IE Domain Debacle Continues

This weekend's Computers In Business supplement carries the provocative headline: ".com Rules the World, So Why go for .ie?" It is a very good question to ask. Why would you choose an IE domain over a .com? The article provides the following list of Pros and Cons: Dot.ie

• Less spam
• Likely to be more active
• Greater confidence in local origins
• Less cybersquatting
• Easier to get popular business names

Dotcom

• Cheaper registration
• More recognised outside Ireland
• Enables cheaper foreign hosting options
• Less time and bureaucracy to register
• Used by most active Irish web traders eg. Ryanair

The list is not exactly exhaustive and isn't even particularly accurate. "Enables cheaper foreign hosting options" ???? That is rubbish. There is no technical reason why you cannot host an IE domain with your hosting provider of choice. If a hosting company says they cannot host IE domains for technical reasons then their staff are technically inept. Unfortunately a lot of the cheap US hosting companies are "staffed" by the technically incompetent who rely entirely on control panel software to manage their hosting for them. Don't get me wrong. Hosting control panels are the reason why hosting companies are able to offer their services at competitive rates. However, you should not confuse using software with being entirely reliant on it. Hosting is a technical service. You can use as much software as you like to help automate service provision, but you still need technical staff to manage it and keep it all running. The article includes comments from a number of sources in the industry who all make valid points about domains and choosing them. However there are a number of things that are notable by their absence. While the statistics of com vs IE registration and hosting are revealing there is no mention of the churn rate and the problems associated with it. There is mention of the security aspect, ie. that to register an IE domain you have to have provided details of your physical presence, however this is only briefly touched on. The reality, in my opinion, is that domain names are undervalued. It doesn't matter whether it is an IE domain or a .com, as the pricing shouldn't really be a barrier for any serious business. The real issue lies with .com not with .ie As things stand ICANN's rules are flaunted on a daily basis with both individuals and business registering domains without providing accurate contact information. Some of the global TLDs that have come onto the market in the last couple of years have become spam and scam havens. Neither .biz nor .info were picked up by business in the volumes that were predicted, with the result being that a large portion of the respective namespaces are currently being abused. When was the last time you heard of a pyramid scheme being run off an IE? How many ROKSO spammers hide behind IE? How many phishing scams come from IE domains? If you don't know the answer I'll save you time googling. The answer is NONE. As Stephen McCarron rightly pointed out, the higher costs of IE domains are due to the amount of manual intervention required to register and maintain them. Neither the article's author nor any of those interviewed made any reference to how the IEDR intends to change this situation. Whether this was due to the question not being asked, or whether the author chose not to mention it is irrelevant. Those of us involved with the day to day registration and management of IE domains know that automation is the main barrier to lower retail prices. How we can marry a higher level of automation with the IEDR's current registration policies is a matter of some debate. I have my own theories on this, but to date I have been unsuccessful in persuading IEDR management to adopt them :) That doesn't mean that I have any intention of giving up. The real argument however is one of ccTLD versus TLD. Which is better? Is either of them better? To be perfectly honest I think it depends on your perspective. A ccTLD brings a lot of advantages in terms of marketing to a particular regional market. We originally started out with a .com but have since moved all of our resources to pushing the IE domain and brand. Why? There are a number of reasons for this, some of them are obvious, others not as much so. We were targetting the Irish market, so pushing the IE domain makes it very clear that we are not only Irish but that we are interested in the Irish market. As has already been pointed out, the IE domain confirms that the registrant exists in the physical dimension and has tangible and accurate contact details. For an e-commerce venture this is essential. One of my pet hates is commercial websites without proper contact details. Trust needs to be earned. Choice was another matter. Registering shorter versions of our company name as well as typos was a lot easier in IE namespace than in .com It may cost us slightly more per annum in domain fees, but compared to the potential loss of business it is not an issue. The cost of domain names, in either case, has been completely blown out of proportion. If the people complaining were students or others without any steady income I would be a lot more sympathetic. Businesses complaining about domain prices make me laugh. Let's put it into perspective. A startup business could decide to do the following: - register their LTD - register for corporate tax - register for VAT - get an accountant - print business cards - setup a small office (possibly in a spare room in the house) - register both the IE domain and .com and get an entry level hosting plan - take out some advertising in a local newspaper Which of those actions is going to cost the most? I recently got some leaflets printed for a trade event in Dublin. The cost of printing the leaflets was approximately double what I would have paid for domain registration and hosting for one year. Your website and email are available as marketing tools 24/7/365 Although you shouldn't have to pay over the odds for them you should also be realistic enough to recognise that they are key business tools and that they are not free. You do not have to be planning the next big e-commerce / dotcom success, but I do get the distinct impression that too many people undervalue the importance of these basic tools. In conclusion I am happy to see that the IE pricing etc., is attracting some discussion. It's good to see balanced coverage of these matters as opposed to self-centred puff pieces aimed at gaining political brownie points. EDIT: bernie also picked up on the article, although he seems to have misunderstood it. This is probably because people are confusing the IEDR with the IE domain resellers RELATED POSTS: Domain pricing etc. IE domain pricing hypocrisy IEDR related posts