Over a third (36%) website owners are willing to pay in excess of £5,000 for premium domain names, with over half of companies (58%) being potentially be interested in running their own domain name extension, according to new research.
Online domain marketplace and monetisation provider, Sedo conducted the survey at Internet World 2011, with the results highlighting that the domain name is now an integral part of a company’s brand and online presence.
The survey also reveals a significant increase in organisations investing in regional ccTLD ownership from last year, for example, the .fr ccTLD has experienced a 24% increase in sales, whilst .de is up 18% and .au up 12% since last year.
Surprisingly, it is the opposite case for .uk, which has experienced a 26% decline in sales over the same period.
The findings also reveal that .com remains the most popular domain extension overall with an overwhelming 88% of businesses owning their domain, and 69% using it as their primary domain.
However, despite the popularity of .com, over half of companies (58%) that responded said they would potentially be interested in running their own domain name extension, pointing towards the rising scale of many companies’ domain portfolios.
Hugo Dalrymple-Smith, Director of UK operations, Sedo, commented, “The research highlights the growing recognition of the importance of owning key domain names, amongst companies in the UK. This awareness is also extending beyond simply branded domain names and organisations are clearly willing to spend money on the right keyword domains for their business as well.”
Other findings revealed by the study:
– Less than a quarter (24.5%) of companies have put their domain name strategy in the hands of marketing
– Almost half of companies own keyword domain names
– Almost one in ten (9.7%) companies have had to change the name of the business or a product due to the domain name not being available
Source: www.Sedo.co.uk