Blog Understands Top Level Domain Names — A Green
Good analysis of fresh top level domains comes from an unexpected source.
I’ve read a lot of bad analysis regarding fresh top level domains. You know, the type where the noted takes spoon fed information from a fresh TLD promoter and just publishes it without any thought.
So it was refreshing to see good analysis of .eco, and fresh top level domains in general, from an unlikely source: a green entrepreneur blog.
Katie Fehrenbacher of Earth2Tech wrote a story regarding the proposed .eco top level domain. You’ve probably heard a lot regarding this domain since Al Gore is backing it. (Gore’s charity apparently gets a cut of the action.)
Fehrenbacher starts by questioning if any fresh top level domain has wings:
Nothing can cripple a promising web site faster than an embarrassingly bad top-level domain choice. No matter how many businesses sign up for a dot-biz domain (.biz), for example, it still connotes Uncle Gary’s online shoe site. Likewise, top-level domains like dot mobi (.mobi) and dot info (.info) have fallen short in terms of bringing in users.
So how does .eco think it will prevail on a venture where so many others have failed? Marketing money:
When I asked Childers how dot eco would succeed where top-level domains like dot mobi stalled, he stated Dot Eco plans to do a massive marketing push, in contrast to some top-level domains that he states weren’t marketed properly. Childers, based in Los Angeles, has been meeting with marketing agencies and working on celebrity endorsements, and he states he expects the firm to do an initial $10 million marketing campaign in its first year or two.
Childers doesn’t have $10 million to spend, by the way. He’s trying to raise it now.
Although marketing a fresh TLD to internet users (not domain buyers) is a step in the right direction, it’s easier stated than done. It will be even harder when potentially 100 other fresh TLDs are vying for attention at the same time.
What would make the .eco situation really interesting is if another entity applies for .eco. Would ICANN give it to the Al Gore backed group instead of auctioning it off? How much of a role will politics play?
