BY DAN LIMBACH
FOR RAIN: RADIO AND INTERNET NEWSLETTER
We all "schmooze" the web. Whether it's to connect with others, for research, for our job, or to purchase products and services, we're all out there in the most giant schmooze-fest ever created -- the Internet. Here's my opinion on a topic that has been nagging me for almost two years. History and facts have brought me to the point where I can share my views on this subject.

In case it isn't obvious, the value of a domain name has been greatly overrated. Let me explain. Please venture back in time to 1999. The Internet boom was in full force. Having a "dot-com" business was like printing money. It got so insane, that public companies could change their name from Widgets, Inc. to Widgets.com, Inc. and they would see their stock price rise considerably.

Companies would even spin off their dotcom efforts as new enterprises, just to cash in on the mania. Look at Playboy Enterprises. They had a very successful company, and one of the most highly recognized brands in the world. When they developed their ecommerce website, what did they do? Enter Playboy.com, a new company who went public, and raised gobs of cash. You see, with the dotcom nomenclature, it was easy to raise money ­- lots of it -­ wheelbarrows full of it. Of course, we now know that many of these companies burned through their capital faster than you could say, "Boo.com."

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We're still feeling the effects. Look at MVP.com. A killer domain name. The biggest stars are behind the company ­ Gretzky, Elway, and Jordan. MVP.com is just about done - finito. How about Michael Jordan and his deals in the Internet space? Michael must retain savvy business managers who bring him good deals, right? He joins the Divine Interventures board. They loan him the money to purchase 1 million shares at $4 a share, at the time a sweet pre-IPO price. Now trading at just over $1/share, he is paying back a loan for stock worth less than 1/3 the price he got in at, and I'm not sure if he was a victim of the brutal reverse split.

And how 'bout them Washington Wizards (with Michael employed as a VP)? It's a sad excuse for a basketball team. Michael, you were the best ever at playing basketball, but your business acumen puts you in the pack with the rest of us poor saps. But I digress.

Does a killer domain name guarantee success? Hell no! At one time, you could beat the world and register a rather generic domain name. Bingo.com, Business.com, Art.com. Each sold to other parties for a sum considerably higher than the $35/year registration fee. In fact, some savvy dude bought business.com several years ago from the original registrant for $100,000. He sold it for $7.5 million. I hope he didn't put all his profits into Priceline.com or CMGI. Talk about a windfall. Today, business.com is a joke. It's a poor man's Yahoo, with no brand, no buzz, and no traffic.

When all of the most obvious names were taken, people in the midst of the greatest "land grab" since the Louisiana Purchase were adding letters and words in front of obvious names, creating secondary domain names, which could still be sold for a significant profit. Widgets.com led to mywidgets.com, ewidgets.com, iwidgets.com, etc. Add hyphens, and the number of copycat domains is nearly endless.

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Some people even thought they would snag other domain extensions for popular domains. Do you really think grabbing Amazon.org would gain you anything but a lawsuit from people with nearly limitless resources? Who was the big winner? Network Solutions, of course, at the time the only registrant in the game. Massive dollars were earned by this company throughout the hysteria, and they did everything possible to feed the "Fire of desire."

Companies like GreatDomains.com became the eBays of domain name reselling. It's madness. People would create entire businesses based on registering domain names, and putting them on the block for a quick profit.

The companies who eventually acquired these "choice" domain names thought that they would see enormous traffic just because of their website addresses. Wrongo! Look at the failure of nearly all the online pet supply sites, or toy sites, or music sites. There's only room for so many major sites in each category. It may even be just a matter of time before Amazon.com picks up the product line, or WalMart jumps into the sector, and then we'll see some real carnage. If WalMart and Amazon.com joined forces in a merger, they could probably buy AOL Time Warner, and still have some coin left to grab a telco and a few small countries.

The entire Internet Economy fell for the ruse that people shop by typing in the obvious domain name for whatever it is they want. C'mon people. If you want to buy a lawn mower, would you go to lawnmowers.com? Of course not. You might go to sears.com, Johndeere.com, Toro.com, or, much more likely, you would hit the search engines. The Internet has matured so much, that the shopping bots (MySimon.com. Pricescan.com, Dealtime.com, etc.) are the comparison shopping method of choice for millions of consumers. The Internet is a giant mall, with unlimited numbers of stores, carrying anything you can imagine.

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If you doubt my hypothesis, perform a search on one of your favorite topics. I doubt the keyword you typed in results in the domain name with the same keyword at the top of the list. Try typing in "magazines" in Excite.com. Magazines.com is nowhere to be found on the first page. In fact, http://www.1000Magazines.com is one of the most descriptive domain names among the highest ranked, and it's fifth on the list.

Brand identity is as important as ever. Think of some of the most dominant names on the Internet. Yahoo.com. Amazon.com, Lycos.com, Excite.com, eBay, and Google.com. The list goes on and on of sites whose names have nothing to do with what they are about. Nonsense names. Non-obvious names. In the Media Metrix list, where is Search.com? Books.com? Insurance.com? Loans.com? Shouldn't they be at the top of the list? Sorry, but no.

Today, many companies are creating nonsense names based on the idea that if their name sounds cool, the company must be cool as well. The prime example is Accenture, formerly Andersen Consulting. I'll never forget the press release, which went something like this: "After the most extensive name search in history..."?? I was sick when I heard about the millions they spent on that name. Couldn't a monkey with a box of Alphabits cereal generate a name as compelling as Accenture? Other examples of this trend are Agilent, marchFirst, Sapient, Scient, and countless others. Many companies who adopt this strategy are littering the dotcom graveyard now, or soon will be. My guess is they put too much effort into their name, and not enough into their business.

So, I've told you that the obvious domain/company names aren't as valuable as we once thought, and nonsense names aren't worth the trouble either, at least in these times. So what am I saying? Stop spending money on finding a name, and start focusing on creating a solid business. It's simple. Ask a university to produce a list of 100 candidate names for a small fee, let your "hip" employees select one, and get past the name thing. Better yet, let your employees decide the name from the get-go. Give a year's supply of pizza and Jolt Cola to the winner, and get past it. How about "Kick Ass Consulting, Inc.?" Would that not turn some heads?

Dan Limbach owns various business under the "umbrella" of InAWorld, Inc. He is president of the Association for Multimedia Communications, and coordinator of the Chicago Company of Friends, part of the Fast Company readers network. He has degrees in Computer Science and Sociology. E-mail Dan here. This essay first appeared in The May Report.

May 3-4, 2001	Streaming Media Asia 2001: Hong Kong