long and bulky website names.xx are getting out of fashion.
Birth of domain names .com
a gTLD / generic top-level domain
Internet domains were introduced in 1985
as part of the original Domain Name System (DNS). The main people behind the idea were the American computer scientists Jon Postel and Paul Mockapetris.
The first domain was registered on 15-03-1985. It took over two years, until 30-11-1987, to reach the milestone of 100 registered .com domain names.
Next to .com also came .net and .org
316 assigned ccTLDs
Country code TLDs appeared with each country having a two-letter code.
Today there are 316 versions
The first ones were .us, .uk, .de, .fr while some countries use a country code alone, for example: .de for Germany .fr for France
others use it in combination with .co like: .co.uk for the UK .co.za South Africa
others in combination with .com such as .com.br for Brazil.
In the United States .us was never adopted, internet users preferring .com instead.
+1,500 new niche gTLDs
new gTLDs were created as many good .com domains were already registered, so that businesses that arrived late could still find short domain names.
The first ones came right after the turn of the century: .biz, .info, .name
Later many more arrived :
.app
.dev
.tech
.shop
.xyz
.travel
.voyage
.reise
.online
There are "hype periods" where one new niche TLD is boosted, soon to be replaced by another new niche TLD. Domain registration companies invest a lot in advertising to give website builders the illusion that the new TLD is the one to get.
As there is so much competition between the different codes, none gets even close to becoming a challenger to .com.
Dot com was the default TLD for businesses from the start.
Some tourist boards invested their communication budgets into niche gTLDs that are no longer popular today.
Many large government-funded tourist boards were late to understand the arrival of the internet.
Instead of acquiring valuable .com domains on the secondary market when they were less expensive, they made the mistake of investing their communication budget into new gTLDs.
Often advised by advertising agencies, some website managers believed the illusion that new TLDs would turn
into a serious alternative to .com.
2001:
.biz became available on 26-06-2001
.info became available on 01-10-2001
2006:
.travel became available on 01-01-2006
2014:
.voyage became available on 16-02-2014
Important promotion created a buzz around the new gTLDs, but after the hype of early adoption success the new domains declined.
.info and .travel domains have practically zero value in the aftermarket and their brand prestige is extremely poor.
Only 10% of the initial .travel domains are still active.
Today the .info or .travel URL pattern looks outdated, with millions of public funds wasted on the promotion of a poor internet address.
Some major tourist boards sit on domains most people do not recognize.
Instead of going to the respective website, tourists use .com by default.
The only TLDs that have mainstream acceptance are .com
followed by national TLDs like .de, .it, .es .
International Tourist Behavior
Country code ccTLDs are known to a national audience.
People from neighboring countries usually know them. People from another continent usually don't.
Everybody knows .com
Every famous brand uses .com, nothing else.
.com is "the internet" in the mind of most people.
From the 25 most important domain sales, 100% are .com.
Why .com outshines every other internet code
1) It was the first one
2) It was designed for business
3) It was global from the start, becoming the default for international brands
4) Early lax registration rules in contrast to difficult-to-register ccTLDs
5) When startups launch on another TLD they often buy the .com version of their name later,
upgrading their online presence to .com.
.com is the domain code
most people expect and type by default
