Almost a year ago, I wrote an article titled ‘Domain Reselling – Ushering in the new gTLDs’ talking about how brands have slowly begun to move away from .COM domain names and embrace new gTLDs. I cited examples of marquee companies, Google, Reliance and the likes of multiple billion dollar empires taking this leap.
One year later and I’m more convinced than ever of the popularity of these new gTLDs. What’s convinced me? Simple. The marquees-of-tomorrow – companies less than a billion dollar or even, less than a million dollars but those definately on the rise with their revolutionary thinking. Let’s call them MOTs. Well, let me attempt to explain. A gigantic company or marquees of today like Google or Reliance can afford to move to a new gTLD primarily because
a) Everyone would notice
b) Even if a move like that works against their favour, a company like that is never forgotten or “lost” on the Internet
But a move like this for a MOT can make or break them and yet it seems like the new gTLDs are worth that risk!
Case 1: Opus Events Agency.
Opus Events Agency was founded in 2000, making its mark running conferences & corporate events. They always believed in pushing their limits which is why the company saw a whopping 86% growth between 2011 and 2014, earning them a spot on the Inc. 5000 list.
The agency also decided to move away their long, clunky domain name to a new gTLD that fit their profile to the T. They dropped their middle name and simply made it ‘www.opus.agency’.
Case 2: Harmony Healthcare Solutions
This healthcare finance executive and outsourcing firm moved from ‘www.harmonyhealthcaresolutions.com’ to just ‘harmony.solutions’. While they still pay a $25 annual fee to keep their old website, it’s not because of their apprehensions of a new gTLD but to safeguard against lost communications.
Harmony Solutions has not just moved to one new gTLD but has also secured a harmony.expert, harmony.consulting and harmony.healthcare to future-proof themselves.
Case 3: The Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
The Consumer Electronics Show is a trade show organized by Consumer Technology Association, held in Las Vegas. The event is a showcase of various technologies and new products in the consumer electronics industry.
Almost two weeks ago, CES decided to move from www.ces.com to www.ces.tech. The new gTLD they’ve chosen explicitly spells out their passion & what they stand for.
Conclusion
These are just three cases of MOTs and the list is rapidly increasing.
Every month, I do a little study on how the new gTLDs are performing and create a report. Last month’s report highlighted the popularity of the new gTLDs, backed by numbers. In April, we at ResellerClub ran a week long sale on traditional TLDs – .COM, .NET, .BIZ, .ORG and found that yes, the count of those registrations increased but instead of this negatively affecting the sales of new gTLDs for the month, the new gTLDs also outperformed as compared to the months before!
The report only signals the growth of the new domain extensions. Brands, companies, organizations are opting for the uncommon. In a year since I wrote that last blog post, Google launched their new venture Alphabet Inc. on a .XYZ domain and sales when through the roof for that domain extension but the real, bigger achievement is in MOTs, who have everything to risk, making that move. Welcome the new gTLDs. Welcome the new normal.
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