URLs are dumb, boring, slow & overpriced for business !
URL — Uniform Resource Locator — In simple words, the address of a web page. URL/Domain Name/Website Address are used interchangeably
I would like to mention that I am not debating that URL should be removed, but I am trying to initiate a debate that showing URL is irrelevant to users. Can we imagine internet services without showing any URL upfront?
Before I start, we can safely assume that in future we are not going to have infinite options of search engines. Assuming 99.99% of the world internet users would be using at max 1–10 search engines for their daily needs.
Without being biased, I would like to use word “Google” in place of popular search engines and “Google Chrome” as popular browser of choice
Remembering exact URL is a pain when we have platform like the Google which provides you correct results in almost fraction of seconds. Why can’t we just type the “name” of the website/service we want to open and just open it with a single search? Exactly the way we search our apps on our mobile phone.
It doesn’t feel good when I am asked to type the exact URL and worse if you have to type URL on your phone. Why can’t I just type a nearly correct keyword to retrieve required information? There is a big difference between remembering exact URL and remembering the keyword to open up a website.
For example — To open up ING Vysya Bank website, I should just remember the keywords and purpose that I have to open ING Vysya bank website rather than remembering the URL.
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Keyword: Open ING Vysya Bank website
URL : www.kvb.co.in**
```
Remembering keyword is easier than remembering exact URL.
Though I say it or not, 95% users are already using Google to get the correct URL from keywords they remember. We trust Google, it gives us the authentic and correct website URL every single time.
But can Google dare to remove “URL” text box from Google Chrome?
Maybe not because Google has very little control over the internet and internet users. Users discover business website URLs through various channels and are solely responsible to open and use websites on browsers.
Until Google finds a way to validate business websites with 100% surety, they can’t remove URL text field from Google Chrome.
Well, you can debate endlessly, why URL is a necessity? But let’s park it for few minutes and talk about the issues with URL / domain name.
Why do we need a domain name for every business?
If you look at the data — there are more than 1 Billion websites (domain name) registered across the globe. How many websites do you use frequently? You can actually count the number of websites you use weekly on your fingers. After this mobile app revolution, we hardly visit any website.
Truth is, your users depend on Google / News / Ads to discover your website. Paying Google for ads is like paying taxes. You can’t escape it if you are doing business.
Register your business with Google to get discovered by your users. You don’t need an expensive domain name.
The business which comes in this category are Hotels, Restaurants, Builders, Actors, Artist and basically all small-medium enterprise (SMEs). I never recall visiting any hotel website before booking it from travel booking websites like MakeMyTrip, Booking, ClearTrip etc. I search, verify details and book.
First Fact: Few businesses don’t require a domain name to showcase their business to the world.
URL is dumb, boring, expensive and complex
URL is dumb
URL doesn’t add much value to your business. Every URL or domain name translates into an IP. It was impossible to remember IP, so we invented domain name. But now with Google, Whether you keep an IP or a domain name it doesn’t matter, as all Google cares about is information presented on the website like title, header, meta tags, content etc.
URL is boring
Having long business name is OK but long URL is uncool. For example — Sheraton Bangalore sounds cool name but URL http://www.sheratongrandbangalore.com/ is boring. Also you can’t have special characters in URL.
URL is overpriced
You are lucky if you get a suitable business domain name. But in most of the cases, you never get to get hold of the best website domain names. For example, FB.com was sold at $8.5M dollars. For me, it is a complete waste of money in the name of branding.
Owning URL is a complex deal
Nowadays owning URL is pretty fast but think about the complete cycle of owning and hosting a website. It requires you to do a lot of configurations (DNS settings, name server, hosting etc) to get your website up and running.
Website without domain name (WWD)
What is website without domain name (WWD)?
A website which is represented to the internet world with its real identity (title, description, details, authentic badge etc) rather than just a keyword (domain name) which is unique to the world.
Website without domain name: Open ING Vysya Bank website
Website with domain name: www.kvb.co.in
WWD might change the way we publish, discover & share information on the internet.
Publishing WWD
You won’t have to buy a domain and wait for activation or configuration. Just one click to buy your own server box and instantly start deploying your web content over there. Optionally you can also link your box IP with a domain name (until you need it desperately for your business).
Discover WWD
Register your business website (WWD) with Google along with your business details. This process can be externalized as well, register once and share your registry details (WWD ID) across all popular search engine.
Once registered, WWD will start appearing in search results of search engines. Optionally, you can pay search engines to get better discovery results.
Sharing WWD
It is always an unwanted task for anyone to remember the website address. Once WWD is created, you can just share the information which is relevant and represent your business better — business title, description, specific tags, keywords etc.
No Complex Configuration
Once WWD ID is created, you will never have to worry about configurations. As all server box can pick up the details using provided WWD ID. In future, if you wish to change your server box, just link your WWD ID with different server box. Anyway, Google is smart enough to build technology to maintain your WWD web as per the WWDID and not on server box IP.
Time to Ask Tough Questions
Who will maintain WWD registry?
Well, it doesn’t require a central agency to issue WWDID but as the world is moving towards the open internet, it should be controlled by a consortium of search engine providers.
How is it different from existing DNS system?
Unique Name vs Identity
Eventually, domain name or WWDID translate into an IP address. Having a domain name doesn’t really solve any problem, it is just easier to remember for your users.
On the other hand, WWDID is the true identity of your business.
WWDID can be linked with all sorts of business information and can be used to authenticate businesses.
One Less Configuration
When we register a domain name, we have to set DNS server against the domain name. Though in case of WWD ID, you shift that responsibility to server box. When you setup your server box, just fetch WWDID info and set it automatically. At the same time, server box can also separately manage their box information which will help search engine to produce better results.
Linking Multiple IPs (servers) to Single WWD
At one time, one domain name is linked with only one IP.
Amazon is present across the world. They can’t have same page (www.amazon.com) for all the country users. So they register different domain names (www.amazon.com, www.amazon.in, www.amazon.co.uk) and redirect their users accordingly.
Owning each country domain extension is not the best solution. Though you can always link same WWD ID across all your servers in different countries. As each server box also manage their box information, A search engine can be smart enough to figure out which WWD ID implementation needs to be shown to users.
WWD benefits don’t end here. With my limited knowledge of internet and how it works, I am also not sure how correct I am when I made this statement. But I would like to explore it further with a positive mindset to make internet world a more open and little less complex.
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