According to the results of a new survey released by Sedo.com today, showing that 63% of small and mid-sized businesses are unaware about new gTLD’s
More than 600 managers and owners of SMBs were surveyed in January 2013, revealing that:
- 63% are unaware that new gTLDs will start being released this year;
- 40% felt that there was no advantage or were unsure what the advantage of a new gTLD would be; and
- 94%said they were not currently planning to purchase a new gTLD.
“Despite the fact that many large brands have applied for gTLDs and intend to use them, there is a lack of gTLD awareness among small and mid-sized businesses. Some 62.7 percent of respondents said that they were unaware that new gTLDs were going to become available in 2013, while over half of respondents said they felt that new gTLDs will only make the internet more confusing.”
“This research makes it clear that more education is needed if new gTLDs are to be successful. ”
Other findings by the Survey:
- Over half of respondents (52.3 percent) felt that new gTLDs would only create confusion. Just over 5 percent said new gTLDs would make things less confusing.
- Confusion is a recurring theme in the research: When asked what they felt the biggest problems were for gTLD adoption, more than half said “confusion” (51.2 percent), followed by “awareness” (19.7 percent) and “cost” (8.2 percent).
- That same lack of awareness and understanding can be seen in the findings that 54 percent of respondents would be hesitant to click on domain names ending in something other than .com, .net or .org. Of this group, 22.7 percent were worried about the potential security issues of uncommon domain names.
Here is who those who participated in the survey thought would be the most and least successful new gTLD’s:
- Respondents were asked to rank the 10 most commonly applied for new gTLDs in order of chances for success.
- “.llc” was described as having the most potential for success, followed by “.design,” “.music,” “.movie,” and “.home.”
- The one expected by respondents to be the least successful was “.app,” which ironically received more applications than any other gTLD, with 13 companies vying for control of the extension.
Before anyone gets too concerned or excited about the findings of the survey depending on your position on the new gTLD program its important to note that only 63.7% of respondents to the survey had purchased a domain name in the past.
Therefore and therefore the almost 40% those surveyed never bought any domain name, including a .com.
I’m not sure why those people were even asked anything or included in the survey, like asking someone who has never gone on to Facebook or any social network and ask them what they think of a new social network.
Moreover in the survey, only 41.8% of those surveyed said that saying they were “very important” and 23.2% saying “somewhat important, meaning that 35% of those responded don’t think domain names are important, including .com’s
Also the survey size was quite small under 600 people which I think most professional poll takers will tell you isn’t a large enough group to be statistically relevant, especially if you remove the nearly 40% of respondents that never bought a domain name.
60% never heard of it and 99% don’t care.
The only companies that heard of new gTLDs are those that applied for them.
“The only companies that heard of new gTLDs are those that applied for them”
funny but ” in general'” very true…
Think you guys didn’t read my comments on the survey which I will repeat here:
“”Before anyone gets too concerned or excited about the findings of the survey depending on your position on the new gTLD program its important to note that only 63.7% of respondents to the survey had purchased a domain name in the past.
Therefore and therefore the almost 40% those surveyed never bought any domain name, including a .com.
I’m Not sure why those people were even asked anything or included in the survey, like asking someone who has never gone on to Facebook or any social network and ask them what they think of a new social network.
Moreover in the survey, only 41.8% of those surveyed said that saying they were “very important” and 23.2% saying “somewhat important, meaning that 35% of those responded don’t think domain names are important, including .com’s””
WOW…learn something new everyday….
@MB
I wonder if a portion of the 40% of the businesses surveyed that never bought a domain are part of a franchise. If so, they have no need to buy a domain since the parent company takes care of that.
Other than that, businesses in small low-tech areas and certain businesses that would not have much to gain (except an Alexa Rank of 10 million) by being on the Internet come to mind. You’re right though, no reason to ask them anything pertaining to something they aren’t aware of or have absolutely no association with.
funny how things can be biased.
i am an IT guy as per my (de)formation. until i became an domainer i didn’t care about domains, i cared about what goes in the domain, that is, content.
if i ask my IT friends, 90% of them will say they don’t care about domains, not even .com.
if i ask my small size clients if they care about domains they say no, in the sense that, if the .com version is not available they can try the .net or .org but if they aren’t available also then they just register an uglier variation of the terms they want. but no way of paying hundreds or thousands bucks for a domain.
the right side of the dot is even more unnecessary than IDN which, at least to me, makes more sense to exist.
These poor businesses are trying to stay afloat, not be blackmailed into registering nonsense URL’s for their businesses, they do not need. It is about trying to grow your business, not pay endless domain renewals on 1000 extensions in order to protect your brand rights.
funny how things can be biased.
i am an IT guy as per my (de)formation. until i became a domainer i didn’t care about domains, i cared about what goes in the domain, that is, content.
if i ask my IT friends, 90% of them will say they don’t care about domains, not even .com.
(continues…)
if i ask my clients if they care about domains they say no, in the sense that, if the .com version is not available they can try the .net or .org
(continues)
MHB, it seems that there is some kind of filter when posting because i cannot conclude my idea and i don’t get any error.
no, i’m not using any obscene language.
Surprising: Few Marketing and “SEO experts” are even aware of .GTLD
http://searchengineland.com/your-top-5-questions-about-the-new-gtld-domain-extensions-answered-148224
Jose
As far as i know we don’t have any filters in place other than if you put a URL in your comment then it goes in a holding pattern, If your getting a error message or can take a screenshot email it to me and I will forward it to tech
Why dismiss the 40%? The “40%” still use the internet. The 40% are still managers and/or owners of businesses. They log onto their company’s site daily I’m sure. They use email I’m sure. They order flowers for their spouse..gifts off Amazon..etc..etc..all online.
The average Joe who isn’t a business owner or manager uses YouTube…email..FB..wiki..various forums..shops for used cars..etc, all online. Companies market to “average Joe” as well as the “40%” surveyed who have not bought a domain. I think it is important to know what they think..to know what they know or don’t know about domains..dot com’s…gtld’s..etc. Think about it…
(continuing)
but if they aren’t available also then they just register a worst variation of the terms they want. but no way of paying hundreds or thousands bucks for a domain.
the right side of the dot is even more unnecessary than IDN which, at least to me, makes more sense to exist.
MHB, as seen, i was finally able to post the remaining text. i didn’t change anything. whenever i tried to submit the message i would not get any error messages. however, if i tried to submit again as is i got a message saying that i have already submitted that message. so, check your system because you probably have some messages waiting there.