Cadie Thompson wrote a piece for CNBC earlier today that included comments from Kathy Nielsen from Sedo. The article focuses on the potential problems that a small business without a robust intellectual property team and a small budget may face.
This makes it easier for cybersquatters to buy a domain name that a legitimate business may want. It also opens the door for more cybercriminals to pose as an established website in order to steal user information. And while big corporations have the resources to deal with these kinds of problems, small businesses don’t, experts say.
One of the biggest issues that smaller businesses may face, though, is trademark infringement, said Kathy Nielsen, vice president of business development for new gTLDs at Sedo, a domain marketplace.
The article also quotes a study from last March that Sedo conducted, the study showed many small businesses had no idea about the new gtlds.
Big corporations have lawyers and consultants to protect their trademarks, but many small businesses aren’t even aware the new domains are becoming available or what they can do to protect their trademarks, Nielsen said.
In fact, 63 percent of small to midsize business owners were unaware that new gTLDs were becoming available and did not understand why they would be valuable, according to a report published by Sedo in March. And 94 percent of respondents said they weren’t planning on purchasing a new domain when they became available.
“For small and midsize businesses that have trademarks, this is probably the most important thing that is being missed,” Nielsen said.
“It will be a gold rush all over again. If you are a small business you should start looking at what new ones are coming out and when and start making a wish list and know the launch date and register for them when they become available”
We are almost a full year removed from that Sedo study, have more small businesses become aware ? Whether they will participate is the question every registry wants to know.
I regularly receive calls from prospective clients that are at different phases of starting a business.
Often they will have chosen a business name, filed the articles of incorporation, hired and attorney and/or leased office space, but will not have registered a domain name.
When it comes time to register a domain name, they insist on only dot COM domains. They would rather have a longer dot COM then a shorter alternative extension.
It will be interesting to watch the companies and individuals that build on the new gTLDs.
For the small to medium size businesses in the plumbing and bike industries, it will likely be years before awareness occurs and even longer before those end-users start to invest in acquiring these domains.
IMO
Many small businesses that own the .COM of their name don’t worry about registering the .ORG, .NET, .TV, .INFO, .ME, .ETC. Hard to imagine why’d they worry enough to “start making a wish list 🙂 and know the launch date and register for them when they become available”, especially when the .COM is really all that matters. Many small business owners usually have bigger things to worry about anyway, like making payroll, paying bills, and basically just getting by.
Agree with Grim. Why on earth would small businesses pay the inflated registration prices being asked for even for one gTLD, let alone 10s or 100s times across many gTLDs?
This poll gets better with years as people can actually see new names in the wild and ‘get’ them. Reminds me of somebody describing the Internet in 1991 and then asking people if they would pay $49 a month to use it and if they would give their credit card over it. Surprise! 98% “no”. I am pretty sure that acmeholdings.com will want acme.holdings when they know it exists and pops up for-sale in their browser. That learning curve may take a year or two. acmeholdings.link or acmeholdings.web may not do as well. Then again if acme.holdings is $500-1000 because the a domainer bought it and is trying to flip it and the .link/web are $10 then maybe they both get sold. There were nearly 18million (net) new credit cards added just in the US last year. All those young college age kids want to make a mark online, they’ve got $20 bucks to spend on a name and you own the.com/net. What do you ‘think’ is gonna happen. Small business will do what Google tells them to and Google will tell them to get a new domain name.
Sadly the repetitive ‘cacophonoic’ message revolves around ‘Defensive registrations” (brand protection rather than business opportunities) and if that is the case why shove it down ‘domainers’ throats?
And if naive College kids or small businesses are the target market the “ideal and suitable customer”…
I wonder why is the preaching taking place here?
By know I think domainers have already made up their minds and based on recent posts by SEVERAL savvy and experienced (been there done that) domain bloggers… it is clear they are NOT playing the “Fool’s Gold” game… (not offense to the ONE guy that is playing the .gurus)
…so i guess we’ll just sit around and wait for them to “die on the vine.”
hey, anyone ever figure out what “die on the vine” actually means? as far as i can tell, .mueseum still exists. does a gTLD “dying” mean it will be removed from the root?
so, um…….. does it count as “dieing on the vine” if you’ve owned thousands of .COM domains for 15+ years and never sold em, never had a site on em… isnt that kinda dead?
or its all good as long as some income, like parking revenue, is generated in the meantime? mmmm hmmm…..
mueseum tld is a non profit…bad example but think about this. .biz has over 2.5 million domains registered and still has no real aftermarket value and is viewed as a joke. how long will it take for these new gtlds to even get to that level?
i don;t think they’ll ‘die’ or go away but i do think there will be a number of gtlds with very little registrations. i think you will also eventually see some being sold off.
hmm.. pick any great generic/geo .COM that has never been a real website. how is that contributing anything useful to the internet? lots of great generic .COM’s are “dead on the vine”, sitting there……waiting for the right offer…the right time or plan or whatever to come along.
dont get me wrong here – im not bitter or jealous nor do i actually care about it not being used. its your domain do whatever you want – if thats nothing, cool.
..so its funny watching domainers care so deeply about other registries finances.. the jealously/curiosity of this is pretty transparent. some of these registries are now operating like domainers and old school domainers are curious if its gonna work but some folks have really interesting ways of expressing that “curiosity” through saying things like “lol .BIZ wasnt successful.”
really, it wasn’t? it was as successful as a great generic unused .COM that is generating income in the meantime.
..and im aware some of it is healthy skepticism… but theres a lot of other emotions being thrown out there though. its not just healthy skepticism….
CNBC wrote a piece about domains by a person that has no idea how the “world,” works with statistics that are meaningless.
I remember in 2001-2002 time frame CNBC did a television piece on domains and how “domainers” were getting out of the biz because “property” values of .com were declining from the Tech Boom / Bust and how “domainers” were trying to get rid of their “assets.”
I give this article very little weight just like the television segment about how domains were becoming worthless in 2001-2002…we all know how that went.
Wouldn’t it be interesting though if there was a big boom then bust in generic strings then CNBC doing a piece in 2025-2030 saying how generic strings have become worthless and how “domainers” are trying to get rid of them, while some person is on the other end quietly picking the best generic strings up.
History doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme.
You can’t compare new gTLDs to the internet!
I’m starting to think soon Frank will think he’s IRON MAN and fly to domain conferences. LOVE IT
I think its better to compare new gTLDs to photo stock and the main .com site selling them always wins.
Remember these words
.com is the casino house of domains
.com ALWAYS WINS
its part blow back from the tons of BS marketing regarding these gtlds and part fear that its going to negatively effect their own business. yet we still don’t know why you are so defensive regarding gtlds.
but anyways, lets look at your comments…’dead on the vine’ you are really holding on to that aren’t you? i don’t think quality generic .com’s are dead on anything when they hold value with nothing there. a good three letter .com will sell for five figures tomorrow regardless of what is or isn’t on it.
i am not worried about any registries finances but its just a fact that these things have to make them profit or else they will be in trouble. .xxx has been working in the red for a couple years now. will they ever be profitable?
heh heh..so pretend i open a small independently owned grocery store. it generates profit. it doesn’t lose money…
imagine if folks were in the background going… oh yeah, well nobody in my town has ever heard of your grocery store. you will never be walmart! you will never be whole foods! you will never be publix! or albertsons!
hey!! what are your sales numbers/customer count compared to wal-mart?
THATS IT??!?!?? LOL YOU LOSER YOU WILL NEVER BE WALMART AND BARELY ANYONE HAS HEARD OF YOU! ha! ha! ha!
thats what it sounds like listening to dont-mainers. a lot of you guys are DONT-mainers now (within gTLD) cause the registries cut you out and are using a hybrid domainer model. i betcha not many people expected to be able to buy 1 character domains in even the crappiest gTLD right out of the gate for $230.
i bet other competing grocery stores would think similar (probably not so childish) things. no one wants more competition. no one wants the way they do business to get upset by newcomers but its inevitable i guess and so is the complaining.
and there have been cc tlds that had 1 letter domains available for reg fee so its not something really new and if it continues, will grow old quickly.
Don’t forget those 1 letter names have a premium renewal each year like the old .tv model.
yup, thats why i didnt buy any yet. who knows if other ones will be released at lower prices later…
was looking at i.camera available for $570 yesterday. considered it but the renewal was $460/yr and before i had the chance to make a bad decision it got registered. x.camera too..
i see someone paid the $1,000 or so for i.photography tho the day before that..
Domainers often make purchase decisions based on an immediate gut feeling rather than analysis and plans. Yes, I include myself in that assessment.
With that in mind, I’m really curious about this rush to buy “single-letter” domains in multisyllabic new extensions. Quite a few domainers evidently feel comfortable paying $x,xxx over a 3 or 4-year period for items such as x.camera and i.photography. And there appears to be some sense of urgency to register them before some other domainer gets rich first.
But would these same domainers have leased xcamera.com or iphotography.com for $570 or $1000 per year? Maybe. Would they have felt an urgent need to do so this week? Almost certainly not.
I’m completely side-stepping the question of whether these domains are good investments or not. Even assuming they are valuable and will eventually be flipped for profit, I still find the rush to buy them peculiar.
Obviously the incessant buzz about gTLDs on domainer blogs during the past year has been successful advertising, if we can judge by some domainers’ purchasing pattern. Have they been duped? I don’t say so. Rather, I’m simply suggesting that their buying power and attention would probably not have focused on these domains without the spotlight being shined on them.
And are these really single-letter domains? Technically, I suppose so — but only technically. Something like A.org — that’s a single-letter brand name. But a.photography? Isn’t that more like aPhotography.com? I’d call that a 12-letter brand name.
i think someone did buy i.photography.. now they just have to figure out what to do with it…. ill let you know.
page howe
@Page
interesting, i didnt notice your registration city at first.
i’ve been there actually.. only in June tho for some reason and its always really crowded that time of year……
frank.schilling wrote:
> I am pretty sure that acmeholdings.com will
> want acme.holdings
Although it’s just a parked site, will they really “want” it, or feel like they have no choice but to get it for defensive purposes? I’m thinking that if they care at all, it will very likely be the latter.
@Page Howe
Yes, it’s one thing to register a name. Another thing to figure out what to do with it, especially if one plans to build a site. Lots of work involved there.
Curiously, when I typed i.photography into my browser’s address bar, I began to put .com at the end, before I caught myself. Less savvy Internet visitors might not be so quick to correct their mistake, if they do at all.
@ Joseph Peterson
Some great points, maybe these high renewal
cost on gTLDs will help more domainers lease
premium .coms
@Grim
so how does this play out, really…. someone types i.photography.COM on accident and gets 404 page not found, then just what…gives up, goes into a trance and stares blankly at the screen for 5 minutes?
thats a pretty non-motivated web surfer.
@ontheinterweb
Maybe they’ll think the site is either having problems or is gone. Who knows. In any event, people are pretty fickle and will move on to other sites if they’re having trouble getting to one they originally tried to get to. Many people will move on to another site if the site they’re visiting takes too long to load after all, so why not move on if they think the site they’re visiting is broken.
Anyway, 5 minutes? Nope, they’ll be gone in 10 seconds at most, if nothing happens.
As far as the monumental introduction of gTLDs is concerned Professional URL Centric Marketers are giving them a big thumbs down. It is laughable to see the concerted efforts of Blog participants that are continually flooding the Domainers Blogs to encourage this dog that don’t hunt. For every reason to buy a generic gTLD there are numbers of crippling reasons not to. Cut your losses ! These dogs don’t hunt !
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
jeff schneider
Independent Marketing Analyst/Strategist at UseBiz.com / (.COM ) URL Centric Marketing
Your .COM Business Model remains long after your last Ad Campaign. Make sure your Ads promote (.COM) URL Centric Marketing and not Search Engine Centric Marketing. If your Ad campaigns do not promote Direct Navigation to your .COM site you are employing a self defeating campaign.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Thank you, Mr. Schneider!
I am learning New and Better things from your increasing Wealth of Knowledge! We await your next priceless Gem of information.
Hi Jeff.
Why Do You Type Like This.. As If You’re Writing Headlines? Is This Another Manifestation of Your OCD?
Seriously Though, I Dont Believe You’re a Real Person Anymore, but the Most Legendary Troll Domain Blogs have Ever Seen. I Finally Figured It Out.
You Fooled Us All For a While. Its Been Fun Though But You’ve Overdone “The Character” just A Bit.
Here come the lawsuits. If I own a trademark on acme holdings and own the .com and someone tried to use acme.holding then lawsuits will be filed for trademark violation as it’s exact and the extension is irrelevant. Now what I’m curious to learn is if and when one claims common law trademark and a few cases go to the common law trademark holder. Then why buy a domain when you can sue for it like people are doing now with bs cases in wipo. A lot of us spent fortunes in the early days TRYING to establish case law for domains and that is now at risk. Same cycle will occur again and is occurring. To the comment about google will tell the end user what to do, sure and it’s says get your free domain from us and will give you an experience for free just with ads. The google model remember is/was free so why will this be any different?