Ctrl+F5, Banglore 2017: Crystal Peterson

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My name is Crystal Peterson and I am the Director of Registry Services for Neustar. I have a 10+ year history working in the domain name industry. I began with the launch of .mobi (back in 2006) and now work for a Registry Operator for .biz, .CO, .US, .au and also provide services for over 300 new domain name extensions. I’m excited to be here today to share a little bit about the evolution of naming and domain names. I want to share
A Brief History of Domain Names
How we have been trapped in a ‘brand mindset’ or the ‘dot-com’ world
Using Domain Names as channels
And ultimately realize that domain names (and having multiple domain names are not a fad that will disappear)

Our trust has been earned through a proven legacy of managing complex, authoritative datasets:

Neustar provides instantaneous answers to more than 27 billion queries per day from the Internet and answers over 300 thousand questions every second.
Every day, Neustar manages almost 7 billion physical and virtual addresses.
In the US, Neustar also enables 6 billion daily text messages
Manages 5.9 million domain names.
Resolves over 18 billion DNS queries
Enables 4 billion phone calls daily.
Generates geo-location data for nearly 3 billion IP addresses
Enables 3 billion daily internet location searches
Across the world, answers 2.1 billion daily customer client queries every day.

Neustar serves more than 14,000 customers around
the world.

Enough about me! I want to walk us down memory lane.

I want to look at a brief history of Domain Names and how they have evolved over the past 30 years to be where we are today. What’s interesting is that the greatest changes have only started happening in the past 3-4 years even though there have been movements to facilitate the recent changes for longer

Of course, there is history before the first domain names were sold in 1985 like the creation of networks (or the “internet’) to pass digital information, the creation of IANA and the TCP/IP networks onto the Domain Name System to get us to where we are today. But I’d like to fast forward through that period and go to March 1985

On March 15, 1985, Symbolics Inc., a computer manufacturer in Massachusetts, registered the domain name Symbolics.com, making it the first appropriately registered .com domain in the world for FREE.

Symbolics.com remained under the same ownership until 25 years later, in 2009, when it was purchased for an undisclosed sum by XF.com Investments. As it stands today, Symbolics.com is a strange hybrid: part-online museum, part-advertising space. I encourage you to check it out, there are some great factoids about the Internet there.

By the way the first .org domain was registered in July 1985 (mitre.org) and the first .net was registered in 1985 too (nordu.net).

Before 1995, anyone who wanted a domain name could register it free of charge.

That all changed when the National Science Foundation awarded tech consulting company Network Solutions the ability to charge for registration.

Domain prices began at $100 for a two-year registration. Today, prices range from an average of $5 to $10,000 or more for “standard registrations” and “standard premium” options.

In 1998, the Department of Commerce, under President Clinton's urging, issued a proposal for privatizing the Domain Naming System (DNS), which was then controlled by the U.S. government. The document — known as the "Green Paper" — was created with the goal to both increase competition in the market and encourage more participation internationally.

Public criticism of the proposal led to the creation of the "White Paper," which addressed many concerns with the original document and led to the formation of ICANN.

2001: ICANN approved to help increase competition in the domain name space and .biz, .info and .name among others are launched as new gTLDs (generic top level domains) – other gTLDs will launch in the near future like .travel, .jobs, .aero and .mobi

2007 – the most expensive domain name sale to date. The most expensive domain ever sold was VacationRentals.com, which was scooped up for the low, low price of $35 million.

What's more interesting is that its buyer, Ben Sharples, purchased the site primarily to keep it out of the hands of its competitor, Expedia. Another high-end domain sale occurred when ownership of the sex.com domain was sold for a whopping $13 million in 2010.

In December 2013, WhoAPI, a domain data analysis startup, revealed that every possible combination of four-letter .com domain names had been registered. From AAAA.com to ZZZZ.com, all 456,976 combinations have been exhausted. The three-character .com domains have been registered since 1997. In fact, there are certain four-character domains remain available. All four-letter combinations have been registered.

Also, In a study done by .CO in 2013, 57% of SME’s said that finding a good domain name was just as difficult as naming their baby! Oftentimes they feel they’ve had to settle for a sub-par domain name, and have lost customers and business as a result. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

There are many brands that have been construed as the noun or generic term.

Kleenex (facial tissue)
Band-Aid (adhesive bandage

Bubble wrap (sealed air packaging)
Seeing Eye Dog (guide dog)

How many times have you heard customers saying – “I need a “dot-com”. What we want to really help them understand is that they need a “website” or “online presence” not necessarily an actual dot-come domain name

.com may be where computers began and we are very thankful, but dot-com is not going to be the only place where websites live. It’s A place, not the ONLY place

Slash was really cool – in the 1980’s (back when domain names were new!). The same for how we created website hierarchy. Using the slash was really cool too.

Where customers used to have 1 website name with many slashes to create channels, in the world today with so many options it’s like being able to generate channels to have content found online

Do – we say “Dash the Slash!”

YourBusiness.ru (main site)
YourBusiness.com (unavailable parked domain)
YourBusiness.co (global site that leads to international market options)
YourBusiness.de (German market site)
YourBusiness.us (US market site)
YourBusiness.co.uk (UK market site)
Marketing Channels
YourBusiness.tube (video and steaming content)
YourBusiness.club (frequent user deals and upcoming sales)
YourBusiness.org (Non-profit giving channel)
YourBusiness.blog (Blog content)
YB.media (Social media hub for content and community news)

Are there issues? With any new thing, there are some issues to still sort out.
How to you keep up to date?
Universal Acceptance (uasg.tech)
Domain Name Association
ICANN

Can your customers be found with something other than dot-com? YES!

With over 85% of consumer traffic going through search, we know it’s key for small business owners to get ranked on Google and the Search Engines. But it’s not about having the BEST dot-com to get ranked. It’s about creating a good SEM and SEO strategy to help your customers get found on a good domain name (whether that’s a dot-com or a non dot-com)

Getting ranked to generate customers is about good content, not having a “dot-com” domain. If you absolutely want a dot-com, that’s great. But if not, there are many options including tried and true “older domains” like .biz, .CO, .me that have available global and local options for websites

You want to capture the essence of your brand and get the attention of your customers, simple right? The eternal search for a good business name…that’s also an available domain name

Remember Laser Disks or Eight-Track Tape cassettes?

With only a 30 year history, domain names are still young and growing

The namespace is evolving and we have to help our customers adapt and adapt business practices

over 40% of the world has internet connections today vs. 1% of the world in 1995. the Internet and domain names are not a fad to go away soon.

It took 38 years to reach 50 million users for radio, but only 35 days for Angry Birds.

Facebook, and communities like it are great, but ultimately, everyone needs a place to call home. That home online starts with a Domain Name

Freedom of Choice campaign put together by Donuts which is one of the largest applicants for domain names in 2014.

Don’t stick your head in the sand and continue to let your customers think only ‘dot-com’.

Help them think and understand ‘domain names’ (including dot-coms)

Ctrl+F5, Banglore 2017: Crystal Peterson - The Evolution of Naming

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Ctrl+F5, Banglore 2017: Crystal Peterson - The Evolution of Naming