Mike Berkens shared a link to a CNBC article on Twitter about a company called Blockchain that just raised $40 million in funding. I think the article is a good illustration about why it is important for a business that uses a descriptive brand name to operate on the exact match .com domain name.
Bitcoin wallet start-up Blockchain raises $40 million from Google & Branson #blockchain #bitcoin #cryptocurrency https://t.co/U1k8Vm1p4a
— The Domains (@thedomains) June 22, 2017
While reading the article on my iPhone, I noticed that there was no url for the startup referenced or embedded. I know the company is called Blockchain, and I also know they are in the blockchain / cryptocurrency business. There are quite a few companies with Blockchain in their branding.
I (correctly) assumed the company operates on Blockchain.com, so I was easily able to navigate to the website to learn more about them. This is the positive aspect of a dictionary .com domain name. People like myself assume a business operates on the exact match .com domain name – in this case, the high value Blockchain.com. Had I been incorrect, I may have ended up on the website of a totally different company, perhaps even a competitor.
If the company had gotten cute (and cheap) about their domain name, it would have been more difficult for me to find them. Since the company is called the same thing as their business, a Google search for “blockchain” would not have been all that helpful. I would have encountered quite a few other companies that are in this business, have “Blockchain” in their meta titles, or shared the same brand name. This may have led me to a competitor. This doesn’t even take the lack of authority or professionalism that I may have felt had they not operated on their exact match .com.
There are plenty of examples of when using an alternative domain name is fine. In this case, the CNBC article hit the nail on the head for why a company with a generic brand name needs to own its exact match .com domain name.
Is “Blockchain” is a dictionary term? If not it not officially in the dictionary it will be one day. 🙂
Article from 5 years ago.
$1,000 bounty for Blockchain.COM (not .info) (Updated to $1,500) owners info
I will pay $1,000 USD worth of Bitcoins for the domain blockchain.com (not .info)
The domain registration is private and the owner of the contact email doesn’t reply.
If you are the owner, or can contact the owner please PM me.
—————–Sept-7-2012 Update————————-
I will pay $500 USD worth of bitcoin for a simple, verifiable, introduction to the owner of blockchain.com even if he doesn’t sell me the domain name.
start your detective work!
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=105601.0;topicseen
I wonder how much they paid for it.
Great find Todd – $500 in bitcoin then would be worth $100,000 + today – just for an intro….
Assuming that person kept the BTC for 5 years.
Blockchain.com is also in essence Blockchain.info (check out the wallet link for instance).
And try logging into your Blockchain.info wallet using Firefox. I dare you. 😉