Large Corporations generally do not own generic domain names. They have their brands and their product names but they do not own the category name. This is a short list of the corporations that own single word domain names. We make an exception for two word category names that describe things very specifically, like Cream Cheese or Student Loan. If a company wants to sell Toothpaste they should own Toothpaste.com.
I ask you, how many time a month you promoting this brand name around the word using magazine, newspaper, television and internet advertising ? And how much money you spend for advertising your brand ?
If you do any advertising in magazines or newspapers, you want a domain name that will catch the readers' eye. Also, think about what you pay for one month's print ad. Spend that amount to buy a good domain.
Today's domain boom is being fueled primarily by the advertising dollars spent on traffic provided by domain owners. A July report from JupiterResearch predicted that online ad spending will soar to $25.9 billion by 2011.
Approximately $12 billion was spent online last year according to figures from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
The report predicts continued gains for search marketing which surpassed display advertising last year with 41% of overall spending (display ads took 34% of the pie). JupiterResearch predicts online ad spending will jump 21% this year.
Others expect an even higher growth rate for 2006. Universal McCann forecasts a 25% rise while research firm eMarketer says the number will be over 33%.
CNET has used this secret to become a huge company, they now dominate online with sites like News.com and Search.com. Some of CNET products may be 2nd or third class but that generic domain names gives them a lot of creditability. Search.com is crap, but people still type it in and use it. Weather.com is used so much because of its name and how easy it is to remember. It may not be the best weather service but it is the most used.
We are only listing Huge corporations, for example PeanutButter.com is on the list but Jelly.com is not. Some small companies in the future will be bought for one thing. Not there products or clients but their domain name. The small specialty foods company that owns Jelly.com will eventually be owned by a multiple national and at that point it will make the list.
The way Microsoft got Live.com was because they bought the entire company, all they wanted was the domain. If you want something, just type dotcom on the end of it. Have you counted how many times a day you hear dotcom. This morning on the way to work I counted 7 of them in 20 minutes. I saw 4 of them driving past things. You don't even need to market a great generic domain name, people just type them in because dotcom is advertised so strongly.
Advertising based on the number of impressions displayed and not on actual clicks received -- flat rate or by productivity -- is the MAIN reason that so many lose money on the Internet. Mainstream advertising rates are based on magazine or broadcast price guidelines. They apply the same formula to the Net. The formula is flawed and doesn't work in this medium. The proof is in the results. Why pay for 100,000 impressions if NOBODY clicks to go to your site? Wouldn't you rather have 25 live targeted clicks? Doesn't that represent more value?
If you purchase 100,000 impressions for $5,000 it means NOTHING! It's the same as loading up a bus with 50 people, and driving by a casino without stopping, and repeating the process until 100,000 people have passed the casino. Then, you give the bus driver $5,000 for the ride. You still have nothing, and you've just WASTED $5000. You might as well collect the $5,000 from every business you pass on the trip. They would all get the same value. ZERO! The bus driver makes millions!
Compare that with a bus driver STOPPING at your casino and unloading those 50 passengers at the front of door and holding the door open so that people can enter. Those 50 visitors are already more valuable than the 100,000! If you had to pay $10 each, you would still have $4,500 left to bring in more. So, even if I charged $10 a click thru, that $500 is a BARGAIN compared to spending $5,000 for nothing!!
When a Web based business invests $5,000 and receives no benefit, it's not likely that they'll try it again. But if they spend $50 and get results, they will want more and they will invest more. It becomes a win/win situation as opposed to a win/lose situation. The most impactful day on the Internet will be when the buyers of impression based advertising wake up and realize that their Web based businesses really can be profitable, but their profits are being eaten up by this obscene way to advertise. This is not rocket science, it's just simple common sense.