Dot Coms vs. the New gTLDs?

Currently, the dot com Top Level Domain (TLD) is the bench mark for companies wanting to promote their brand. In the past year hundreds (163) of new TLD have been released. Names like .club, .car, .cab, .guru, .agency….

What is the current situation?

There are some domain speculators out there buying some domain names. Every TLD is bound to have a few marketing gems. However, the buying public seems to be confused with the new tlds and overwhelmed with the sheer number of new TLD. Trying to sell a new brand to a confused and overwhelmed public is hard and expensive. Hence, the confusion appears to be making the .com tlds more effective.

Give me an example of why .com tlds are better?

If you hear of someone talking about a company called “Sally’s Refrigerated Picnic Baskets”. You think you got to have one for your big reunion. When you go to the web you are just going to assume it’s a .com. Say you do not have the dot com. You will get the competitors website. Say you decide to not click on the competitor’s website and do a Google search. Then you see a bunch of refrigerated picnic baskets to choose from and now are confused and interested in getting the best price. Therefore, you have gone from a sure sale to a confused customer looking at other sites.

What about in 5 or 10 years?

Some TLD will work out and some will not. Of the 163, and more on the way, .club seems have the best chance to make it. Therefore, as a startup company, do you want to bet your future on one of these new TLDs to save some initial money?