Which extension(s) best for investing? [May vote for more than one]

[Duke]

DomainAddict - Though I like .info and .us, I am not claiming KidKool's power to see into the future. I believe those new extensions have a very strong chance to gain acceptance for reasons I have talked about in many recent threads. I personally find .biz less appealing, but a guy like Mole really likes it and it is a global TLD with over 800,000 registrations.

Having said that, I have also said I wouldn't put money into them that I couldn't afford to lose (the same is true for .com as far as that goes). All of us are in a speculating game - there are no gaurantees. But given the risk/reward ratio I have decided it is well worth buying some now so I will have them if things go as I think they might.

I probably will end up not having more than $1,000 in .US/.INFO regs (Domebase has invested more but he went for better names in the Land Rushes - and will profit more than I do if things pan out). As an investment $1,000 now (and renewal fees for a few years) won't be a burden for me.

Though I have been standing up for the new TLDs lately, that doesn't change the fact that I like the original three real well too. I like good names period and have invested in all 5 of the TLDs I like best (com net org info us) - and even have a couple of .biz in my 160 domains.

Having been in business for many years and knowing how many new businesses are being created, I think the new options available now are likely to change the landscape to some degree as new companies will have choices they never had in the past. There is no difference in getting to a web site regardless of the extension - it's just a matter of perception and perceptions can and do change on a regular basis.

This will not happen over night though. The public has to become familiar with the new extensions just as they do any new product that is marketed. Bob (our moderator) told me he thought it would be 10 years before they catch on. I have been predicting more like 5 because technology and information changes so quickly today. Only time will tell. The thing is - as we learned from .com, if you don't get the best names you can now and the TLDs do catch on, it will be too late when you realize it has happened.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by Duke of Earl
Only time will tell. The thing is - as we learned from .com, if you don't get the best names you can now and the TLDs do catch on, it will be too late when you realize it has happened.

Absolutely, those who never learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I remember thinking back in 1998 what a fool I was not to have registered all those great .com generics back in 1995 when I first logged onto the internet. I told myself never to be a myopic fool again. Take the risk! What have you got to lose? What I didn't want was to regret not doing so. "

As someone once said, "In life it is not the things you did that you regret, but the things you didn't"

Many of the landrushers for .info spent more than a year preparing for it. And it was an expensive and fraud infested exercise to say the least. To hedge your bets, you had to pre-register each of your desired name at over 20 registrars. I was averaging 24 registrars per name. Many did a lot more than me.

Today, I have one of the most complete collections of prime keywords for an industry that does $400b worldwide. I've literally swept a major industry clean on the .info and .biz namespace. Over 50+ no compromise keyword names.

Could I have ever dreamed of creating such a perfect and large empire on the .com platform? Absolute impossible. And how much did I pay for the lot? Just over $6k. That's monkey change.

The important thing is this - do you think .info makes sense to you as an address?

http://www.google.info

Do you think .biz makes sense to you as an address?

http://www.unilever.biz

http://www.mcgrawhill.biz

I think DOTBIZ will really fly once a giant media company like CNN, who already owns CNN.biz, starts using the name. Does that name look right? Absolutely. Everyone's waiting who will make the first move. But once someone does, then regret that you "didn't see it coming" is waaaaay too late.

I still believe the most precious extensions to have are the gTLDs, and after 17 years only TWO unsponsored gTLDs were introduced to the world.

In the next round which will probably take another 1-2 years, ICANN intends to introduce another 3 sponsored gTLDs (possibly .travel, .news, .health), NONE that match the open market nature of .info and .biz.

The signs are so clear as to why .info and .biz will rise and succeed as alternative addressing to .com, its almost a joke.

 

[mole]

Actually, there were 3. I keep forgeting .name. That's not even worth discussion.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by mole
Today, I have one of the most complete collections of prime keywords for an industry that does $400b worldwide. I've literally swept a major industry clean on the .info and .biz namespace. Over 50+ no compromise keyword names. Could I have ever dreamed of creating such a perfect and large empire on the .com platform? Absolute impossible. And how much did I pay for the lot? Just over $6k. That's monkey change.

I knew your position on .info and .biz of course Mole, but I didn't know what you were holding. That you were able to do that on only 6K is amazing.

There is no doubt in my mind that you will eventually sell ONE name (if you choose to do so) that will cover that whole nut - and I think that will be true regardless of the magnitude of acceptance we see. The early .info sales shows there is already a decent market and the market will get stronger from here on out (especially now that the best .infos are gone).

The only remaining question is how big will the splash be?

 

[mole]

Originally posted by Duke of Earl
I knew your position on .info and .biz of course Mole, but I didn't know what you were holding. That you were able to do that on only 6K is amazing.

Strategy, duke

I focused on the 12 hottest industry keywords for the LR which I suspected others would also be bidding. The rest I got in the first 3 hours of launch for about $25 bucks a piece at IDRegister.com It was a risk, and I was lucky I guess.

I also grabbed a stellar .biz industry keyword when the registry released 7,500 of those suspected violation names unannounced one dark and rainy day. I believe the event was reported right here on DN Chat on that night. Bidawinner got his posters.biz in the same manner. The .info version is still in limbo at Afilias.

I doubt that there will be a big splash or anything for the new gTLDs. It will just steadily grow stronger and stronger. Most of the major deals will probably go unreported here for corporate confidentiality reasons.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by mole

It will just steadily grow stronger and stronger.

Yes exactly. When I said splash - I meant the cumulative effect we will see in hindsight a few years down the road. As I said earlier in this thread, market acceptance doesn't happen overnight with any new product. Minds are captured one at a time. Domebase's polling shows quite an improvement for the new TLDs in a very short period of time, so the people on the front lines, domain sellers, seem to be coming over one by one already.

 

[DomeBase]

With 32 votes thusfar, here are some preliminary results:

.COM looks to be losing investment potential market share, down from 36% in August to 29% in November, 2002. .ORG may also be losing, down from 6% to 4%. Of these classic three, only .NET seems to be holding its own and possibly even growing, from 12% to 15%.

.INFO again comes in in the number two spot, below .COM, holding steady at around 20%. Its new gTLD buddy .BIZ is not growing, at least of yet.

.US seems to be on the rise doubling market share from 10% in August to 20% in November, perhaps aided by Kids.US publicity.

Based on the results, TV may be good for leisure time, but don't make .TV your retirement plan.

Stay tuned... the polls are still open!

 

[Duke]

Thanks for the polling effort Domebase - very interesting stuff. It's a small sample of course, but the most informed electorate on this particular topic that you will find anywhere.

.US has the most upward momentum by far. I hope no one has been listening to what I have been saying about it. I decided this morning that I was stupid to be telling people about .US. All I'm doing is inviting competition for the good names that are still unregistered. Why don't you folks think about this for another 6-9 months. I'll let you know when it is safe to come in the water .

 

[DomainPairs]

I'm fairly new to the domain business so I don't have any inside knowledge.
I'm pleased to see all you guys enthusiatic about the new tlds and spending your time on them though. It gives me a chance to buy the odd .com that turns up.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by DomainPairs
It gives me a chance to buy the odd .com that turns up.

Given the probability ratio of securing a stellar dropped dotcom as 1:1,000 wish you luck

The rest are just stragglers waiting for the next sucker to pick them up and throw money into the drain

 

[DomeBase]

now we will have to begin counting absentee ballots!

 

[Biggie]

A buddy of mine, with all of his 20+ yrs of computer "z" exp.
tells me.......

" .net " is the Tld of the future.

more secure

 

[Kid Kool]

all i can say is that DVD.US only got bid up to $70 on ebay.

People were prepared for the launch of these new tlds so the best names were mostly gone within the first 3 hours. There is no point in registering the crappy names that are left. There may be mediocre names that have slipped through the cracks, but why sell yourselves short? Go for the gold. If i can't get "cellphones.us" or "banks.us", I'm not going to reg "mycellphone.us" or "bestbanks.us" or any other second rate name in a 4th and 5th string extension.

Anyway I have all the proof I need. HaHaJoe sent me a creepy email seemingly boasting about his "bestpornsites.us".
It's interesting how many of you have ventured off into hahajoe territory on what is a valuable domain.

With domebase and mole, at least they were committed to getting the best names of the new extensions early on, which as i have always said, the top generics in any extension will have value. If anyone is just getting into the new extensions now with intent to reg a great name that's still available, they have missed
out already!

I also think it is ludicrous to suggest that .info, while it could be worth it to invest in (buying an existing name not a new reg) will somehow be better to invest in than .com. The more new extensions are released, the more .com will stand out over .whatever. Also the issue of typeins. When granny gets on she types in the .com. This means that while you are waiting for your .INFO or .BIZ be bigger than .com, the person with the .com will be able to monetize the traffic and be putting money in his wallet.

The real question is what, AFTER .com will be the next best to invest in. With that i would vote for them in the order of .net .org .info .biz .us (with exceptions regarding names which directly relate to the extension ie. politics.us etc), and only the top generic names.

 

[DomeBase]

Originally posted by kidkool
The more new extensions are released, the more .com will stand out over .whatever.

Kid, I think that this is a key question and one which could be argued either way.

1. New extensions could strengthen the prominent market position of .COM because confusion and dilution among alternatives will cause people to cling to the familiarity of .COM

or

2. New extensions could erode the prominent market position of .COM as people have greater choice and become more aware of any extension other than .COM.

I personally am not sure which way it will go... and view it as an empirical question. As in other investment decisions in the face of uncertainty, a portfolio of investments generally yields lower risk for a given return, which is why I have a diversified portfolio... mainly .COMs, but also .INFOs and a couple others.

One recent bit of data on this issue -- ICANN's recent proposal for three new extensions seems to be focusing on "sponsored" extensions (remember .aero and .museum and .name ????heh), which suggests that there will not be much dilution by additional unsponsored (i.e. generic) top level domains in the near future.

One last note -- to go way out there. I think that alternative technologies to accessing online information (e.g. VR, voice and gesture recognition, hyper search that bypasses site names, etc) are a greater threat to .COM value in the 5 year range than alternative domain extensions. To be really diversified, I am even hedging my bets on this possible outcome.

Best wishes, Kid.

 

[DomeBase]

sorry, posted message on the wrong thread

 

[DomeBase]

sorry, posted message on the wrong thread

please delete

 

[DomeBase]

comments from new folks since 2002?

 

[actnow]

Thank you for doing that. Seriously, it was very informative.

 

[DNS Kidd]

Mole - Great strategy for securing the best info names. Do you have a list of them that you make public? I got about 25% of the .us names I requested. Thinking back, I should have had a bigger list, of better names, and then submitted that list to about a dozen registrars.

My acquisition of 87 names was #91 on the list of names acquired on on opening day for .us. That is, 90 people acquired more names than me. IMHO, my names were closer to the top 20 after seeing what some people registered

 

[mole]

Originally posted by DNS Kidd
Mole - Great strategy for securing the best info names. Do you have a list of them that you make public?

I was drunk. Don't believe a word I say.