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Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson. |
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.US
Finally Getting Big Promotional Push From the
American ccTLD's Registry - Neustar
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Though
I registered
my
first domain name in 1997 (MusicParadise.com, to
serve as the online home for a brick and mortar
record store I owned at the time), I didn't
discover the domain business until 2002 when an
ad in PC World magazine for .US
caught my eye. In the spring of that year the American
ccTLD, previously reserved primarily for
government use, was opened to all American
citizens as well as businesses with a
presence in the U.S.
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Neustar,
the .US registry, placed the ad to
spread the word and they undoubtedly got
a great return on their advertising
investment. I know because I've single
handedly spent tens of thousands of
dollars on .US domains since seeing that
one ad, a promotion that
piqued |
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my
interest in domains as assets you could
buy and sell as well as build websites
on. I started researching the field
after seeing the ad and have been in the
domain business ever since. |
Unfortunately,
though I know Neustar made enough money off me alone
to pay for the cost of that ad, I don't recall
seeing another ad or promotion for the extension
since 2002! The lack of promotion has been
a sore point with many .US investor/developers
who felt the registry's apathy had left a potentially
great TLD to die on the vine. At long last, the
10-year drought finally ended this past week
when the registry rolled
out an extensive promotional
campaign aimed at the extension's
natural constituency - American small
businesses.
Neustar
set up a new website at the aptly named About.us
to explain the benefits
of using a .US address. There is also a Who's
On .US section showing other
businesses that already successfully operate
from the American ccTLD and a Tool
Kit for jump starting website
development on newly registered .US
domains.
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There
is a new slogan - Start With .US - and a
new contest - The Small Business Dream Big
Contest - detailed on a special Kickstart
America page at About.us. Two winners
will receive an all expenses paid trip to Washington,
D.C. May 20-24 where they will be guests at
the National
Small Business Week Conference.
They
will also get free professional consulting, a
complete website design
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and
marketing plan from a top ad agency and a local
online advertising campaign tailored to the
business (Neustar says the total value of the
prize package comes to $12,000).
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The
contest,
which is open now, ends on May 11, 2012.
To win entrants need to submit a video (it can
be recorded on a device as simple as smartphone)
telling judges about their business and how they
would use a .US website. More tips for making
the video are on the contest page.
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While the
promotional effort has been a long time
coming, it looks to me to be a comprehensive,
well thought out program. With the
new About.US website in place, the
registry now has an attractive and
informative destination to drive
potential customers to (especially over
the next month when the contest will
give them an attractive lure).
They will
now need to support that asset
with marketing money and muscle to get
the word out. They can take my word for
it - advertising works (and I
have about 3,000 .US domains to prove
it!)
I've always
thought the extension was a
no-brainer |
Screenshot
from About.us |
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that just
needed some careful cultivation to get
it in front of the right audience
- small to medium sized businesses (SMBs).
That is who I have always marketed my
.US domains to and I have managed to do
that profitably over the years,
averaging several sales to SMB end users
every month. |
My
only disappointment with .US has been a belief
(that I still hold) that the extension could and
should be utilized much more widely than it has
been in its first decade as a publicly available
ccTLD. So, I am delighted to see Neustar making
an effort to boost .US recognition. I also think
it will benefit them in other ways
beyond helping .US grow. They are competing with
others to provide registry services for new
gTLD operators and with those flood gates
opening soon being able to show those potential
clients that they are capable of promoting an
extension (as well as providing rock solid back
end operations) will give them a leg up in that
battle.
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(Posted April
16, 2012)
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