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Which new domain extensions should you buy?
Date : 31st January, 2014
With a thousand new domain extensions tipped for release over the coming year, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with choice. Following on from our post of tips for creating and managing a shortlist of names, here’s some more advice on how to spend your money wisely and buy only the domain names you need.
The key to buying domain names that are keepers is to ask yourself why you’re interested in the name in the first place. Having at least one specific use, plan or goal from the start will go a long way towards helping you achieve your aims.
Online branding
This is most likely the primary area on which you’ll be focusing, whether you’re thinking about branding for new websites or rebranding existing assets. Even if you’re not at the stage of making a list of specific names you’re interested in, you’ll need to be thinking about future projects and current sites now so you can decide on the rough approach you’ll take moving forward.
Redirects
The versatility of the new extensions being released means you can have more creative names for your projects, short URLs and so on. If you have any projects in subdomains or folders, it’s worth giving them their own domain name. This is especially true if you’ve held off until now because you can’t find a name or extension you like.
Brand protection
IIn many cases, domains you register to protect your brand or personal name will fall under the ‘Redirects’ umbrella too. However, with so many extensions becoming available it’s worth investigating which names you could redirect for now and potentially turn into a side project or different aspect of yourself/your company at a later stage (for example a blog, gallery or similar). A domain registered for a dual purpose or for carefully considered future use gives you even more for your money if you use it as a redirect in the meantime.
Experiments and investments
Buying domain names for experiments often requires a little investment in time and money, but can potentially prove lucrative and push you in the right direction for other names too. One of the as yet unknown factors is how the search engines will weight new TLDs in their rankings, and getting the right names at the right time could prove a good investment. Purchasing trademark-free domain names in new extensions in order to resell may also be fruitful if you choose carefully and aim to sell whilst interest peaks. Focus on generic terms and have a backup plan for how you can use them if you don’t end up selling them on. If there are any names you want to sell, don’t forget you can list them for free in our marketplace.
Offline branding
If you have a physical presence (premises, vehicle etc.) or even just printed collateral such as business cards or flyers, a short new URL redirecting to your existing site can help make you more memorable. There will be plenty of generic names available for the taking, so consider terms describing your industry and services in addition to registering names to cover your brand name.
Don’t forget we’ll be publishing plenty of blog posts in the run-up to the release of the new domain name extensions, so keep checking back to avoid missing out on the latest news and advice.
