Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 26th June 2008
New “internet revolution” to hit agents’ pockets
The web could see its biggest-ever shake-up if a proposal is passed today to open up the internet address system. Although it presents some interesting opportunities, the result is likely to be higher costs with little benefit for the vast majority of overseas agents.
Senior members of
ICANN, the body which regulates global internet addresses, are meeting today to discuss whether to relax rules on top level domain (TLD) names, like .com, .co.uk and .es. If the plan goes ahead then individuals and organisations will be able to set up their own domain extensions for example .Property or .Spain.
Dr Paul Twomey, chief executive of ICANN
says: “The proposals would result in the biggest change to the way the internet works in decades.”
Competitive threats
The main worry for agents and developers will be potential competitors buying domain names with the aim of siphoning off traffic and sales leads. Currently, there are a
finite number of domain extensions you need to buy to prevent others from owning a domain containing your brand name. The new ruling is a potential “can of worms” and threatens to raise costs and the potential for legal disputes.
The exact number of potential domain extensions will be limited by price (ICANN plan to charge anywhere from $39,000 to $390,000 for the rights to operate a new TLD) and by an as yet undefined approval process.
It’s likely
domain registrars will apply for the rights to operate new TLD’s based on their commercial potential. With so many agents competing for rankings on Google, it’s not difficult to see the business case for creating a .Property domain extension. A good strategy for registrars would be to auction off valuable town names locally to the highest bidder.
Manipulating Google
Domain names matter. Having keywords in your name helps you get keyword-rich links which benefits your search engine optimisation efforts. If you have an exact domain name like PropertyinSpain.net you can
rank highly for this lucrative term with relatively few
links.
The new ruling potentially increases the number of keyword-rich domain names you can use to help with your SEO efforts. In theory, you could buy domains like Overseas.Property, Property.Spain and Property.Cyprus which are not only good from a keyword perspective but are also short and memorable, so could be used to build a long-term estate agency brand. This could present a significant marketing opportunity for those quick off the mark.
Which domains to buy?
The ICANN proposal will not change the fact that the best domain names to purchase are still .com and country level TLD’s like .co.uk.
.com is usually the first domain a consumer will think of when looking for a company website. This means it gets greater type-in traffic. It’s also the most authoritative global domain which often encourages more in-bound links too. The best .com domain names will continue to be sold for
millions.
Country-level TLD’s like .co.uk are also valuable and are often a better choice when targeting a specific country niche. If most of your buyers are UK based, then using a .co.uk domain is worth considering as it gives you a significant relevancy boost on Google.co.uk, for example.
ICANN money-making scheme
Although ICANN say the new proposal “will allow groups, communities and businesses to express their identities online”, it’s difficult not to see the proposal as a cynical money-making exercise. There are already millions of domain names on the internet, like .info extensions, that nobody wants. It will create opportunities for some innovative agents who are quick to react and willing to pay extra for a few potentially valuable extensions like .property. However, for the majority it will simply mean giving extra cash to ICANN and their domain registrars for very little extra benefit.
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