Unlocking the Future of Online Identity: A Deep Dive into Domain Names with WordPress Creator Matt Mullenweg
In a compelling and highly anticipated conversation on the Domain Name Wire Podcast, Matt Mullenweg, the visionary creator of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, offered a refreshing, “outside-the-industry” perspective on the evolving landscape of domain names. This in-depth discussion, which quickly became one of the podcast’s most downloaded episodes, shed light on critical aspects of digital identity, branding, and the strategic importance of top-level domains.
For those who prefer a textual journey through insightful dialogue, the complete transcript of this enlightening exchange is presented below. However, for the full context and nuance of Matt’s unique perspective, listening to the original podcast is highly recommended.
Key takeaways from this discussion include:
- Matt Mullenweg’s compelling arguments for why domain names are more crucial than ever in today’s digital age.
- Insights into why domain names, despite their fundamental importance, often remain undervalued.
- Exclusive details on how to secure a .blog domain name before the wider public launch.
- An explanation of the WordPress Foundation’s rigorous approach to combating specific instances of cybersquatting.
- Predictions for the potential registration volume of .blog domains in the coming year, specifically for 2017.
The Interview: A Comprehensive Look at WordPress, Automattic, and the .blog TLD
Andrew Allemann: It is an honor to welcome Matt Mullenweg, the pioneering creator of WordPress and the esteemed CEO of Automattic, the driving force behind WordPress.com, to our program today.
Matt Mullenweg: The pleasure is all mine, Andrew. I’m delighted to be here and delve into these topics.
Andrew Allemann: Matt, our conversation today will navigate several fascinating areas, including the highly anticipated .blog TLD, which holds significant relevance for our audience, as well as the critical aspects of WordPress trademark protection and the broader domain name ecosystem. Before we dive into those specifics, I must acknowledge that I’ve been a dedicated user of WordPress for Domain Name Wire since 2005. It’s a testament to its enduring quality, and I sometimes find myself taking its reliability for granted.
Matt Mullenweg: That’s truly awesome to hear.
Andrew Allemann: Indeed, 11 years now, which I realize isn’t long after WordPress’s inception. Could you provide our listeners with a concise overview of how WordPress truly began?
Matt Mullenweg: You must have been among the very first few thousand users, as WordPress was still a nascent project back then. Our journey started as an extension of an existing open-source initiative known as b2/cafelog. Mike Little, a colleague from the UK, and I took up its development, effectively creating a ‘fork’ in open-source terminology. We christened this new endeavor WordPress. It quickly became the official continuation of the original project, which had seen its development stall. Throughout its evolution, WordPress has remained steadfastly committed to its open-source ideals: freedom in every sense, both ‘free as in freedom’ and ‘free as in beer.’ Our core philosophy has always been user-centric, meticulously considering the needs of authors, developers, and site visitors alike, striving to eliminate as much friction as possible from the publishing experience. This commitment continues to drive us today.
Understanding the WordPress Ecosystem: Automattic, the Foundation, and the Software
Andrew Allemann: Today, you lead Automattic as its CEO, a company that has successfully secured significant funding and consistently launches innovative services. However, the interplay between Automattic and the WordPress Foundation, within the broader WordPress ecosystem, can sometimes be a source of confusion for many. Could you elucidate their respective roles?
Matt Mullenweg: Certainly. One can conceptualize the WordPress ecosystem as having three distinct, yet interconnected, branches. First, there’s the WordPress software itself. This is licensed under the GPL, offering users the freedom to utilize it for virtually any purpose. The fundamental tenet of the GPL is that if you distribute the software, you must extend the same freedoms to the recipients, akin to a Creative Commons ShareAlike license.
Next, we have the WordPress Foundation. This is a lean, non-profit organization dedicated to educational initiatives, such as organizing WordCamps and other community outreach programs. Crucially, the Foundation holds the actual WordPress trademark, a significant asset that Automattic generously donated to it for non-profit stewardship.
Andrew Allemann: Understood.
Matt Mullenweg: Finally, there is Automattic. This is a for-profit company, structured much like any other corporation. However, we operate extensively like an open-source project, with a substantial portion of the code we produce being open source. We are a globally distributed team, comprising approximately 470 individuals across more than 50 countries. Our main office typically hosts only a handful of people on any given day, highlighting our deeply distributed nature. Automattic’s core offerings encompass three primary products:
- WordPress.com: Imagine this as the most accessible and straightforward entry point into the WordPress universe—a default, user-friendly hosted WordPress software solution. If you were recommending the best place for a friend to begin their online journey, WordPress.com would be it.
- Jetpack: Tailored for more advanced users who prefer self-hosted WordPress installations or operate on dedicated web servers. Jetpack extends their capabilities by integrating numerous cloud-based features and enhancements developed by Automattic. It’s often considered an essential first plugin for any WordPress site, delivering immense value through improved speed, increased traffic, and enhanced SEO.
- WooCommerce: A robust e-commerce platform built directly on WordPress. This can be viewed as a more flexible and advanced alternative to solutions like Shopify. While it might require more developer expertise for deep customization, its unparalleled flexibility, allowing control over every line of code, makes it incredibly powerful for businesses with unique needs.
These constitute our main three offerings. This year, we are proud to introduce a fourth significant product: the .blog TLD.
Beyond the Core: Exploring Automattic’s Diverse Portfolio
Andrew Allemann: Excellent. Before we fully immerse ourselves in the .blog discussion, I want to briefly acknowledge another Automattic product that, while perhaps a footnote to your larger operations, is incredibly valuable to me: Lean Domain Search.
Matt Mullenweg: Oh, absolutely.
Andrew Allemann: For those unfamiliar, it’s one of my go-to resources when I’m struggling to find an available and suitable domain name. It’s a fantastic tool.
Matt Mullenweg: I use it constantly myself.
Andrew Allemann: Automattic acquired it along with its creator, Matt Mazur, a few years ago, and it truly remains an outstanding product.
Matt Mullenweg: I couldn’t agree more. Thank you for highlighting it.
Andrew Allemann: Of course. Where does VaultPress fit into this extensive portfolio? That’s another service I rely on heavily.
Matt Mullenweg: Internally, we view services like VaultPress and Akismet as integral components falling under the umbrella of Jetpack. We are actively developing product enhancements to improve their synergy. Soon, users with Jetpack installed will be able to activate VaultPress and similar services with a single click.
Andrew Allemann: For the benefit of our listeners who might not be familiar, VaultPress is a premium service offering real-time backups and comprehensive security scans for WordPress websites. The security scanning functionality, in particular, has been invaluable to me, safeguarding my site from numerous intrusions and threats. It’s truly a critical product.
Matt Mullenweg: The core idea is that for any website that holds significant importance to you, the investment in VaultPress serves as essential insurance. It performs real-time backups, capturing any changes within seconds. Should the unthinkable happen to your site, you are protected with an up-to-the-second, offsite backup that is both secure and readily accessible.
Andrew Allemann: Exactly. I can attest that in the years I’ve used it, I’ve had to utilize its backup capabilities a couple of times. The cost, whatever it is now, is negligible compared to the vital importance of maintaining your site’s uptime.
Matt Mullenweg: Especially for you, Andrew, where your site is the backbone of your business.
Andrew Allemann: Precisely. Downtime directly translates to lost revenue, which is simply unacceptable.
The Strategic Play: Automattic and the .blog TLD
Let’s shift our focus to .blog. The announcement in May that Automattic was the force behind .blog’s acquisition was both surprising and incredibly exciting. We know the auction was won by Primer Nivel, a company with a strong reputation in the .co namespace. When did Automattic’s involvement in the bid for .blog truly begin?
Matt Mullenweg: Our initial discussions and email exchanges regarding this likely trace back to 2011, when the new TLD program was first announced. We were, in fact, orchestrating the entire auction process. Our intention was not to register it directly under Automattic’s name, nor did we wish for our involvement to be public. Instead, we worked through Primer Nivel as a proxy, which allowed us to execute our strategy as if we were openly involved. In such an auction, it’s prudent to avoid inciting excessive competition, particularly given how the proceeds are distributed among the non-winning applicants.
Andrew Allemann: Right. I recall being quite perplexed after the auction, wondering who the victor was. It all made perfect sense a couple of years later. Operating a top-level domain represents a substantial investment. While you can’t disclose the exact figure, it’s understood that the acquisition of .blog was in the vicinity of $20 million, not to mention the extensive back-end investments in employees, registry agreements, and infrastructure. What was the compelling rationale behind pursuing such a significant undertaking?
Matt Mullenweg: The primary context, which solidified around 2013, stemmed from one of the original applications—I believe Google’s—for a closed .blog TLD. This meant that a .blog domain would only be available to users on Blogger. Frankly, to us, this felt fundamentally “anti-web.” The notion that something as universally democratic as the concept of a blog, which has been a pivotal force in opening up the web, would be restricted to a single company with a product like Blogspot, which we perceived as fairly mediocre, was deeply troubling.
Andrew Allemann: Fair enough.
Matt Mullenweg: Initially, our motivation was a strong conviction that “this shouldn’t happen.” This particular issue eventually subsided as ICANN began rejecting closed applications. However, as we continued to delve deeper, we recognized the inherent business potential. Of all the new TLDs entering the market, “blog” is extensively used as a subdomain or subdirectory across countless websites. We foresaw a significant migration of these existing “blogs” to the more direct and authoritative .blog domain. Moreover, having been at the forefront of blogging for over a decade, the concept holds immense significance for us. We felt we could offer superior software for those who chose to embrace .blog. While users are, of course, free to use other platforms, including Blogspot, a vast majority of websites globally run on WordPress, and we are continually looking for avenues to expand that reach.
The Evolving Definition of “Blog” and the Enduring Value of Domains
Andrew Allemann: Understood. The term “blog” itself has evolved considerably over time. Many sites powered by WordPress today wouldn’t traditionally be categorized as blogs. Do you envision a future where the term gradually fades, and these platforms are simply referred to as “my website,” rather than “my blog”?
Matt Mullenweg: It’s quite ironic, but I actually used to dislike the word “blog” intensely – a humorous thought, given the substantial investment we made in buying the TLD. When I first encountered it in the late ’90s, it sounded vaguely unappealing, like something found in a drain. Furthermore, it carried strong political connotations back then. If you recall, blogs first gained prominence in scenarios where they exposed political indiscretions, like a Republican making a private comment that was subsequently blogged. People initially associated blogging with attacking companies or individuals. This is why, if you remember, every internet giant at the time offered a blogging service, but none, apart from Google, actually used the word “blog” in their branding. Yahoo! had “360,” AOL had “Journals,” and MSN had “Spaces”—they all concocted alternative names.
Andrew Allemann: So there was a negative connotation surrounding the term at that time?
Matt Mullenweg: Precisely. I was working at C-NET then, with properties like download.com, and they perceived blogs as an upstart threat to their media empire, so they were very anti-blog. However, over the past decade, people introduced to online publishing through platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Xanga, or Blogspot have increasingly discovered the immense power of establishing their own voice and a dedicated online home. The word “blog,” as you mentioned, has undergone significant evolution. While industry insiders, and I’m sure many of your listeners, distinguish between a blog and a website, or blogging systems and CMSs, for a growing number of everyday users, especially those I assist on WordPress.com, “blog” simply means “a website.” The term is continually expanding and morphing to encompass more and more, which is fascinating. Often, I simply tell people to “make a WordPress,” as that implicitly covers everything they might want to achieve.
Andrew Allemann: Another interesting shift in mindset pertains to domain names. As someone deeply embedded in the domain industry, I’m a staunch advocate for everyone utilizing them. Yet, I frequently hear voices, particularly from Silicon Valley, dismiss their importance, arguing that with apps and pervasive search engines like Google, the quality of your domain name matters far less. What are your thoughts on this sentiment?
Matt Mullenweg: My firm belief is that domain names are more important than ever before.
Andrew Allemann: That’s reassuring to hear.
Matt Mullenweg: The truth is, those who propagate the idea that domains don’t matter often want you to be mediated through their platforms. They prefer you to advertise on Facebook or Google to reach your customers. In reality, especially when building a substantial business, fostering a direct relationship with your audience is paramount. While .com remains dominant, with over 125 million registrations, it’s an incredibly crowded namespace. New TLDs, I believe, present an incredible opportunity to create significantly more memorable and brandable online addresses—something that resonates clearly in a radio commercial or on a billboard. Our collective challenge, and something your listeners are undoubtedly aware of, is to familiarize the public with these new options.
Part of our vision for .blog is to elevate it to mainstream prominence. We plan to achieve this by integrating it tightly with WordPress.com, launching extensive promotional campaigns, and collaborating with innovative founders to establish some of the initial, high-profile .blog sites. (By the way, if any of your listeners have exceptional ideas, we are very receptive!) Our broader aim is to help legitimize all new gTLDs, effectively opening up the entire market for everyone. From a business standpoint, Automattic has always been about contributing far more than we receive. The .blog initiative, I feel, is our first significant opportunity to embody this philosophy within the domain space. Previously, our role was primarily selling standard domains when someone registered a WordPress blog. This new venture allows us to leverage our influence, expertise, and technical prowess to potentially introduce an entirely new class of consumers to the world of domains.
Andrew Allemann: It’s interesting, when the news broke about Automattic’s involvement with .blog, I was at a domain meetup in Seattle with numerous new top-level domain companies. They were universally thrilled because they recognized that Automattic possesses the unique capability to significantly impact user awareness—a critical area where awareness of new domain options is currently quite low.
Matt Mullenweg: You’re absolutely right, and frankly, we cannot achieve this alone. We will require the collective support of everyone. That’s the beauty of this model: there will be a vast network of resellers and registrars. We are meticulously putting all the necessary elements in place to ensure .blog’s success, and I believe that success will be tremendously amplified or diminished by the extent to which the broader domain name community embraces it. This is precisely one of the reasons I wanted to speak with you today.
Andrew Allemann: Someone with an existing blog on WordPress.com will undoubtedly have an easy path to upgrade to a .blog domain. But your broader goal is also to engage major registrars like GoDaddy, Enom, and Tucows, encouraging them to carry and promote .blog as widely as they do .com today, correct?
Matt Mullenweg: Absolutely. The appeal of a fresh namespace is undeniable. Anyone who analyzes their signup process will observe the high frustration and dropout rates among users struggling to find an available and desirable domain name.
Andrew Allemann: Right. One common complaint about new top-level domain names is their perceived expense. This perception is slowly shifting, as we see a dichotomy between many domains selling for around a dollar annually and others priced at $30. While I know you can’t discuss wholesale pricing, my reading of the site suggests that .blog domains might retail for a bit more per year than a typical $10 or $15 .com registration?
Matt Mullenweg: I anticipate the retail price will generally fall within the $20 to $30 range. To be entirely honest, I consider that an incredible bargain. What you’re essentially acquiring is a piece of your digital land, a permanent online shingle that is truly yours. I genuinely believe domains are significantly undervalued. Many of your listeners would likely agree that domains possess a unique value that is hard to quantify. Consider what you’d spend on a phone number—a random series of digits, let alone a toll-free number—or a physical sign for your store, or an internet connection in your coffee shop. Among all these essential business expenses, your domain and website likely offer the best value. Even if you invest in a high-end hosting account for, say, $300 a year, your domain and website are increasingly how you establish your presence in Google search results and listings. It’s how people will find you and connect with your brand.
Andrew Allemann: It’s certainly not an area to cut corners on.
Matt Mullenweg: No, it truly isn’t. While it’s understandable to question spending a million dollars on a .com, especially if your business model isn’t fully solidified, that’s a decision to make very deliberately. We’ve all witnessed cases where simply having a premium domain doesn’t guarantee a successful business.
Andrew Allemann: Right. What was that color app, for example? I believe they acquired color.com for a few hundred thousand, raised substantial capital, and yet the company was effectively shut down a couple of years later.
Matt Mullenweg: That’s a common piece of advice I offer to startups: “Start with something accessible. If you gain traction, you can always acquire your desired domain later.”
Andrew Allemann: Yes, exactly.
Matt Mullenweg: Or at least attempt to.
Andrew Allemann: Right, right. Many of my listeners, of course, aim to profit when that eventual purchase occurs.
Will some of these more desirable .blog names also carry premium pricing?
Matt Mullenweg: I believe so. There will be premium tiers for more generic or high-value keywords. However, I still anticipate they will represent a strong value proposition, especially compared to acquiring similar names on the secondary market.
Andrew Allemann: Understood.
Matt Mullenweg: Nobody wants to be associated with a .info, right? Our overarching strategy for .blog is to ensure that, particularly during its launch, it becomes synonymous with cool, engaging websites that people genuinely enjoy visiting. We will be actively reaching out to companies with interesting blogs, celebrities, musicians, artists, and writers. This is how we intend to seed the namespace. As I mentioned, if your listeners have any compelling ideas, please let us know.
Andrew Allemann: Okay, cool. One final question regarding .blog before we move on. I could have sworn I saw this on your blog post, but I can no longer locate it. You had previously projected a significant number of .blog activations—perhaps a quarter-million within the first year. Can you elaborate on the scale of opportunity you envision for this TLD?
Matt Mullenweg: That figure is actually published on the nic.blog site. We are indeed expecting to activate approximately 250,000 new names in 2016. Setting public goals is always challenging. Part of me feels that number is conservative, while another part views it as a stretch, and yet another suggests we might be underestimating its potential. We will, of course, observe how things unfold, and there will be much to learn. However, I genuinely believe we could achieve a million domain registrations in 2017. One constant principle throughout Automattic’s decade-long history is iteration. You will never hear me promise that we’ll get everything perfectly right from day one. We will strive our absolute hardest, but our unwavering commitment is to relentlessly iterate, actively listen to our customers and partners, and continuously experiment until we create something that perfectly fits the needs of our users and the broader global community.
Andrew Allemann: Got it, got it.
Trademark Protection and the Future of Online Branding
At NamesCon a couple of years ago—the domain conference held in Vegas, if I can jog your memory—you mentioned that Automattic would register “WordPress” under all the emerging new top-level domain names, but you wouldn’t actively use them. Can you explain if that idea has evolved? At the time, you stated, “Look, we want people to know that WordPress.com and WordPress.org are the authoritative places to get the software, to use WordPress, and so forth.” Is that still your guiding principle?
Matt Mullenweg: Yes, absolutely. This perspective is rooted deeply in our product philosophy. It’s already sufficiently confusing for the average consumer that there are two entities both referred to as “WordPress.” For most people, the distinction between .com and .org holds little meaning; they tend to disregard anything after the dot. Introducing even more variations, I believe, would only generate greater confusion, which is precisely the opposite of what we aim to achieve. Our goal is to simplify and streamline the user experience, ensuring that anyone who hears about WordPress, whether through a friend or our ongoing marketing efforts, can easily navigate to either platform and find the solution they need.
Andrew Allemann: However, that sentiment strikes me a bit when we discuss new top-level domains. One of the prevailing criticisms against them has been precisely this notion of “massive confusion”—that users won’t pay attention to what’s to the right of the dot. Do you believe, echoing your earlier point, that this perception will shift as you promote .blog?
Matt Mullenweg: I think the critical difference lies in our situation: we possess an established brand and a singular product. A new TLD, conversely, offers an unparalleled opportunity for someone to forge an entirely new brand and carve out a distinct online space that might not be occupied by anyone else. Naturally, I wouldn’t recommend securing trademarks for your existing brand across every new TLD—that’s not a sound strategy. You might theoretically register Microsoft.blog, but I question its utility or whether it’s a foundation upon which to build a business. Instead, new TLDs allow for the creation of something novel, perhaps a name that’s unavailable on .com or is being used for something completely unrelated. This opens up incredibly interesting possibilities, especially for more generic, descriptive words.
Andrew Allemann: Got it. Like Domain.blog for someone wanting to start a domain-focused blog.
Matt Mullenweg: Or even transferring something like Domain Name Wire to a domain.blog.
Andrew Allemann: I also own DNW.com, so I quite like promoting my shorter version. I have to ask, and you may not know the answer to this, but I’ve observed that someone, via MarkMonitor—your brand protection domain agency—has been registering “Matt” under numerous new top-level domain names. I’m curious if these registrations are, in fact, for you.
Matt Mullenweg: Well, wow. I wonder who that could possibly be! I wasn’t aware you also served as an investigative journalist.
Andrew Allemann: I track registrations, and I thought, “Hmm.”
Matt Mullenweg: A lot of Matts out there, apparently, huh?
Andrew Allemann: Indeed.
Matt Mullenweg: As a Houstonian, I’m reminded of another famous local, George Foreman—renowned for his boxing career or the Foreman Grill, depending on your generation. He did something amusing: he has seven or eight children, and they’re all named George. Boys, girls, everyone. Hypothetically, if there were a “Matt” who deeply appreciated domain names and anticipated a large progeny in the future, he might indeed wish to secure a distinct TLD for each of them, preventing any name clashes. Allegedly, this could be a future contribution he makes to the gTLD space. Purely hypothetically, of course.
Andrew Allemann: Hypothetically, of course.
The WordPress trademark: I’ve noted a couple of lawsuits and several UDRPs—cybersquatting complaints—filed by the WordPress Foundation over the past year against individuals using “WordPress” in a second-level domain name. Could you outline the Foundation’s policy in this area and its rationale?
Matt Mullenweg: Yes, and by “second-level,” you mean something like wordpress.something?
Andrew Allemann: Precisely.
Matt Mullenweg: Typically, we don’t pursue every instance, as there are likely tens of thousands out there. Our focus is primarily on cases where the name is used in a way that is genuinely confusing to consumers. We are especially vigilant against anyone using it to distribute malware, spam, or engage in any actively harmful activities. There’s a spectrum, from “medium-bad” to “super-bad.” WordPress, functioning as an operating system for the web, is unfortunately targeted by various unscrupulous individuals who seek to exploit it or our user base. We introduce many new people to web publishing, and a significant portion of our users are not highly tech-savvy. They can and do get confused by very similar-sounding names. We have observed rampant abuse of such names. Consequently, we share a strong common interest with entities like Google, ICANN, and everyone else in this space to ensure that this particular name is not misused.
Andrew Allemann: Right. Got it. Okay. All right, awesome. Matt, I truly appreciate your valuable time. For any registrars listening, or aspiring .blog founders—those startup founders looking to launch a site on .blog—who should they contact, or how can they get in touch with Automattic?
Matt Mullenweg: Certainly. As we discussed earlier, check out nic.blog. While I’m not sure if there’s a contact form there currently, we will ensure one is available very, very soon. We have a Registrar Registry Agreement (RRA) available there for registrars who wish to get started. If you have a compelling idea for the founder initiative, the easiest way to reach me is through the contact form on my personal website, ma.tt. Just outline your idea, especially if you’re working with someone, or if you yourself are an influential figure. Perhaps you have prominent listeners who could serve as exceptional examples of outstanding .blog sites. If so, you’ll have the opportunity to secure your domain a few months ahead of the general public. Also, if anyone happens to be friends with Kanye or Drake, that would be fantastic.
Andrew Allemann: All right. Matt, thank you so much for joining the program today.
Matt Mullenweg: It was my distinct pleasure.
Andrew Allemann: My guest today has been Matt Mullenweg, the esteemed creator of WordPress and CEO of Automattic.
That concludes this week’s podcast. You can access all previous episodes at DNW.com/podcasts, or through iTunes, Stitcher, and the Google Play Music Store. Thank you for tuning in.
Voiceover: Thank you for listening to the Domain Name Wire Podcast. For the latest news, insightful tips, and comprehensive coverage of the domain name business, please visit us online at DomainNameWire.com, or follow us on Twitter @DomainNameWire.