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A
couple of new studies
are out with findings that should be of
interest to all domain investors. In one,
released today, Verisign
engaged Merrill Research to canvas more
than 1,000 businesses scattered around
the globe to see how they view the
importance of having their own website
vs. other popular marketing platforms like
social media.
The study
(.PDF file) found that 72% percent
of participants reported having a website
to represent their businesses as their
primary online presence. Social media,
which some predicted might one day make
domains irrelevant, was a distant
second at 13%. |
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65%
of small businesses with an online presence said
they elected to create a company website because
it makes their company look more credible,
and 60% said that a website is
critical for a small company’s success.
Overall, 82% of small businesses with an
online presence would recommend
investment in a website to other small companies
in their industry. A
few more interesting tidbits from the research:
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The
preferred domain extension for small business is
.com:
In the U.S., nine out of 10 (89%) of
small businesses with an online presence prefer
a .com domain name for their company website.
Globally, that number is 61% (ccTLDs
are commonly used in many other countries).
•
Small businesses have not
caught up with the mobile trend: Globally,
only 21% of small businesses with a
website have a mobile version of their website.•
•
Small businesses are missing
out on inexpensive opportunities to claim their
brand online: Overall, two-thirds of
respondents said their small businesses are
using a branded email address. Nine out
of ten (92%) of these small businesses
say they feel that branded email makes their
business look more credible, yet the 63% without
branded email (i.e., [email protected])
didn’t know it was an option for their company
even if they do not have a website.
The
latter point indicates there is still a lot
of room for growth in domain registrations,
whether it be for email addresses only, or for
fully developed websites. Clearly,
domains are not about to diminish in importance
any time soon. The report was accompanied by an infographic
that you can see here (also in .PDF
format).
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In
another study issued today, Sedo
unveiled some new research they did into
the prospects for new gTLDs. The
report, Advertising and Marketing Industry gTLD Awareness Report
(.PDF file), found overall awareness of
ICANN's new gTLD program is lacking
in the advertising and marketing industry,
but, conversely, the study indicated
new web addresses will ultimately be successful. |
More
than 360 individuals responsible for the
advertising or marketing programs at their
companies, or who work at advertising or
marketing firms, were surveyed in August 2013,
revealing that:
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54%
were unaware that new gTLDs will be
introduced this year.
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62%
felt that the introduction of these new web
addresses would make the internet more
confusing to navigate.
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Even
so, 64% believed that the use and
adoption of new gTLDs would be ultimately
successful, despite the initial
confusion they may cause.
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35%
said that the main advantage of new gTLDs
would be an increased ability to secure a
memorable website address, while 28%
said that they would be persuaded to
purchase one of these new web addresses for
this reason.
There
is much more information in the report including
how the respondent ranked the individual new
gTLDs chances for success. They
deemed .app the
most likely to be successful, followed by .inc
and .shop. You can read
the full report here.
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