Exclusive! Dot Jobs seeking to expand domain usage for job boards
At SHRM Chicago last week I met an exec from the .jobs domain registry, Brian Johnson. He told me some very interesting news. I interviewed him in the video below. Basically they want to expand the use of the domain by letting niche boards register and use names like sales.jobs or newyork.jobs.
"We look forward to the day when we can remove the restrictions...and help serve the job board community"
-Brian Johnson
This is big news. The ramifications for current job boards could be huge. Perhaps there will be more competition or there could be a gold rush on the best domains. Brian is unsure when or if this will go through but he assured me they are talking with officials at SHRM to make it happen. SHRM oversees the .jobs domain. I asked him how they might let site owners purchase these new domains but he wasn't sure how they would be doled out...auction style perhaps?
"We look forward to the day when we can remove the restrictions...and help serve the job board community"
-Brian Johnson
This is big news. The ramifications for current job boards could be huge. Perhaps there will be more competition or there could be a gold rush on the best domains. Brian is unsure when or if this will go through but he assured me they are talking with officials at SHRM to make it happen. SHRM oversees the .jobs domain. I asked him how they might let site owners purchase these new domains but he wasn't sure how they would be doled out...auction style perhaps?
24 Comments
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Comment by David Manaster on June 30, 2008 at 9:48am
- That's a pretty big deal if and when it happens Chris. It will be a gold rush, 49er style.
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Comment by Eric Shannon on June 30, 2008 at 10:11am -
That is big news Chris and worrisome!
It is very hard to imagine a process that works out well for both the registrar and job board owners. Typically domain land rush is dominated by speculators so that not enough domains are ever put into production to achieve critical mass. So the registrar makes a killing and that's the end of the story.
If the domains are auctioned, they may end up primarily in the hands of speculators and venture backed job boards. I know many of the domain investors who might be interested in this land rush, and I can tell you that only a handful of job boards could compete with them...
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Comment by Chris Russell on June 30, 2008 at 10:14am - That is my concern also Eric, I told Brian that we would like to see an even playing field when it comes to getting these new domains, hopefully they can come up with a fair system.
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Comment by Eric Shannon on June 30, 2008 at 10:20am
- here is some mandatory reading for anyone interested in this
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Comment by Brian Regan on June 30, 2008 at 10:20am - In my wish upon a star moment, would love to see them consider companies with legitimate job boards have a right to buy their dot job domain name. Perhaps a special pricing arrangement.
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Comment by Eric Shannon on June 30, 2008 at 10:36am
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Chris, if you know what everyone's motives are, I think you can predict how it will unfold. Also important to know, what is SHRM's role and interest?
If it's money all-around, we're in trouble. And why would it not be money? .jobs is a business isn't it? Even the nonprofits I have had experience with generally operate in ways that meet the personal interests of the directors in one way or another.
I would love to have cause for optimism but have witnessed a lot of monkey business in the domain world. Ever read about the .EU land rush? I participated and could not pick up a single worthwhile jobs domain. All the big names (not talking about jobs names now) were scooped up by professionals with deep pockets who actually filed bogus trademarks in order to capture single word dictionary names that were supposedly protected.
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Comment by Alan Cohen on June 30, 2008 at 10:41am
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After reading this article, I looked into purchasing .jobs domains that are in my niche job board universe: FitnessjObs.com, etc. and they are already gone.
Something doesn't seem right here.
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Comment by Willy Franzen on June 30, 2008 at 10:42am
- I'm not sure that I really see the benefit to having a .jobs domain. Anyone care to enlighten me?
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Comment by Chris Russell on June 30, 2008 at 10:43am
- They aren't available yet Alan. dot jobs is talking with SHRm to open it up...stay tuned.
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Comment by Eric Shannon on June 30, 2008 at 10:55am
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Willy, I could be wrong about this but my impression is that Google interprets the extension as a keyword. I was trying to find developed and popular .us domains recently, but found that Google ignores the period. Would be interested to hear other opinions about this.
So a .jobs name gives you a name that is shorter than the.com but most importantly is the availability. SalesJobs.com would cost you $10 million or more because you have to buy the company to get the name. Sales.Jobs would cost you a lot less and yet might have much of the same credibility and search engine optimization value.
© 2009 Created by Chris Russell
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