Power of Dot com
long-and-bulky-website-names.xx
are getting out of fashion
Birth of domain names
.com
a gTLD / generic top-level domains
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 15-03-1985
It took over two years
until 30-11-1987
to reach a benchmark
of 100 registered .com domain names.
Next to .com
also came alive .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
.de for Germany
.fr for France
others use it in combination with .co
.co.uk for the UK
.co.za South Africa
others in combination with .com
.com.br for Brazil
In the United States .us
was nover adopted,
internet users
prefering .com instead
+1.500 new niche gTLD
new gTLDs were created
as good .com domains were already registered
so that busnesses that were late
could find short domainnames.
The first ones came right after the turn of the century .biz, .info, .name
Later many many more arrived
.app .dev .tech .shop .xyz .travel
.voyage. .reise .online
There are "hype periods"
where one new niche TLD is boosted
to soon be replaced
by another new niche TLD
Domain registration companies
invest a lot in advertisement
to give website builders the illusion
the new TLD is the thing to get
.
As there is so much competition
in between the different codes
none gets even close to
be a challanger for .com
Dot com was the default
TLD
for Businesses from the start.
Some Tourist Boards
invested
their communication budgets
into
niche gTLD
no longer popular today
Many large gov funded
Tourtist boards
were late to understand
the arrival of the internet
Instead of aquiring
valuable .com domains
on the secondary market
when they were less expensive
they made the error to invest
their communication budget
into new gTLDs
Often advised by
Advertising agencies
some responsibles of website
beleived the illusion
new TLD would turn
into a serious alternative of .com
2001
.biz became available 26-06-2001
.info became available 01-10-2001
2006
.travel became available 01-01-2006
2014
.voyage became available
16-02-2014
Important promotion
created a buzz on the new gTLDs
but after the hype of early adoption success
the new domains declined
.info and .travel domains
have pratically zero value
in the aftermarket
and brand prestice is
extremly poor.
Only 10% of the initial .travel domains
are still active
Today the .info or .travel URL pattern
looks outdated
with millions of public funding
wasted into the propotion
of a poor internet address.
some majot tourist bords
sit on domains
most people don't recognize.
Instead of going to the respective website
tourist use .com by default.
The only TLDs
that have mainstream acctance
are .com
followed by national TLDs
like .de, .it, .es
.
International Tourist
Behavior
Country code ccTLS 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 dot com
Why .com
outshines
every other internet code
1) was the first one
2)
designed for business
3) global from the start,
becoming default for any international brand
4) Early lax registration rules
in contrast to difficul 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 .dot com
.com is the domain code
most people expect
and type by default
The power of Visit
Visit+Destination.com - domains
a joker for a local business
Many Tourism Sites that arrived late
mabde the error to use
a non .dot com domain
investing their marketing effors
in a poor internet adress