Where do you see the Domain Industry in 5 Years?

[NameYourself]

Where Do you See Our Industry in 5 years...

I figured this would make for an interesting discussion. Let's not talk about what you personally WANT or WISH would happen 5 years down the road, but base these ideas on facts, figures, and trends.


--= TOPIC 1 =-- PPC & CPA

Growth in Paid Search Values / Google integrating PPC and CPA? I think it is very possible for Google to look into integrating conversion based ads in with their PPC ads. We have already seen DomainSponsor take a great step in this direction by integrating Revenue.net affiliate programs on their landers. There is more potential for bigger revenues, however managing something like this would be very custom-based with each advertiser and quite involved on their part. What will become of PPC? If bid values are still around which markets should we see increases in bid values for, and what about words like "loans" that already get bids of $10+.


--= TOPIC 2 =-- THE PRICELESS .COM

The nearly priceless .COM values continue to soar? The trend recently has been up up up for premium single word and generic .com names, especially ones that have ppc revenue to back up their prices. It is also becoming a rarity to see quality, generic .com names for sale at even reasonable prices. I can't see them losing type-in traffic either as almost every major company (in North America) advertises their company's professional site on the .com. It carriers a level of prestige and respect that the others just can't provide. Anyone else agree / disagree and why?


--= TOPIC 3 =-- OTHER TLDs and ccTLDs

What is to come of the other TLDs like .net, .org, .info, and .biz? And of the ccTLDs like .cn, .in, .es, etc... Which do you believe will see increases in value, or decreases and why? I would have to say that China and India are great investments right now because of the growth in their economies and the number of people. Let's get some other points of view and some actual facts and figures in this one too.

 

[furca]

The nearly priceless .COM values continue to soar?

As more and more people find out about the industry and how easy it is to make a buck, the higher generic .com values will go.

 

[Steen]

--= TOPIC 1 =-- PPC & CPA
PPC will see a steady rise for two to three years, then level off. This is a great option even at the current high bid prices when compared to the way other ad dollars are spent.
CPA will expand at a rapid rate. Perhaps 50% per year or more. We will then see a transition from large advertisers using CPA to smaller companies adopting the model as a popular means of increasing market share.

--= TOPIC 2 =-- THE PRICELESS .COM
Generic domains will hold well, go up in value a bit but nothing huge. The real rise will be in .COM domain names that can be marketed very well (by an enduser). Lust.com, CellPhones.com, etc.

--= TOPIC 3 =-- OTHER TLDs and ccTLDs
Country code extensions will flourish as .com becomes harder to grasp. International alternates (biz,info,net,etc) will see increased use, but will never rise to a level of clear acceptance.

 

[Edwin]

1. PPC & CPA
Generic traffic and the domains that generate it will go up and up in value. Within 5 years, typo/trademark-based traffic/domains will be worthless for all practical purposes as none of the major PPC parking services will touch the traffic they generate with a 10-foot pole.

PPC bids will continue to rise in other countries coming later to the party than the US, when it's clear (especially with ROI tracking thrown into the equation) that PPC is still cheaper than many other forms of advertising.

2. THE PRICELESS .COM
Will remain the #1 domain extension, but there will be more focus on local country extensions since probably 99 out of every 100 businesses don't need to do business internationally (or even nationally - they're local) but they ALL need a domain name for their websites.

3. OTHER TLDs and ccTLDs
ccTLDs will develop more and more as the huge mass of smaller businesses either come online for the first time or "get a clue" and redevelop their initial amateurish sites, selecting a more professional domain name at the same time. As outlined above, most businesses (meaning millions and millions of them, seen globally) don't ever plan to do business outside their own back yard, so they won't be too fussed about .com if a decent enough domain can be acquired in their own local ccTLD a lot cheaper.

 

[mole]

Fact: pre-2000, the Internet was limited to three key general extensions .COM, .NET and .ORG, leading to massive cybersquatting of the .COM namespace on the shallow premise that no other extensions would exist for the eternity of the Internet.

 

[BerArt]

I agree with Mole the domain business has just begun IMO

 

[Anthony Ng]

In 5 years? You mean 2010? That's when the mystery of HAL will be solved and we're all heading to Jupiter. LOL!

Seriously though, I always have doubt that the current naming infrastructure could last that long, regardless of how the vested interests try to linger on. In this age of the Internet, a couple of years are already too long (term).

 

[actnow]

... I always have doubt that the current naming infrastructure could last that long, regardless of how the vested interests try to linger on. In this age of the Internet, a couple of years are already too long (term).

Nameslave - Could you elaborate further on your point?

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying.

 

[NameYourself]

Seriously though, I always have doubt that the current naming infrastructure could last that long, regardless of how the vested interests try to linger on. In this age of the Internet, a couple of years are already too long (term).

Yes please elaborate on this. I can't see any alternate solution to accessing a website. A domain name is needed so humans don't have to remember http://150.31.3.15.... etc... How can something replace this infrastructure?

 

[StockDoctor]

In 5 years there will be No PPC, No typosquatters, No cybersquatters. Major consolidation of the name space and Content will truely be King.

 

[JMJ]

There will always be a need for PPC. Companies choose it over gambling on SEO. With PPC there is no gamble as long as you close the deal and even the best SEO company can't get ahead of it. PPA won't work in this senario because you can't give one company precedent over the other with different products to offer, paying multiple commisions on the same keywords.

 

[actnow]

In 5 years there will be No PPC, No typosquatters, No cybersquatters. Major consolidation of the name space and Content will truely be King.

I partially agree with you.
Content will be king. But, it will be drastically different than what we see now.
And, YES. Major consolidation of domain ownership!!!

PPC evolution - Some type of ppc will exist but more focused towards niche marketing and tailored towards your exact needs.

And, typo owners and cybersquatters will also still exist.

 

[Jernet]

if we knew where it would be, we would all be multi-millionaires k:

 

[Shaggy]

Major consolidation of the name space and Content will truely be King.

What do you mean by this Stoc?

 

[NameYourself]

if we knew where it would be, we would all be multi-millionaires k:

Exactly why I made this post.

Major consolidation of the name space and Content will truely be King.

Major consolidation of the name space - As in large companies like Internet REIT buying up most of the portfolios.

Content will truly be king - As in your best names should be developed? I don't see this as a necessity, but rather a smart idea to make them more profitable. Why exactly do you believe it will be absolutely necessary as opposed to just monetizing the traffic with CPA/ppc links. Obviously there would be no room for growth of the URL as a website this way, but this rule would apply as much today as it would 5 years from now. Please expand upon why you think it will be essential in 5 years.

 

[Paddy]

.

 

[Limit$]

I acually think that, either the internet might have a big run down or domain prices and values of the domains will be more valuble but I don't know about the demand. I think the deman might go up but then there the chance of it going down. Who knows? I guess we have to wait for 5 years to come. Also, Happy thanks giving all!

 

[SouthernTn]

everyone I know is trying to get into domains.. They tell me , "Hey, I think this would be a good domain name.. is it taken, how much can it sell for, who has it, how much do they want for it, the website could be this" So.. its just begun actually

 

[JuniperPark]

I'm not so sure about the other countries, but the US about to enter a financial collapse that will put us in a long, deep recession. The real estate bubble is now bursting and prices are beginning to fall. Each month is setting a new record for personal bankruptcies and we're just getting started as interest rates begin to rise. Consumers are in DEEP debt, more than 500% deeper in debt than just 10 years ago, but that's party's just getting started too -- by law, minimum payment on credit cards will DOUBLE in January.

Taxes are going to skyrocket -- the Federal goverment is in a deep hole (due in part to the illegal war in Iraq ($300+ Billion)and the stupid commitment to rebuild the slum in a deep sinking hole called New Orleans) ($200+ billion) , the State of California broke because we have to pay everything for benefits for illegal immigration ($50+ Billion per year), and even San Diego is bankrupt due to corrupt politians giving 95% pensions to the big unions.

At the current rate of illegal immigration, within a few years less than 50% of the people in the USA will have high school diplomas, and far few will be college graduates. We are outcourcing nearly every 'white collar' occupation, and most jobs will be at MacDonalds wiping tables.

So... how will all this play out in the upcoming financial collapse? Darn good question.

 

[gemsergio]

Well juniper you are almost right in everything exept for illegal immigrants:
The US really needs illegal immigrants because they are the once who pay for your Social Security benefits and let you have your garden cut for only 8 usd per hour.
Everything else I totally agree but you also need to consider that looking at the books the US is already bankrupt but till the Petrol will be sold in USD there will be no problems for us but if petrol of some countries would be traded in Euros or yen or whatever else than the real problem will begin.
So the US needed this war DESPERATLEY.
Regarding domain the industry will stay the same for the next 5 years with country codes being more and more valuable.
The main point will be the disappeareance of the hardware, we will only have a display that as per television will show as remotley our computer running googleOS 3.6 with software only on demand (I will probabbly have the 79.00 usd package per month)
Best part is that wireless internet will be available worldwide thanks to googwire or googleSAT.
Bill Gates who?