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August, 2020
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  • Why You Should Consider .SHOP

    August 25, 2020

    Fun, Industry Insight, New TLDs, Uncategorized

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    Views: 1382

    The .SHOP domain extension sells itself. There are currently 670,000+ .SHOP registrations worldwide, and more than 51,000 active online shops hosted on this top-level-domain (TLD). Recently, .SHOP saw a surge in registrations, as existing businesses moved online, and people started new ventures in a shifting COVID-19 economy.

    Here, we’ll take a look at how people are using .SHOP domains — including some COVID-19 success stories — and why .SHOP is a strong choice for resellers and website owners.

    Why use .SHOP for your online store name?

    .SHOP is one of those new domain extensions that just makes sense. It’s purpose and benefits seem clear. But it comes with a few upsides that aren’t immediately obvious:

    You’ll help your brand stand out in a cluttered ecommerce space. Building a brand in an online landscape that gets more competitive every day is challenging, and small efforts add up. Your .SHOP domain could catch a potential customer’s eye in the sea of .COM/CA/local-TLD search results. And it emphasizes that you sell what they’re looking for.

    Relatedly, you’ll be including an SEO keyword right in your URL.

    .SHOP is playful and still has a novelty factor that can make your website stand out in the minds of visitors. Your site might even be the first .SHOP they’ve stumbled upon!

      It’s short and easy to pronounce, which makes for a catchy, memorable website name. This is super important for word-of-mouth referrals and advertising.

    “Shop” is a word commonly understood by non-English speakers, which makes it an excellent choice for global companies.

     

    Why include .SHOP in your new domain extensions offering?

    When curating a TLD lineup, it’s important to be selective and choose options that will resonate with your customers. You’ve got an opportunity to surprise them with a .COM alternative they didn’t even know existed! .SHOP is a great TLD to offer because:

    In many cases, you’re enabling your customer to turn their brand into their URL — just think how many stores include “shop” in their name.

    .SHOP is competitively priced (and currently on sale!) as an affordable .COM alternative.

    It’s easy to market because its purpose is clear.

      There’s a huge potential market and room for growth as more businesses, entrepreneurs, and hobbyists hop online.

    It has global appeal and will perform well in different markets.

     

    How are .SHOP domain names being used for ecommerce?

    Between March and June of 2020, new .SHOP registrations with shopping carts more than doubled among Tucows domain registrants.

    Line graph showing a doubling in .SHOP domain registrations with a shopping cart between March and June 2020.

    Tucows’ new .SHOP registrations with a shopping cart (Q1 2019 – Q2 2020)

    But .SHOP has seen steady growth since its launch in 2016. It’s used by entrepreneurs, mom-and-pops, SMBs, and large corporations for a variety of ecommerce purposes.

    Serving local customers via online stores during COVID-19

    During these difficult times, many people are making an extra effort to support their community by shopping local. An online presence that lets customers purchase and order products from home is now a must-have for independent businesses who once relied on brick and mortar traffic.

    In the interest of supporting local, we wanted to highlight a couple Canadian small businesses that have built their online presence on a .SHOP domain:

    Vancouver-based mysistersclosetvancouver.shop is a social enterprise business that sells used clothes in support of Battered Women’s Support Services. They used their website to bring their offline inventory online and to safely accept used clothing donations during the COVID crisis.

    Also in response to COVID, Kitchener-based baker, Chantelle Villeneuve. moved her business online with bonapatreat.shop to allow for delivery, pickup, and online sales. She’s since reopened the physical shop, but continues to serve customers with her new online presence.

    Separating your ecommerce function from your corporate website

    Businesses with established company websites are choosing .SHOP domains as a dedicated space for online sales while continuing to use their existing domain for corporate or product information.

    Take for example, Arrowine, a Virginian wine retailer that has long promoted their brick and mortar store using arrowine.com. When COVID-19 hit, they registered arrowine.shop for online ordering, with contactless pick-up in the store’s parking lot.

    He may not have a “corporate” website, but Fritz Meinecke, a German youtuber with 941, 000 subscribers, launched his online merch shop using fritzmeinecke.shop — a move that speaks to the domain extension’s global appeal.

    Which leads us to our next point…

    Cross-border ecommerce

    Many businesses who start out operating locally will turn to a more global domain choice like .SHOP once they shift their focus to include other markets.

    Netherlands-based Superfood guru actually made the switch from .NL to .SHOP after their SEO agency advised them to use ‘.shop’ for their Dutch domain name and ‘.shop/en’ for the English one.

    Etsy, Amazon, and other marketplaces

    Businesses who sell products on platforms such as Etsy and Amazon are benefiting from using a crisp, clean .SHOP domain to point to their marketplace page. Once they set up their own online store, these .SHOP users can simply direct their domain to their new site. This ensures that they don’t lose customers when they make the switch.

    Services for ecommerce businesses

    Choosing a .SHOP domain is also a great way to signal to your audience that your product is targeted to ecommerce businesses. We have seen webshop builders, like obodo.shop, and other ecommerce services developed on .SHOP domain names.

    Presenting your customer with new domain extensions that make sense

    Website owners have a confounding number of domain extensions to choose from. If you can point them to a TLD that serves their brand and reflects their purpose or niche, it’s a win for both of you. This can take the form of great content that highlights TLDs specific to their industry, or a smart name search tool that will deliver fresh, marketable domain ideas.

    We think .SHOP is an intuitive fit for anyone looking to grow an online business. And pssst…if offering great prices on domains is your priority, check out our full TLD lineup or log in to view out our full list of domain extensions on sale.

     


    This post was sponsored by .SHOP.

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  • What Is a TLD?

    August 18, 2020

    Industry Insight, New TLDs

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    Views: 564

    search bar with "your domain name dot TLD" inside.

    A top-level domain (or TLD), refers to the letters to the right of the dot in a domain name. For example, our website, enom.com, uses a .COM TLD. Most of us are familiar with classic TLDs like .COM or .ORG, as well our native country-code TLD (.CA, .US, .UK, etc.). But there are actually over 1000 different TLDs, most of which are open to anyone for registration.

    If that piqued your curiosity, check out our TLD list. And if you’re on the hunt for a unique domain name for your new business or latest online project, we highly recommend checking out Hover’s curated TLD lineup.

    In this post, we’ll take a quick look at the different types of TLDs and how they work.

    What are the different types of TLDs?

    There are a couple of different ways people categorize TLDs, but they are most often broken down into three groups:

    Legacy or classic top-level domains (gTLDs)

    The “classic” or “legacy” TLDs have been around since the 1980s, and were created to serve a very specific purpose:

    .COM — Commercial
    .NET — Network technologies
    .ORG — Organization
    .EDU — Education
    .GOV — U.S. Government
    .MIL — U.S. Military
    .INT— Intergovernmental organizations

    Today, we’re used to seeing some of these extensions used for all sorts of websites. For example, you don’t have to be running a commercial enterprise to register a .COM domain. Others, however, like .GOV, are still very much restricted to certain purposes.

    These top-level domains are often referred to as “generic” TLDs, or gTLDs for short.

    Today, the operation of these TLDs is subject to the policies and regulations of an intergovernmental organization called ICANN (more on that below).

    Country-code TLDs (ccTLDs)

    As their name would imply, country-code TLDs are allocated to a nation or state—or, in the case of .EU, a group of states. Each ccTLD has its own policies based on local regulations. The result is that some ccTLDs—not all—can be more complicated to register than standard gTLDs.

    Some ccTLDs are restricted for use by residents, citizens, or companies with a presence in the region they represent, but many are open for registration globally.

    Fun fact: all two-letter top-level domains are country-code TLDs, even those that have been widely appropriated for a totally different purpose:

    • .CO, often used as a stand-in for .COM, is actually the ccTLD for Columbia.
    • .IO, popular among developers because it’s a shorthand for “input/output,” is, in fact, the ccTLD for the British Indian Ocean Territory.

    New gTLDs

    The first “new” top-level domains (including .INFO) were introduced in 2004, but the largest wave of launches began in 2013. Since then, they’ve continued to trickle in. Today there are more than 1000 “new” gTLDs. Like the legacy gTLDs, all new TLDs are 3+ characters in length, are regulated by ICANN (more on this below), and are not—unlike ccTLDs—representative of a specific nation or state. Hence, we can call this group new gTLDs.

    But unlike legacy gTLDs, the new gTLDs are a huge and widely-varying group, so it’s helpful to break them down further:

    Restricted new TLDs

    Some of the new gTLDs are reserved for a specific purpose: .LAW, for example, can only be registered by verified members of the legal community.

    Brand TLDs

    Companies can actually apply to use their corporate name as the TLD for their website. Real life examples include .BMW, operated by the German automotive company, and .BARCLAYS, operated by the British financial services and investment bank.

    GeoTLDs

    These TLDs indicate a specific geographical location, like .NYC, .LONDON, or .AMSTERDAM. They are distinct from ccTLDs in that they are more than two letters, and they are not officially allocated to a specific nation or state—they simply target a particular region. Some geoTLD registries do restrict registrations to local residents, but many do not.

    And the rest

    Most new TLDs are open to anyone and allow for some playful website names and smart branding. For example, if you’re selling a product or service online, you might opt for a .SHOP, .STORE, or .SHOPPING domain. If you’re an arts worker, top-level domains like .DESIGN, .ART, or .STUDIO might be of interest.

    There are a ton of options. And some of them are incredibly niche. There’s a .HORSE TLD!

    How Enom categorizes TLDs

    As you now know, many people classify TLDs based on how long they’ve been around (legacy vs. new TLDs), and whether they’re allocated to a specific nation or state or operated by an independent registry (ccTLDS vs. all others).

    At Enom, we like to classify them according to how a website owner is likely to evaluate them: based on their purpose. We place all TLDs into two distinct categories:

    GeoTLDs: chosen because they speak to a specific geographic market. In our eyes, this includes both ccTLDs like .CA and new TLDs like .BERLIN.

    Generic TLDs: chosen because they reflect the industry or purpose of the customer’s website (like .BLOG) or because they are truly generic (like .ONLINE).

    So who manages these various different top-level domains?

    All TLDs are operated by registries. In the case of ccTLDs, where the TLD is allocated to a particular nation or state, the registry is often some sort of government entity. And, quite often, the government entity will partner with an independent TLD registry who can supply them with the technical backend infrastructure, effectively operating the ccTLD on their behalf.

    For all other TLDs, the registry is a company. They might operate a single TLD, or they might operate 50+.

    Operating a generic TLD (gTLD)

    Any registry that operates a gTLD (any TLD that isn’t a two-letter country code) is regulated by an international non-profit called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

    ICANN does a lot. They develop policies “for coordination of some of the Internet’s core technical elements, including the domain-name system.” This includes:

      • reviewing applications to establish top-level-domains
      • coordinating discussions where potential new TLDs cause conflict
      • setting policies that dictate how domain registries must operate their TLDs
      • setting policies that govern how domain registrars (like Enom!) can offer services to domain owners (registrants).

    If you want to do a deep dive into this, check out our post on the registry > registrar > registrant hierarchy.

    Operating a ccTLD

    Country-code TLDs are a bit more complicated. Unlike generic TLDs, the only rules that the ccTLD registries need to follow are the ones they create for themselves.

    For example, all gTLD domain names are operated by accredited registries, but sold through accredited registrars. ICANN policy makes it so. But some ccTLD registries actually sell domain registrations directly to the public. No registrar needed. Learn more

    Want a creative TLD for your website or for your customers?

    Enom sells a huge selection of TLDs through a network of resellers that includes some big-name website builders and hosting companies. You can check out our TLD lineup or log in to view our TLDs that are on sale.

    If you’re looking for the perfect domain for your own website, we highly recommend our sister company, Hover. They’ve got a great selection of TLDs, a clean, user-friendly platform, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a friendlier support team.

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  • How to Win by Treating Your Customers as Members

    August 13, 2020

    Featured, Fun, Industry Insight

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    Views: 1578

    Guest author: Jeffrey Sass, CMO, .CLUB Domains


     

    There is a reason American Express made the phrase “Membership has its privileges” famous. The brand had the right idea to focus on the benefits of membership to attract and retain customers. We are tribal by nature. It is in our DNA to want to belong to a community — to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. It is why clubs of all kinds have been around for thousands of years. It is why we choose to live in neighborhoods, communities and cities.

    Being part of a community has never been easier or more powerful than it is today thanks to the Internet, and more specifically, thanks to the millions of websites on the so-called worldwide web. When you choose a domain name, hosting plan, and set up your own online presence, whether for business or personal use, you are joining one of the largest clubs ever – the club of website owners. And as a website owner, you are in a very unique and powerful position to attract visitors and customers, and create your own online community around your interests, your passions, your products, or services.

    There is a growing trend for eCommerce businesses to focus on memberships and subscriptions. According to a February 2018 report by McKinsey & Company, “The subscription e-commerce market has grown by more than 100 percent a year over the past five years. The largest such retailers generated more than $2.6 billion in sales in 2016, up from a mere $57 million in 2011.”

    And that trend continues. It makes perfect sense for eCommerce businesses and online sites of all types to treat their visitors and customers as members. Every eCommerce platform and most content-driven websites encourage visitors to establish an account and log in when they visit. If people are going to give you their name and email address, they are effectively joining your club. Your visitors and customers are members of your club, so treat them as such. Offer them the “privileges” that Amex espouses. Make them feel special for joining your community. There are a number of ways this can be done, and here are a few simple ones:

    • Share exclusive content that only members receive.
    • If you sell something, offer members special deals, and early access to new products or services. Occasionally include some added-value items in their orders for free as a member benefit.
    • Make sure your support team makes every interaction with a member memorable, putting the member’s needs first.
    • Encourage members to provide feedback and testimonials, and reward them for doing so — and LISTEN to them and let them know their feedback is appreciated.
    • Shine a light on your members in your Social Media marketing (as appropriate).

    In general, just imagine how you would want to be treated as a member of a club, and treat your visitors and customers the same way. Just as you enjoy feeling wanted and appreciated, so will your visitors and customers when they feel like they are a member of your “club.”

    And, if you are looking for a domain name that truly expresses the community of your website or business, a domain ending in .CLUB may be a great choice. You’d be joining the countless other creative businesses and individuals that have chosen .CLUB for their online home. Take for example, Firstleaf.club, a company that has built a large community around wine by offering a customized wine club experience.

     

    First Leaf Wine Club's website homepage.

    Unlike most wine clubs where every member is sent the same selection of wines, Firstleaf chooses your wines based on your personalized profile, and lets you rate the wines you receive. Then they customize future orders just for you, based on your likes and dislikes. As a result, Firstleaf has consistently been rated among the top wine clubs and has been featured in articles in Forbes, Huffington Post, Newsweek, Entertainment Tonight, NBC News, and many more. Clearly, the personalized treatment they give their members is leading to great success.

    Picture of the firstleaf.club homepage.

    So, as you think about growing your online community and retaining and re-engaging your customers, think about them as members of your club. You don’t have to be as big as American Express to show your customers and fans that, indeed, membership has its privileges.


     

    Is. CLUB a good fit for you or your customers?

    .CLUB has many uses outside of eCommerce, and its potential for subscription-based retailers is really intriguing. Plus, you can now get .CLUB on promotion for just $6. If you’re interested in exploring some other creative domain options, check Enom’s our full TLD lineup.

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FEATURED POSTS

  • How to Win by Treating Your Customers as Members

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