Happy 25th Birthday Dot-Com!

Most people would have never guessed that 25 years ago today, the first ever dot-com domain was registered on the internet. As QMI Agency reports today on TorontoSun.com, the Symbolics Computer Company launched Symbolics.com on March 15, 1985, sparking a mammoth worldwide explosion of websites over the next 25 years.

With SynergyMerchants.com being one of your favourite websites (of course), it is just one of over 200,000,000 websites that have been registered over the past two and a half decades.

Today, Aron Meystedt, whose Missouri-based XF.com Investment Company purchased Symbolics.com last year, wrote on the now blog-based website: “The Internet thrives as the world’s network for entertainment and business…Today, we celebrate the past 25 years of the .com and the radical changes it has brought to our lives.”

The WhoIs database reports that about 100,000 dot-com websites are registered every day. Interestingly, 86 million dot-com sites are currently active while 311 million of them have been launched and deleted over the past 25 years.

QMI’s report outlines the various celebrations that are being held to comemmorate today’s special landmark: “Symbolics.com has teamed up with VeriSign – the company that runs the dot-com domain name registry – to host year-long celebrations, including a policy impact forum in Washington, D.C., on March 16 featuring a keynote speech by former U.S. president Bill Clinton, and a gala in San Francisco on May 26, hosted by comedian Dana Carvey.”

Yet another dot-com website, 25yearsof.com, displays more information about these celebrations in addition to providing more of a detailed history about the original dot-com website.

The site also notes how popular and succuessful advertising on the internet has become since the inception of the dot-com domain. Remarking that it is “set to take over print advertising in the United States”, the website describes that according to a recent Outsell survey of over 1,000 U.S. advertisers, companies plan on spending nearly $120 billion on online and digital promotion this coming year.

This includes everything from search engine keywords to seminars on the web. Meanwhile, approximately $112 billion has been set aside for newspaper and magazine ads.

According to Chuck Richard, Vice President and Lead Analyst the Outsell research firm: “Advertisers are directing dollars toward the channels which generate the most qualified leads and most effective branding. As they emerge from the recession, they need more accountability, and they’re spreading their spending over a widening set of options.”

Statistics from The United Kingdom already indicate that they are spending more money on internet advertising than they are on television commercials. Evidently, as the dot-com era celebrates its 25th birthday today, the use of websites to market and promote will only continue to grow exponentially over the next 25 years.