Not all TLDs are, just the ccTLDs. The .io domain was never intended to be such a popular one, but tech bros were like “zomg io! That’s like input/output!! So techie!!!” Meanwhile, .tech exists and is not country-specific but is far less popular for some reason.
Using ‘.tech’ or ‘.flights’ or .sports’ for your site feels too “on the nose” and gives vibes of like browsing some directory where things are categorised and sorted. Even worse it implies there are other sites under the same category, and those other sites may be competitors, and this dilutes strength of brand.
lt also suggests strongly what the business does, and while that might seem desirable at first it actually isn’t from a corporate perspective because it means the company becomes tied to their business area and can’t expand and grow out of it into other things.
I think this is a major part of why descriptive TLDs continue to be less preferred over ‘meaningless’ two letter TLDs, because companies want the focus to be on the main part of the domain, not the TLD.
I know someone who has a company with the word “technology” in the name, like “Smith Technology”. They use .technology because it’s literally the name of the company, which I think is good for the brand identity, but have run into issues where people just don’t think it’s a correct url because “smith.technology” looks like it’s missing its TLD.
Haha yeah. People are so accustomed to short TLDs that ‘smith.technology’ just intuitively feels kinda wrong, and it still feels that way to me, even as a tech person who knows it is perfectly valid.
You’re thinking like “smith dot technology dot what?”
Some of them can also seem very gimmicky. “.biz” is particularly bad, as I think of it more alluding to showbiz instead of business. They should have made it “.bus” instead, it would have at least appeared more professional.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, this is just a very American marketing approach. Like, why would a tech company want to grow out of the tech sector? Oh right, never ending quarter over quarter growth…
The wild part to me is that the average person doesn’t even know what IO means in a tech context, but enough tech companies have used .io for normies to be conditioned into associating .io with tech
I generally don’t trust .io for that particular reason. It’s the Steve Jobs of the world picking that for buzz; the Steve Wozniaks of the world would simply choose .org.
And…, to make sure my joke didn’t lead me to find it Woz had a fucking io website, I looked it up and his personal cite is fucking org. Lol
Isn’t .org reserved for non-profit websites though? At least on the basis of internet etiquette? Some .io websites I know are completely monetized and about making money. And of course not everyone can afford a .com domain with a cool name right off the bat.
I think they’re referring to the fact that to get a very good .com, you’ll have to buy it aftermarket (eg via Sedo, Dan, Flippa, etc) which can be very expensive. On the other hand, there’s far more domains available under country code TLDs.
Not all TLDs are, just the ccTLDs. The .io domain was never intended to be such a popular one, but tech bros were like “zomg io! That’s like input/output!! So techie!!!” Meanwhile, .tech exists and is not country-specific but is far less popular for some reason.
Simple answer: length.
Two chars look a lot better than something with more chars, and all two chars TLD are ccTLDs.
Another reason is brand identity.
Using ‘.tech’ or ‘.flights’ or .sports’ for your site feels too “on the nose” and gives vibes of like browsing some directory where things are categorised and sorted. Even worse it implies there are other sites under the same category, and those other sites may be competitors, and this dilutes strength of brand.
lt also suggests strongly what the business does, and while that might seem desirable at first it actually isn’t from a corporate perspective because it means the company becomes tied to their business area and can’t expand and grow out of it into other things.
I think this is a major part of why descriptive TLDs continue to be less preferred over ‘meaningless’ two letter TLDs, because companies want the focus to be on the main part of the domain, not the TLD.
I know someone who has a company with the word “technology” in the name, like “Smith Technology”. They use .technology because it’s literally the name of the company, which I think is good for the brand identity, but have run into issues where people just don’t think it’s a correct url because “smith.technology” looks like it’s missing its TLD.
Haha yeah. People are so accustomed to short TLDs that ‘smith.technology’ just intuitively feels kinda wrong, and it still feels that way to me, even as a tech person who knows it is perfectly valid.
You’re thinking like “smith dot technology dot what?”
Some of them can also seem very gimmicky. “.biz” is particularly bad, as I think of it more alluding to showbiz instead of business. They should have made it “.bus” instead, it would have at least appeared more professional.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, this is just a very American marketing approach. Like, why would a tech company want to grow out of the tech sector? Oh right, never ending quarter over quarter growth…
The wild part to me is that the average person doesn’t even know what IO means in a tech context, but enough tech companies have used .io for normies to be conditioned into associating .io with tech
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I generally don’t trust .io for that particular reason. It’s the Steve Jobs of the world picking that for buzz; the Steve Wozniaks of the world would simply choose .org.
And…, to make sure my joke didn’t lead me to find it Woz had a fucking io website, I looked it up and his personal cite is fucking org. Lol
Isn’t .org reserved for non-profit websites though? At least on the basis of internet etiquette? Some .io websites I know are completely monetized and about making money. And of course not everyone can afford a .com domain with a cool name right off the bat.
.com is cheaper than .io
I think they’re referring to the fact that to get a very good .com, you’ll have to buy it aftermarket (eg via Sedo, Dan, Flippa, etc) which can be very expensive. On the other hand, there’s far more domains available under country code TLDs.
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