Generic Domains – what are they?

A domain name is your Internet identity. It defines your company’s presence in the online world. Just like your postal address, no two domain names are the same. And just like peoples’ names, there are good and bad domain names, some that are marketable and others that would render it difficult to lead traffic to your site.

A tried-and-tested type of domain name is a generic domain. A generic domain uses quick and simple words, usually common nouns, as their online address. And why are these names better? Generic domains have a marketing edge over a name that consists of a random assortment of numbers and letters. Here lies their advantage. They are easy to remember, difficult to misspell, and can quickly pop their way to the top of a search engine’s list. No wonder, generic domains have become very expensive

Why generic domains are so expensive?

Wine.com sold for $2.9 million in 1999, Vodka.com for $3 million in 2006. Casino.com, Beer.com, Diamonds.com, Korea.com and Shop.com also raked in the huge bucks in the generic domain name game. Rounding up the top slots are Porn.com, which sold for $9.5 million last year and captures huge traffic from the adult entertainment market. Of course, this multi-million dollar name has only been outshone by Sex.com, which sold for an estimated $14 million after a long and arduous domain-name-stealing battle in court. But the crown for the most popular and expensive name in the online world goes to – ta da! – Business.com, which sold for a whopping $350 million last year to R.H. Donnelley, who had the bucks to beat out Dow Jones and the New York Times at the bidding war.

So what is in a word that is causing this much fuss? And why are domain names so expensive? With generic domain names such as computer.com, drugs.com. cars.com, art.com and creditcards.com getting snatched up faster than hotcakes, you have got to wonder: why the splurge on these simple words?

Chances are, most of these generic domain names are already owned, or have been snapped up by resellers looking to sell them for some cool millions. If you are set on using a generic domain name for your business, be prepared to shell out the cash. It could very well constitute one of the single largest expenditure of your online business.

The rationale behind the generic domain name is that these types of web addresses are simple, short and easy to remember. There is also that theory that generic names will most likely score high in the search engine’s list, which could lead to good business for online shopping sites such as shoes.com or computer.com. Quite true, as most of us who do quite a bit of online shopping would most likely type a generic name into the search box to lead us to something interesting. Furthermore, there is prestige in owning a generic domain name. If you own Casino.com for example, then online visitors will be more trusting and reliant. Owning a generic domain name does not come cheap, and connotes the fact that you have spent quite a lot of money to get that level of exclusivity. Ergo, more credibility and status for your business.

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