nation and as a country.I think there’s genuine puzzlement from the survey that we’ve done that Scotland doesn’t have a domain name. Now, we’re getting a domain name, we’re well in the way.”
Mr Salmond said: “The time is ripe for the worldwide family of Scots to have their own domain reflecting an online community defined by a shared commitment to Scottish identity, culture and economic promotion.
“It is not only for Scots who live in Scotland but for our extensive Diaspora and it will be particularly appropriate for a bid to be made during the 2009 Year of Homecoming.”
The Scottish Government has set up a working group to prepare the ground for a bid.
This of course raises the question of what effect this would have on the existing .co.uk extension, but the wider queston of what effect new Geo gTLD, will have on the existing value of the Country Codes, within the same geographically area.
In addition to Scotland, .paris and .berlin are two gTLD’s that reported already have backers and plans to be amoung the first.
With these in place will .co.uk, .fr or .de lose value?
Are more Geo specific domains, like cities, more valuable that country codes. Certainly the argument can be made that a business located in Paris would benefit more from having its site ending in .Paris than .fr.
Moreover a business in paris might “settle” for a new .paris domain they could obtain for registration fees, rather than spending thousands or tens of thousands for a similar .fr domain.
It will be interesting to see how this shakes out, but with many cities and regions looking to break free of their larger country codes, it could be, one of the big losers in the new gTLD game, will be existing country code domain holders.
Freedom!!
Being born and bred in Scotland I would welcome the .sco or .scot but I think this ext wont have any effect on the .co.uk
What would have an effect is that if we got the .sco or .scot – England would want .eng – Wales .wal etc and this would then effects on the .co.uk as people may wish to distingush that there presence is in Scotland or England as apposed to the UK but todays market we all need more exposure and surely we should all still be thinking .com with .co.uk as our 2nd domain and .sco etc as our third choice domain.
Yes it would be nice to own Robbie.sco or Ferguson.sco but again most TM holders shall snap up good names to protect there brand and the adult domains would get high prices in Sunrise auctions and then what?
I cant see a business model for this ext but who knows what the future shall hold.
Regards,
Robbie
Alex Salmon is the leader of the Scottish National Party who would advocate a Scottish gTLD The SNP are a nationalist party who want autonomy for Scotland & live off the E.U.
If I want a plumber in my area, I drill down my search term, If I want my online company to be taken seriously I want the brand .com or .co.uk
I already have the option to use the natural search terms accomodation Paris France or search regional
country, county or town, why would I want to limit my search to advertisers in paris.paris that is if I ever get to know that a .paris exists. I hear Google is giving a black tulip with every new gTDL
Hi – do you have a link to the study you quote? Thanks.
MHB,
Another prediction coming to fruition, and only the beginning. Yes, it will be very interesting to see how it all plays out. One valuable trait about geo domains that everyone understands in the world, is they are targeted, intuitive brands that speak volumes on their own.
This is why ccTLD geo domains have remained so popular and valuable. It does not take much of an imagination to see how these gTLDs (Vanity Domains) can promote tourism, business, and city/country pride globally.
Why would every city/country in the world not want to own their own .city/.country geo domain?
Interesting times ahead. The industry is growing exponentially monthly. 2009 will be a bigger year for geo domains IMO.
The more emphasis on any geo domain or TLD, the better things should get for ccTLDs, so every new geo gTLD should help ccTLDs not hurt them.
Geography is naturally structured from local to regional to national. All .cities or .localities are lower rungs on that ladder and strengthen the understanding that geography exists online. Cities support countries etc..
Now a .city might be great and targeted and make perfect sense on its own, but it still makes people realize the overall structure of geography.
Also every new geo TLD must have gov’t approval, and ICANN also says ccTLDs wont be duplicated, so nobody’s stepping on any toes here.
Geo.coms are another issue and the bigger question is the effect of geo TLDs on them. But there’s nothing that can hurt ccTLDs anymore.
The example used is not a very instructive one, Scotland is a different country from UK/England really and of course needs its own country TLD.
Like any products/services, let the forces of demand and supply chart the course.
Robbie: there was a crossover void time in my post, I agree with you. Anthony re study: The SNP manifesto, policies, interviews are all online, living in the UK The media channels cover the Scots Parliament, The Welsh Assembly & Westminster. The study is a personal one. I am not against the inevitable tide of .whatever (TLD’s they are Not yet) Google needs another zillion pages, SEO college experts need them, The public need the comfort they require from the trusted brands and I need a . whatever because a .whatever is the brand the world wants to linkback to.
Scotland should have it’s own country code domain name ext.
Every country should make an impact online.
Greetings from Croatia to all of you