The word «Internet» itself can be translated from English as “network land”. The presence of people and оrganisations in it is expressed in the form of websites. Social networks are like continents: in reality, the number of Facebook users is larger than the population of China. Prominent cultural objects also have representations in the digital space, for example, londoneye.com is the address of the London Ferris wheel.
The new continent, despite its relatively small age, is densely populated. Everyone who considers information about themselves or their activities important wants to reserve a place for them in the digital space. Just like in the offline world, address is a highly important factor for such a representation. The website of the Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House is not royaloperahousecoventgaden.co.uk, although this would be logical. It is roh.org.uk and there is nothing but the essential in the name of their website.
Address is always about prestige, that’s why the absolute majority of renowned museums and galleries are located in the center of world capitals. Moreover, with distance the degree of prominence and fame fades. Even the Louvre would have had much less of a chance to succeed if it was located in the outskirts of Paris.
Digital space is the same: a good “central” web-address is just as important as the location of a museum or gallery in the offline world.
It’s easy to get a domain, you often get them for free with other digital services. But SEO is the king of digital – determining your relevance, pushing you up or down in the ranking game. To win at SEO one needs to pay close attention to the domain choice: the closer the key words that determine your specialty and field are to the beginning of the domain name, the better your website will perform. Likewise, a letter by letter match between the search query and the domain will guarantee that your website is always among the top search results.
For those organisations and individuals which associate themselves with art, the .ART domain zone gives the same tangible advantage as the address in the art quarter of a large city. Just like in the offline realm, a good address in the digital space can help one attract more traffic, improve the brand image and its recognition. A catchy address is nothing without good content, like a gallery on the main street without interesting exposition. But the content and the address should complement each other, jointly improving the brand image.
