Five years after global fanfare, and not many new domain extensions could be considered a profitable success, if successful at all.
There is no shortage of companies and persons shouting to the mountain top that all the good .com domains are taken. While there is a kernel of truth about a decent percentage of .com domains no longer available, this isn’t the complete truth or story.
In fact, although a large number of .com domains are available for purchase, a large population of customers seeking to purchase domains don’t have a realistic budget or simply are not knowledgeable about domain valuation in general.
Nevertheless, the promotion of new domain extensions was thought to decrease the value of .com domains while opening greater avenues of affordability to short and memorable domains.
I make mention of new domain extensions due to discovering a growing number of companies, big, small and in between, attempting to brand and re-brand their companies using new domain extensions.
While .com is and shall remain king for quite some time into the future, having nearly 140 million registered domains per DomainState.com, I’ve discovered a number of businesses, churches, and personal brands using new domain extensions to promote their digital presence.
Why Use Questionable New Domain Extensions Share on XMy most recent discovery of new domain extension usage occurred as I read the latest edition of Community Impact — Northwest Austin.
I was a bit perplexed as I was reading through the number of new companies having opened in the Northwest Austin area. I say perplexed because I spotted a nail and waxing salon using a .site subdomain for it’s digital presence: LaqueNailBar.Business.Site.
It’s very rare to find a company using a .com subdomain as its digital presence let alone a new domain extension.
Of course, I checked the domain availability of LaqueNailBar.com to discover it was registered, yet available to be purchased using GoDaddy’s Domain Buy Service.
I also uncovered the following domains available, and likely better options than the current .site domain Laque Nail Bar is actively using:
Both domains were available at the time of this publication, and I encourage Laque Nail Bar to certainly register and transition their existing digital presence url to one of the the aforementioned ones.
Why Use Questionable New Domain Extensions Share on XThe next new domain extension discovery is a well-known change of athletic clubs with more than 140 locations: Life Time Fitness.
I was intrigued to discover a large chain touting a .life domain. I expected LifeTime.Life to redirect to LifeTime.com, but that was not the case.
LifeTime.com looks to be owned by a different company based in Utah touting durable lasting products — Tables, Chairs, Picnic Tables, Sheds, Garden & Patio, Basketball, Playground and Water Sports — for consumers and their families.
And believe it or not, LifeTime.Life resolves to a well developed and branded web presence.
While LifeTime.Life’s web presence is impressive, I’m not sold on the usage of the .life extension due to the domain containing the keyword “life” not making much make sense.
As an alternative, I recommend using one of the following domains available at the time of publication:
My favorites are the .fit, .online, and .training domains should no other legacy domains (i.e., .com, .net, or .org) be available for registration or to be purchased.
While I’m not against using new domain extensions to promote the digital presence of personal or corporate brands, the keywords to the left and right of the dot must compliment one another and make sense when reading it right to left.
When new domain keywords don’t compliment or make sense when reading aloud, then it’ll likely leave one’s customers confused trying to remember the domain.
In closing, it never pays to use questionable domains, especially domains using new extensions. In fact, it’s the personal or corporate brand that pays the most in regards to lost awareness and sales.
What do you think?
It Never Pays to Use Questionable New Domain Extensions Share on X
As a domain investor and business consultant, Alvin actively participates in daily domain auctions. Outside of auctions, he passionately shares his views, opinions, and vision for how businesses should and should not use domain names to generate greater customer growth and revenue.
