There seems to be a disconnect between the mindset of a domainer and that of an end-user.
Domainers seem to be preoccupied with a book of logic and assumptions, some of which are erroneous or outdated.
In the world of end-user domain buyers, anything goes: they use exotic ccTLDs, dashes, two or three words, esoteric combinations of keywords that just look funny, etc.
Judging current trends in the new domain name space from a handful of selective registrations isn’t indicative of the particular value of the gTLDs in question.
Keeping in mind that gTLDs offer the opportunity to utilize keyword + extension as a joint brand, the argument that new TLDs are not performing is utterly ridiculous.
As a matter of fact, the registrations of .guru and .bike domains demonstrate a much better quality on Day #1 of the general availability, than what happened back in 1995 at the dawn of .com.
Here are some “classic” registrations of .com domains from a 1995 zone file, that clearly confirm this: end-users will register the domains that they want, not what domainers believe that they want.
1-800-HOMES.COM 1333HENDERSON.COM AMAR-CHITRA-KATHA.COM AMERICASCHEESEEXPERTS.COM ARAMARK-UNIFORM.COM INFO-SEC-INST.COM INFOCOMMPREPRESS.COM INNOVATIVE-SS.COM MACYS-BULLOCKS.COM MAGIC-EDGE-CTR.COM MAILBOXESETC-42.COM MAKE-UP-ART-COSMETICS.COM SOLUTIONS-4U.COM SOUVENIR-T-SHIRTS.COM SPIROX-AJU.COM THE-JACOBSON-LAW-FIRM.COM THINKTANKADV.COM TIMESHAREBUYERSOUTLET.COM TOMS-OF-MAINE.COM VANCOUVER-BC-CA.COM
How many people had internet access in their home, or in the palm of their hands back in 1995? As well they mailed out invoices, no paypal, or bitcoin payments accepted. Times have changed. As for GTLD”s your guess is as good as mine, I thought the numbers were quite low.
At least half of what end users register in new gTLDs and (old ones) are crap.
That is a fact by any measure. Especially by the measure that the domains are not renewed the next year.
But the difference is that new .com cost $8 while new gTLDs cost $35 to $12,500.
Do they want to waste their money? Be my guest.
I didn’t judge the value of the gTLD in question. I judged the end user.
“the argument that new TLDs are not performing is utterly ridiculous.”
Who said that? What is “performing”?
Sure they can register what they want and I can say that is crap. More than half of these 1995 .com are free now. These were crap and will remain crap.
This only shows that people will always register crap domains and I agree with that.
Tom – There has been practically zero promotion of gTLDs in mainstream media. Zero. I don’t count GoDaddy’s recommendations of alternate options to be a promotion. You will know it’s coming when billboards, newspapers and television/radio promote brands.
Kosta – Your definition of “crap” is subjective. It doesn’t matter what *you* think, it’s what the buyer thinks. His wallet can afford $35, and hell, it was $50 /year with 2 years down back in 1995 for every .com – and yet these .com’s above (and more) were clearly laughable to register.
Again, jumping the gun on any new gTLD’s numbers based on a single day of registrations, with zero publicity, is pointless.
What you will see, however, is fewer domainers indulging themselves in an endless game of keyword registrations in order to resell. This approach is doomed and destined to fail.
“Again, jumping the gun on any new gTLD’s numbers based on a single day of registrations, with zero publicity, is pointless. ”
Where did I do that?
Endless in .com is limited in new gTLDs so a very good strategy could yield results.
My strategy for the first 7 new gTLDs? 2 personal domains. No “domainer” domains.
For the next 7? I will get 5-10 if I can for cheap. So maybe all in all I will get at most 500 over the course of the next 2-3 years. That is about 5% of my portfolio.
Kosta – I was responding collectively to arguments that equalize success/failure and the future of brandables & gTLDs, with the total number of Day #1 registrations.
Regarding the strategy you quoted, I could not agree more, that’s exactly what I did, although I did not wait for GA to kick in. I evaluated my needs for particular domains, and decided to pay the extra $$$ for them. It’s all part of a bigger plan, that requires domainers to change their mindset.
You didn’t have companies like Epik in 1995 emailing you letting you know that a domain you once owned Keyword-Holdings.com, can be registered now as Keyword.Holdings. Totally unsolicited, and having to do with a domain I dropped over 6 months ago. Scan of old zone files?
The amount of information on how to register, develop, and sell any type of domain is mind blowing, even going back to 1999.
You are correct from a domaining angle it is impossible to register, and hold all the various terms, and extensions, it really comes down to if they are embraced by the end users customers going forward.
Tom – I think it’s better to keep an open mind and let things take their course, versus negating everything from the start. I don’t know if/how .XYZ for example, will find its user base, but I am not Negari to judge that; he has a plan. I am not a plumber, although I wish I were because they make a lot of money, and they can afford .plumbing in certain markets and countries. My focus is the opportunity to embrace evolution and change; after 20 years there will be a new menu at your favorite restaurant, so to speak.
I went thru every extension, and thought of possible category killing phrases that could be established, and plumbing was a tough one. As I know most do plumbing & heating, and like to advertise this, and some others do other types of work, such as septic, and water treatment etc.
Many of them tend to use the same common phrases, I am assuming many of the plumbing names were geo, as I did look some up, and you had guys from Europe registering big geo areas in the US.
@Acro I will judge new gTLDs compared to each other for now.
I will then judge them individually in a couple of months from now and then again after the first renewals.
Tom – Considering how every gTLD comes with a plan and a hefty application fee plus operational costs, I am sure there is a reason why gTLD A vs. gTLD B is active. In the long run, costs are consolidated, and the biggest players aim for the cumulative asset effect.
Kosta – You’re doing a great job; personally I’d rather see people experiment and become more open-minded than be overly cautious and conservative. This is a market that will finally become global.
Just shows that over time people have moved towards shorter names with no hyphen. This trend will continue.
Kassey – Long (tail) names are still very much in use, with hyphens as needed. If you’ve been to Germany, you’d see what I mean. It’s because people want a descriptive representation of what they do and who they are. There were much better domains to get in 1995, but ones like the sample above got registered instead.
Registration stats and growth trends will be a good indication of the new TLDs’ success. Will .COM registrations suddenly plummet as a result of all the new options? Or will several new TLDs quickly post registration figures comparable to say .Info? We’ll see. Then again how many .Infos do you see each week on DNJournal’s report? You can go to SEDO or Godaddy Auctions, type in any keyword and see many possible domains available for some price with that keyword. So if end users aren’t snapping up every .Net, .Org, .Info, .CO, .TV, three-word .COM, then who is going to pay serious money for another alternative? One will have to be very selective and very attentive to acquisition cost with these new TLDs. I don’t deny there are probably some unique opportunities with the new TLDs but I am sure many will get burnt if they allocate too much money to extensions which thus far do not have end-user recognition.
Companies still love their hyphens to this day! It splits up their domain name and it’s a royal pain in the arse trying to educate them otherwise! 😉