Dotcom domain names aren’t likely to be upset by their dotorg or dotnet rivals, but that’s not always the case, as can be seen by companies with creative marketing, good development and a great product. PokerCompany.com which deals in online gaming marketing, doesn’t own a portfolio of .com domains, but instead operates a number of gambling domain names and websites in alternate extensions that include popular gaming terms BlackJack.org, RakeBack.org and Craps.net.
It appears that fans of dotorg and other toplevel domains are taking the news of the sale as signs that their investments might be worth holding onto for a bigger, better offer, counting on the increased publicity of big TLD sales. While these types of sales are far and few between in the world dominated by demand for .com, with less unused inventory available, this trend could see an uptick as the internet moves into a new decade flooded by a number of companies seeking to secure their own corner of space on the internet with top level domains like .xxx.
Could it really happen?
But even with a million dollars spent on a name and a network of gaming sites with thousands of monthly visitors to benefit from, can PokerCompany’s investment in Poker.org really compete in a dotcom world?
At a glance, it looks like PokerCompany.com might be onto something, though its a low sample, it may show promise. In February 2010, BlackJack.com and BlackJack.org were neck to neck in a race for visitors with the difference in traffic to each site less than 75 visitors. And not only they were neck to neck in traffic, they are racing for the top spot in the search engines with the sites right on top of one another on Google Page 1.
Then there’s craps.net, another web site operated by PokerCompany. In February, Craps.net blew past its .com competition at Craps.com with more almost 4,000 visitors more than Craps.com, even though Craps.com ranks higher in the search engines.
Rivalry among the top level domains
With the purchase of Poker.org by PokerCompany for a cool $1,000,000, we might see some rivalry. As it stands today, Poker.com receives a relatively low amount of monthly visitors, about 32,000. Poker.org which hasn’t even been launched to the public yet, saw its traffic jump in February to over 4,000 visitors boosted by the news of the blockbuster sale which was covered all over the mainstream news including the Washington Post – a feat that doesn’t occur too often within the domain industry even with other seven-figure sales that mostly go unreported except by the domain blogs.
It’s always easier for a dotcom to become more popular, but regardless, companies that invest the amount of money PokerCompany.com has in domain names, reaffirmed their belief in alternate extensions with the $1,000,000 purchase of Poker.org earlier this year.
Details have not been unveiled for Poker.org, the newest project for PokerCompany.com. But expect much of the same, a website that drives poker customers to poker sites through affiliate deals.
