Money Well Spent?

Posted on November 9, 2007
Filed Under Uncategorized | | Written by Gary Reid

ASAP Ventures have just paid Â£150,000 for recycle.co.uk. A .co.uk record, that’s for the amount not the dumbest purchase made.

The generic domain name argument is an old one, probably best argued by Al Ries in one of his immutable laws, by asking a simple question, which is the best know and most successful auction site - auction.com or ebay.com, book site - books.com or amazon.com

While some move from generic towards a brand (OpenBusinessClub to Xing) it still surprises that some move from a brand to generic.

There is no way any business on earth can own ‘recycle’ in a persons mind, it just doesn’t make sense. But, I was more dumbfounded by this

Nora Nanayakkara, UK operations director at Sedo, said… the benefits in owning a generic internet domain name which is easy for the customer to find and remember… as well as strengthening a company’s online brand

How does diluting your brand by making it more generic also strengthen it?

For me generic names have two purposes, one as a catch-all redirected to your brand site (diy.com to B&Q) I’m not sure what the stats are on this method but it may have a place, the second is if you have no idea what a brand is, don’t want to build one or don’t have the cash to build one, then generic may serve a purpose if it drives some natural traffic, which is doubtful. But it can’t replace a brand.