dotBIZ dotTV dotUS All Within 5 Miles On Billboards
OK, before I even start this post I want to start with a disclaimer: I do not have domain investments in the .BIZ or .US extensions and only a few .TV names. Although I am a believer in being able to build a business on alternative extensions as a domain investment, specifically .BIZ has just not been something I have been a fan of but I do think both .US and .TV have solid potential (and am kicking myself for not grabbing .US names).
All that said, while traveling the past couple days I had plenty of "windshield time" and as with most other domainers I tend to notice the domain names that companies use on billboards, as you would expect the large majority of the domains seen are .COMs with .NET coming in a solid second place then a sprinking of .ORGs. No real surprise there at all (in the future there may be a .ME somewhere on a highway near you, maybe a state geo site).
Today though I happened to notice something that piqued my curiosity a bit. Within what I would estimate as 5 miles I saw 3 "alternative" extensions on billboards, a .BIZ (a billboard company of all things), a .TV (TV station), and a .US (car dealership, and a VERY successful one at that). As long as I have been domaining I am not sure I have ever witnessed 3 sites in such a short stretch of highway that were all non-dot coms.
As I was typing this I was trying to think of one .BIZ site that I have ever actually seen in use, I could not think of any, then I noticed that the person that invited me to speak this weekend at their regional conference actually uses a .BIZ domain name for her email, that's two in one day, maybe I need to invest:) JUST KIDDING!!!
Have any of the rest of you witnessed a surprising group of non .COMs?
Bruce:
I think in this day and age you just have to build a brand around what you have. I know some people just type in .com at the end of every web site. But I think most people, once they know your web address are just fine. I can say that because I did a web site for a Square Dance Caller and we used a .ws extension. He wanted to use his name. Now three years later when you type his name into Goolge he comes up in the top five. And we have not done any advertising.
Brian
Agreed completely Brian. I am obviously a huge believer:)
That said, it caught my eye it in action so close together today. I think people underestimate .US and .TV, and I think that people could promote a .biz just like anything else. The investor side of me says stay away though, developer side says its all about the business.
Great post and actually a nice illustration that some of the the “other” extensions are growing their base.
I see quite a number of biz/info/US domains in use on the net and in my local community. Which is why I have always been surprised when domainers state they don’t see them around.
Anyway, interesting about the 3 billboards within three miles. That’s a sign of things to come.
@M. Menius – I think you are right, people may be surprised at how accepting people are of developments on “other extensions”. It is interesting for me sometimes, the domain investor side of me would not invest in most of the alternative extensions, from a development perspective though I believe I can create something of value on most any extension (with the right to reject some of them…).
I just had a great meeting yesterday with someone who is a very successful business person and very forward thinking, after discussing Missouri.me he immediately came up with a concept that I had not even thought of using another extension that would work as a great business idea. He is very conservative and but saw the branding potential. People are not afraid anymore….
I stepped up my .US purchases within the last couple of months because of a series of events in close succession. Big .US sales, saw an ad or two on TV and hit quite a few while doing research on the first page of Google for highly searched terms. It was too much of a coincidence so I started really digging for good names. The same can’t really be said for .info or .biz, but I think .TV will have legs. The biggest problem now is ranking. It seems easier to rank WhateverTV.com than Whatever.TV for the exact phrase “Whatever”. That just seems wrong to me.
@Theoretical – I am actually thinking of doing a bit of a test to see what happens comparing as close as possible exact match domains using “like” content and “like” links. I was hoping to do it next week but will see. Should be interesting.
I like dot Biz and have invested in a couple. It’s an affordable alternative to dot com.
@Dan – I will say, if I was not so focused on development it would of been very interesting to jump into the single letter .biz auctions. I think o.biz could really drive awareness of the extension.
As Chris Rock said once before “You can drive a car with your feet..that don’t mean it’s to be done”.
A car dealership locally doesn’t matter as much to have the cat defining name. Most sales are in person or they will optimize number one anyway for their local area because it is not a perfectly competitive market…i.e. company will only allow so many dealers per area, millions in capital etc etc..unlike MiamiPlumber.com for example (didn’t even check the site or not) where many people compete for local leads and credibility.
There is still time to grab many .biz & .us names
There are still many available for Reg Fee, I have flipped well over 20-30 .us domains in the past two months.
I’m more of a buy and hold for .US persuasion than a flipper. I did some flipping early and didn’t make the kind of profit I would like and definitely not the kind of profit that will be there in the next 2-3 years.