Changes to Domain Names Create New Challenges….

The global authority for managing the allocation of internet addresses (or “domain names”), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) has announced that they will soon introduce new ‘generic top level domain names’ (‘gTLDs”) which will allow organisations, or individuals, to register company names or other words as the top level domain name or internet address. So, for example, I will be able to register .LORD as gTLD replacing any of the existing 21 gTLDs currently available. You can expect to see major brands moving quickly to establish their own internet domain structures…. .NIKE, .MCDONALDS, .COKE and in generic areas such as .FOOD, .CARS. .TRAVEL and so on. We can also expect to see the emergence of non-English gTLDs and gTLDS in non-Roman characters.

This will not be without consequence for online marketers and online brand owners and marks a fairly important shift in internet branding and awareness is currently built.

Part of this problem stems from the way we currently use the internet. Face it, we have all been trained to use the current gTLDs to help us categorise the information we received. We assign value and attributes to information based on this categorisation; .COM domains are clearly commercial, .GOV is from the government, .EDU from academic organisations, and so on. This categorisation extends to some of the behaviours we demonstrate online. Users will attempt intuitive hits based on brands or keywords and will in many cases have success. It isn’t the bulk of how internet traffic is generated, but it is an important part of the overall mix.

The proposed changes will affect the way we market our online channels. The fact is that rather than relying on the compound benefits of linking, search advertising and these intuitive hits, we will need to specifically market domains in their entirety without the benefit of this existing structure and the benefit of our current, well trained audience.

I personally think that it is easy to underestimate the potential impact of these changes. There is a lot of business built around the current conventions and much of digital marketing strategy is conceived in the context of the way the current domain naming structures work. There is also a genuine risk that some existing internet businesses, built around these conventions could see much of their market position and value destroyed, effectively in the click of a mouse.

It appears that I am not the only one who is concerned about these changes. An article last week in the Australian Newspaper, echoed my thoughts on the potential damage to brands and businesses, and that it potentially raises the threat of monopolistic business practices as brand owners are effectively “held to ransom” by the domain name registrars. I agree strongly that we run the risk of creating a ridiculous situation where an enterprising registrar will register a generic gTLD (say .FOOD) and then effectively create a monopoly for all domain owners who wish to market to that market segment and are forced to believe that visibility in the .FOOD domain space is essential for their business. There is also interesting commentary and discussion  arstechnica.com and managingip.com and useful summary of resources at the Goldstein Report

Creating a new business and then registering domain names can be daunting. A visit to any significant domain name registrar will show you with mind-boggling array of options for domain name registration. Having just gone through this to register domains for my new Digination venture, it can be pretty easy to get carried away registering multiple variants of the available domain names ….”just in case.” The costs can quickly add up.

This is a topic which is worth keeping a wary eye on.