.Online could be best generic fresh domain yet

Three reasons .online ought to be successful.

Michael Berkens spotted this morning that the last of the losing applicants for .online had withdrawn its application, meaning a partnership between Radix, NameCheap and Tucows has won the rights for the .online domain name.

I think .online will be one of the most successful fresh generic top level domain names, for a few reasons.

1. A combination of three top-10 registrars will be pushing it. I’m assuming that Radix will be able to get Endurance, which bought its sister-firm’s domain name operations, to push the domain. Then you’d basically have the #2, #4, and another top ten registrar backing the domain name. Tucows will need to convince its resellers to carry the domain, but the bottom line is this tie-up of firms has a lot of firepower.

2. “Online” is one of the most commonly purchased keywords in the aftermarket. Back when GoDaddy had a monthly aftermarket note, it showed a tag cloud of the most common keywords found in domains it sold. Every month — every month — “online” was the most commonly sold term. A lot of firms slap “online” to the end of their desired domain name to buy it in .com. Will they opt for something.online instead of somethingonline.com?

3. A big headstart on .web – Everyone (ok, other than those with competing generics) states .web is the best generic applied for in this round. But I don’t think it will come out for another year or two. That gives .online, as runner up, plenty of time to build itself up ahead of .web.