Anyname Domain Services

When the DNS (Domain Name System) was instigated not in anyone’s wildest dreams was the now everyday usage and general acceptance of domain names envisaged. In the short time of the internet, some 25years, domain names have become a critical part in business and personal life.

Imagine you are a new business wanting to set up a high street shopfront in an everyday busy town. The estate agent gives you a few options to look at. The first location is ideal, right on the main street, next to Woolworths and across from the major banks. Prime for attracting the type of customers you want. One problem, the lease is too long, and way over budget. Shame really. Another is in the local shopping arcade, nice location, but probably wouldn’t attract the customers you want, not for the budget anyway. The next one is round the corner, opposite the shoe shops and betting shops. Priced right, but, well is it really in the right area and next to the right shops? Would it give it the right presence? The last one is just not right, down the side street away from the main pedestrian areas, opposite the hairdressers & charity shops. It’s cheap, but needs a lot doing to it, and will need a lot of extra marketing to bring in the customers.

Finding the ‘goldilocks’ shop that is ‘just right’ is a challenge. The same for a domain name. The analogy of ‘In business your location is important, online your domain is your address’ also applies equally to personal and organisational enterprises.

This is how the internet works today. The adage ‘any name will do’ only works so far. Having a domain that both describes your business or personal enterprise, and is also catchy, brandable and recognisable is a tight balance. Finding that domain name, and finding the domain name which is both suitable, and available, is harder. Everyone wants ‘their’ domain name, but many have missed the boat. There can be only one ‘catchydomain.co.uk’.

But it’s not just the general public and small businesses that have caught on to the value of having that ‘great name’. As property investors and speculators took advantage of market forces in the early 90s to gather protfolios of property for investment, rent, lease or sale, so technically aware investors in the early years of this millennium have done the same with domain names. In the same way venture capital investors bought shares in companies in the 80′s to ride on the backs of free enterprise and global business expansion, now they are investing in the ‘next’ big commodity… domain names.

The turmoil of the dotcom boom is long forgotten. The infrastructure is now in place to support the internet evolution and revolution. The internet is an everyday global resource, embraced by business, governments and the general population equally.

This is the first article in the series “What’s in a name…”

What’s in a name…

• Domain names… just any name won’t do
• DNS & stuff – Domain names and how they work
• An ode to generic domains