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TLDs Are DOA
by Paul Colligan

To this day I would rather watch the frenzy generated by TLDs (top level domains) than any sporting event: the stakes are higher, the moves dumber and the cheerleaders - far more entertaining. I’d also rather bet money on the fate of the TLD scam than I would against any team out there. There is just too much drama to not site back and watch.

Of course, teams can get better. The status of TLDs won’t.

The buzz is this: Gosh, the Internet is huge and there are so many people out there that .com isn’t enough to hold them all. In addition to .com, .net, .org, .cc, .ws and .tv we need .inc, .store, .biz, .llc, and .whateverelsewecanthinkof to solve the problem.

What we need is .ripoff.

You see, the reality is this: nobody cares about anything other than .coms. No one is every going to give coke.biz or microsoft.inc a try because they know both of them are .coms as well. For those of you who say, "yeah, but some people got into the game late - they deserve a chance at a great name too," I tell you this, anything.com is better than somethingreallycool.inc.

Think about it. How many .ccs have you entered into your browser in the last, well, lifetime? How many times have you been so inspired with the future of television on the Internet to see what happens when you enter insertfavoriteshowhere.tv?

For you futurists who claim "yeah, what about one day when ...," I have only one thing to say to you: if you think the future of the Internet is entering URLs into browsers ... you probably aren’t reading this anyway.

But Paul, my branding! What will happen if someone takes mycompanyname.lametld?

Nothing happens.

Well, actually, some registrar makes about $50 in the process.

If someone infringes on your copyright, go nuts and sue their pants off. You don’t need a cool domain name on some island in the Pacific for that. Trademark and copyright law is still trademark and copyright law. There might be a few cases out there where this is important but nothing to deserve the frenzy out there.

Did you know Network Solutions will give you like 50% off if you order over 100 domain names with the same registration information. Why would anyone ever need 100+ domain names with the same registration information?

The Internet is full of a number of dirty little secrets. Among them is the fact that the big money in domain names is in the registrars and nowhere else.

Take a quick look at eBay.com and do a search on domain names. Notice how few actually have bids on them and how the ones that do are in the few hundred bucks range. Take a visit at one of the big domain name brokers like GreatDomains.com and you’ll find the same. Sure, there are domains that asking for thousands. The key word here is asking.

Domain names are worth very little. I haven’t met a person yet who couldn’t find a great name for their purpose in about 10 minutes. Sure, you have to get creative but THIS IS THE INTERNET - IF YOU CAN’T GET CREATIVE ON A DOMAIN NAME, GET OUT NOW!

I dare you to find a non-trademarked .cc name that someone is willing to pay more than 200 hundred bucks for. I dare you to find and non .com domain to be worth anything.

The commercial Internet was built on FUD - fear, uncertainty and doubt. The concept that if you don’t get on the net you are less of a company built 80 percent of the original Web sites and still, honestly, keeps about half of them going. Netscape was who they were (and they were, not are - they are a dead company) for the same reason Clinton was our President - media-induced
fear of the alternative.

Network Solutions started it all. Actually that guy who sold business.com for 7 million is the real culprit. Realize that they bought business.com for 7 million and got more than that in free advertising - it was an advertising buy and nothing else. How many times have you been to their
site? How many times do you intend on going?

You see with FUD I can scare you to death and make you spend hundreds getting all the possibilities of your domain name so that "nobody else gets them" and so that I take several hundred dollars a year from you for KEEPING YOUR NAME IN SOMEONE ELSE’S DATABASE. You have to love the Internet.

It is simple: Get a name that works, monitor your trademark issues (if you have them) like you did before the Internet was a deal, take all the money you saved in not buying your company’s name in Indonesian and send me half.

We’ll both be better for it.

And, before you go there, I do like the .kid and .sex TLDs because they will enable the Internet to do what it does best - police itself. Those are a whole different story and another article all together.

Speaking of policing yourself, if you are of the mindset that ICANN is going to come in and make everything right, you might want to take a look at the December 2000 issue of Wired Magazine. There is an article about ICANN called "Domain Name-Calling" that will set you straight on that myth.

With that said and done, I do have a few great domain names for sale that I’d let go for a great price. I figure they are worth a few hundred thousand apiece.