According to statistics, the most expensive domain name ever sold in the entire domain name market is 872 million U.S. dollars, which translates to 6.1 billion yuan. This domain name is http://Cars.com. In October 2014, Gannett Group spent about 12.9 billion yuan to acquire the remaining 73% of the American car website http://Cars.com. According to documents from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the valuation of the "car" domain name http://Cars.com alone has reached approximately RMB 6.1 billion.
But this is not surprising to us in 2020. In the past, 360 spent 110 million to purchase http://360.com, later, JD 30 million to purchase http://jd.com, and Xiaomi to acquire http://mi.com for 22.43 million. But in fact, when you look up information about domain name purchases, you find that the registration fee is extremely low, ranging from 0 yuan to several hundred yuan. What kind of industry insider is hidden in this, today we will disclose the true value of domain names.
1. What is a domain name?
The domain name, to put it plainly, is the name of the website. In professional terms, the IP address recorded by the computer is translated into another language that is convenient for human recording. For example, the domain name of the Baidu homepage that we frequently visit is "www.baidu.com". The corresponding IP address is "119.75.217.109".
For netizens, a domain name is an address to visit a website. But for enterprises, this is the facade, and its status is equivalent to a trademark. Especially in the post-epidemic era when the demand for online business is increasing, the importance of domain names directly binds the importance of websites. This also explains why some companies spend a lot of money to buy domain names, just like buying trademarks at sky-high prices.
But why does domain name business occur? Let's talk about the uniqueness and rarity of domain names. Any domain name is unique in the world. According to the rules of domain name combination, the unity of constituent elements and the non-arbitrary combination of domain names, its number is limited. More and more people choose crazy registration of domain names, just like crazy registration of trademarks.
At the same time, it is also because the registration fee of the domain name itself is generally between 0 yuan and 100 yuan, and the unit price is cheap, so many people have the opportunity to register crazy. I even hope to achieve financial freedom and get rich overnight. Of course, Cai Wensheng, the first chairman of Meitu Xiuxiu, obtained the first pot of gold for entrepreneurship through domain name investment, http://qiyi.com (爱奇艺), Domain names such as http://tudou.com (Tudou) and http://baofeng.com (暴风影音) are all resold by him.
The domain name registration is managed by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). At the same time, ICANN is also a non-profit organization, and registrants only need to pay a small annual management fee. The domain name registrations on the market, such as Alibaba Cloud and Wanwang, are actually domain name agents.
The difference in domain name registration fees is mainly determined by the suffix, which is the domain, such as .net, .com, and .cn. And .com is currently the most popular universal domain name format in the world, with more than 101.5 million users worldwide. Generally, international companies prefer to register .com domain names, such as Alibaba Cloud's website https://ac.aliyun.com.
Different domain name suffixes also have different meanings. The following are examples of company, individual, special, and domestic domain name classifications.
01. Company category
.com: Commercial organizations, mainly used for companies, if you find that this domain name is vacant during registration, your first choice.
.Biz: Business abbreviation, more popular, no .com looks formal, but it can also replace .com
.cc: The abbreviation of Commercial company. It is a new top-level domain name.
02. Individual
.name: Personal domain name, numbers cannot be used.
.pro: lawyers and other professional professionals.
03. Any person, organization
.Net: Internet site related, focusing on network service providers. It is currently open to everyone.
.org: Other organizations, non-profit organizations, are currently open to everyone.
.top: top, high-end, suitable for any individual business company
04. Domestic domain name
.cn: China's top-level domain name, companies can also choose com.cn.
We can simply know the meaning of most domains, which are actually abbreviations in English. But at the same time it will limit the choices of companies, individuals, and organizations. Usually for companies, .com, .cn, http://com.cn are all acceptable, which means that when you register a domain name, you still have to register a complete set.
Second, the importance of domain names
Why do you want to register a whole set? Prevent vicious competition. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, the most important thing is to prevent the registered domain name from being fraudulently used by competitors. For example, if you use the company's Jianpin to register .com, but at this time, if your competitor intends to attack you, you will choose to register.cn and com.cn, and change the search weight of the website through advertising fees, which means you Competitors will introduce your users into their own field. Therefore, choosing a good domain name and general registration is also a necessary behavior for an enterprise.
When it comes to search, it is mainly determined by the domain name. Earlier, we introduced that a domain name is a website that users visit. For example, Taobao’s domain name is www.taobao.com, which is very convenient for users to remember and machine recognition. It can even increase the optimization rate by more than 20%, saving search engine costs. It is easier for users to search, and they can get a higher and more accurate access rate, which will directly increase the business sales probability of the enterprise.
At the same time, it is especially important for attracting potential users. Imagine if you hear Jingdong shopping for the first time, and then enter Jingdong in the search engine, the machine will default to you looking for Jingdong or jd, and if the search is blocked, for new users In terms of why you have to persevere to find your website to buy things, it is better to forget Taobao. This is why JD’s initial domain name 360buy to jd, the effect is self-evident.
The above is for relatively formed companies. For start-up companies, are domain names and websites necessary? It is necessary. How to distinguish your products or services from competitors? Having a domain name and website is the best brand to show to your customers.
As an intangible asset, a domain name often has a huge tangible impact. To put it nicely, the company must have brand awareness in its operation, and the direct point is to prevent vicious competition. Especially in the Internet era, if domain names can reflect offline brands and connect online and offline, it will effectively enhance the sales capabilities of enterprises. In the era of the epidemic, I don’t need to say how important online is.
3. How to start a good domain name?
First of all, back to the original intention of setting up a domain name and the appeal of building a website. It must be for corporate search, online transactions, and marketing services, so it is a good domain name for users to remember, short and concise. From this latitude, the domain name jd is good.
Secondly, it is in line with the habits of netizens, which is related to what we call the suffix (domain), and it is best to use common ones such as .com. You can also use some unknown ones. Because of the limitation of domain names, more than 400 top-level domains were subsequently opened, including: .club (club), .city (city), .berlin (Berlin), .nyc ( New York) and other very individual suffixes.
But it may also cause credibility issues. Most netizens still don't understand the meaning of the suffix. People who are familiar will have a higher degree of trust, and strangers will be suspicious, which is also human nature. This is why many companies desperately want to have a .com. But again, in order to prevent vicious competition, it is better to register the suffix once.
Secondly, from a brand perspective, it must have meaning. The simplest and most convenient is Chinese Pinyin, such as taobao (淘宝). What are the ways that Chinese Pinyin can take a domain name? For example, company name: Alibaba (alibaba), brand name: Taobao (taobao), product name: Aliyun (aliyun).
A more prudent approach is to set the path names. For example, take the product, Alibaba Cloud Cloud Enterprise, which specializes in serving small and medium-sized enterprises. When naming its own path, it highlights the product name "Cloud Enterprise" in a series of path names on the website. https://ac.aliyun.com/application/webdesign/yunqi So whether it is the domain name or the path of a large enterprise, every detail of the online is carefully done. It is recommended that entrepreneurs can also study these, and finally communicate with technology or website service providers in a knowledgeable attitude to avoid being trapped.
Fourth, the rules of domain names
The main rule of a domain name is that it can only contain 26 English letters, (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) ten numbers and'-' (hyphen in English). In addition, the domain name does not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters of English letters, so input like JD and Jd are all possible. However, there are great restrictions on the length of a domain name, such as cn, a Chinese exclusive domain, which must not exceed 20 characters.
In addition, there are special restrictions, such as national, government, or public-known regional names, foreign geographical names, and international organizations cannot be used. For example, words such as the United Nations and China require the approval of relevant state departments. Those that harm the public interest cannot be used.
After naming it, check whether the domain name has been registered. Western Digital provides such query services, but there may be a fee for different suffix queries. Or buying a domain name from Alibaba Cloud is also very good. You can directly help confirm whether it has been registered, and provide more suggestions on branding, as well as consultation on intellectual property rights.
Of course, there are still a lot of domestic domain name agents. The reason I did not recommend is that the main purpose of buying a domain name is to build a website. Of course, it is not aimed at people who do domain name business. This is directly related to the subsequent domain name registration and the smoothness of domain name resolution.
Judging from my experience with other products, it’s hard to say, and I’m afraid it’s considered malicious slander. So there is no comparison, but if you have tried template building, you will know how troublesome this process is. Last month, I also bought a template and played with it, but it was still too troublesome and it was all gone.
This is why I think cloud enterprises are great when recommending the company's products. You can buy a cloud enterprise after purchasing a domain name on Alibaba Cloud, which supports one-click resolution of the domain name and filing. Just mention the basic requirements, and you can wait for the website to go live. Spend a few thousand dollars, it feels good that there is nothing to worry about.
Of course, the biggest problem behind domain names is security, attacks and theft. The directly related issue is the security of the server. Generally, Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Baidu Cloud, and Tencent Cloud all provide servers. As for which one to choose, you still have to choose the one with strong technical foundation. You can consult a third-party technology leader in this regard, and you will find that Alibaba Cloud's technology is the strongest.
5. How to protect the rights of a domain name that has been registered?
In fact, behind the sky-high-priced domain names we mentioned earlier are domain investment operations. Does this kind of transaction not violate the regulations at all? We are not going to characterize market behavior. However, it is possible to apply for arbitration or even appeal to relevant agencies for the case of malicious cybersquatting.
For example, on December 1, 2015, Tencent filed a complaint with the Hong Kong Secretariat of the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center regarding the domain name "weixin.com" held by individuals. The Arbitration Center made a ruling after hearing the case and transferred the domain name to Tencent.
Currently, there are two main channels for rights protection. One is to lodge a complaint with a domain name dispute resolution agency. For the ".com" top-level domain name, the Beijing or Hong Kong Secretariat of the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center, the Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, wipo and other institutions can accept domain name disputes. They will )'S "Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy" makes a ruling on whether to register and use domain names maliciously.
The second is that “malicious cybersquatting of domain names constitutes unfair competition” to the judicial department for litigation. The Supreme People’s Court will, in accordance with Article 4 of the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Civil Disputes Involving Computer Network Domain Names," stipulates: "The following four requirements shall be met to determine that the defendant’s registration and use of domain names constitute unfair competition: The civil rights and interests requested for protection are legal and valid; (2) The disputed domain name or its main part constitutes a copy, imitation, translation of the plaintiff’s well-known trademark, or is identical or similar to the plaintiff’s registered trademark, domain name, etc., enough to cause misunderstanding by the relevant public; 3. The defendant has no rights and interests in the disputed domain name or its main parts, and has no legitimate reason to register or use the domain name; (4) The defendant has malicious intent in the registration and use of the disputed domain name."
Therefore, the focus of this lawsuit is to prove whether it was maliciously registered. There is the possibility of unfair competition in the sale of domain names, so if you find that you have been registered when registering a domain name, you must first consult with a lawyer whether it violates the relevant laws and the possibility of winning the case before deciding whether to acquire it.
In addition, when acquiring domain names, I suggest that you can use Alibaba Cloud's domain name trading platform to ensure that there is no risk that the domain name is given money but not transferred to the buyer. In this regard, you can refer to the purchase and after-sales process of the Ali system. I think anyone who has used Tmall knows the security of this transaction.
The most important thing is that the price is reasonable, and there is no sky-high price. At the same time, I won't continue to sell melons and boast, and that's all about domain names today. If you have other consultation needs, you can also send me a private message.
The picture comes from the Internet, and the infringement is deleted