Awareness still a challenge for fresh top level domain names

Even at a webhosting conference…

Leaders from five domain name firms took the stage at yesterday’s WorldHostingDays conference in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania.

The most interesting moment was during Q&A. Someone in the back of the room stated he’d never heard of .Club ahead of, and registered a few domains during the session. He had a question regarding an error message he got from a registrar regarding not being able to register a domain name — it sounded a lot like this 1&1 “illegal” message.

What’s interesting regarding this is that the audience was made up of webhosting and domain name firms. Yet, even here, not everyone is familiar with the fresh top level domain name options available. .Club is one of the most heavily marketed and successful of the fresh domains, but even it still has a lot to do to boost awareness.

I can only imagine how low awareness is in other circles.

On the one hand, this gives a lot of upside for registries as word gets out. The challenge, of course, is getting that word out. It won’t be easy.