The .online new generic Top Level Domain celebrated its first birthday with over 350,000 registrations, a record breaking 38,000 of these coming at its launch.
Amidst adoption by reputed brands like The Next Web (which used tnw.online for live streaming its 2016 annual conference), .online earned repute as the most well-known new domain extension in Europe.
A recent research conducted by Radix, the registry behind .online, revealed the potential of the extension as a great online marketing tool as suggested by marketing agencies across the globe. High recall value, instant customer connect and the availability of a smart and innovative URL were cited as the primary reasons that make .online a highly valuable domain extension.
The founder of Differentiate Online, a 360 degree digital marketing firm, Tito Philips said, “As soon as we knew that .online is coming to the market we made sure we got the name in the Early Access Period before it was available to the general public. The domain we secured [differentiate.online] is extremely memorable and rings a bell in the customer’s mind. It made a lot of sense for us to get a .online strategically because it’s in line with our digital marketing.”
The adoption of the .online extension by digital marketing companies has helped debunk the myth of new domain extensions affecting SEO negatively. Co-founder of Louder Online, an enterprise-level digital marketing and SEO firm, Aaron Agius a true digital marketing expert, spoke about the shift from louderonline.com.au to louder.online. Aaron said, “Being a global company, it has definitely made sense to move to a .online domain extension especially in terms of branding for an online marketing company.”
We spoke to Lottie Kirby the Marketing Manager, of Echo – an online lifestyle technology brand, which was previously on byecho.com. “Previously, there was a lot of confusion amongst customers as to what our domain actually was, buyecho or byecho as one word; no-one really knew. .online was the solution. It’s clear and simple, preventing confusion for customers and looks so much more aesthetically pleasing,” said Lottie.