The .PRO Discussion

[InvisionTech]

It seems .PRO is slowly coming out of the cage with cheaper reg prices than they were a year ago and major registrars like netsol taking notice of the extension and promoting it.

Here are some that I picked up in last couple of days:

Alexandria.pro

Anchorage.pro

Arlington.pro

Belfast.pro

Birmingham.pro

Budapest.pro

Durham.pro

Fairfax.pro

Italian.pro

Lisbon.pro

Fire away with your regs after the relaunch on September 8th, 2008.

 

[sky]

Its a serious issue. For instance... .Pro has been around 4 or 5 years now.... how many legit Fortune 500 companies operate primarily out of a .pro? Probably none.

Yeah, but F500 co's can easily afford to buy even an over-priced .COM if it is perfect for their business. And as cool as .pro is, in most cases it can't trump .com in terms of recognition and stature (yet). If those start-ups turn into big companies, they'll either buy the .com or the give the world a chance to see .pro as legit.

I wonder whether the flood of gTLDs will have the effect of watering down the sacredness of .com or if it will make .coms that much sought after. It seems to me that the key lies in start-ups buying non .coms, growing, and keeping their alternatively extension'd domain name as their primary Internet address.

---------- Post added at 02:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 PM ----------

I have about 7 .pro's left in my portfolio that I've hung on to.
Over the years I've let some good one's go due to the burden
of renewal fees.

While I really appreciate .pro, it's just a hassle to get legit for it,
and if companies want it, they have to jump through hoops,
and wade through a bunch of crap to understand it. That's
a liability against the extension, and one thing that probably
makes it a choice of last resort for many buyers, cool as the
name .pro sounds, and more fitting as it is as an extension
for certain names.

I just find the rules for .pro are snooty and senseless.

I still can't over the fact that, a SW engineer with decades
of corporate experience in a senior position can't get
recognized as a professional, for the purposes of being
legit with .pro, but for the relative ease and dormancy of
becoming a licensed notary, or doing some much less demanding
or lower-profile role someone can be legit with .pro.

And then there's the matter of abstract names with the .pro
extension. What is a 'goober.pro' or a 'fibbergibbet.pro'?
Why can't just anyone have a name like that? Once someone
is recognized as a professional in any field they can legitimately
register second level .pro names like that, which are just absurd
and have nothing to do with the sense of professionalism.

It just seems that the .pro registry is benefitting financially from
their weird ambiguities and letting people register crap like that,
but then screwing over most of the people that do, and merely
paying lip-service to the 'ideal' of professional stature to those
who might be image conscious.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

www.namepros.com/4302309-post3743.html

 

[Kate]

Yeah, but F500 co's can easily afford to buy even an over-priced .COM if it is perfect for their business.

Just because they can, doesn't mean they will, would or even should. If more end users realized the value of domain names we would be rich

And as cool as .pro is, in most cases it can't trump .com in terms of recognition and stature (yet). If those start-ups turn into big companies, they'll either buy the .com or the give the world a chance to see .pro as legit.

The ext has been doomed from inception for a very simple reason: .pro, like .biz is in direct competition with .com. Redundant.
Isn't .com professional enough ?
It's good enough for F500.
No need to reinforce the fact you're a professional, or just legit...
With equal promotion I bet even .inc or .ltd would do better.

 

[sky]

The ext has been doomed from inception for a very simple reason: .pro, like .biz is in direct competition with .com. Redundant.
Isn't .com professional enough ?
It's good enough for F500.
No need to reinforce the fact you're a professional, or just legit...
With equal promotion I bet even .inc or .ltd would do better.

What's wrong with being in competition with the saturated and increasingly unavailable and unaffordable.COM extension?
I thought competition is a good thing. Why be anti-competitive and pro-monopoly?

.PRO is good. So is .LLC, .INC or .LTD. I think your definition of what makes an extension interesting or potentially valuable is way too subjective and narrow and doesn't reflect how other people think or use domain names. I don't think that pro is 'doomed' for the reasons you say it is. People have been saying that since its inception, yet, it lives, and people have sold .PRO's at considerable profit, and some good websites are perfectly happy using it.

The word "pro" has always been associated with coolness, the elite, or consummate experience and skill, in popular culture. To call someone a pro is a high compliment, when it fits. And for those reasons is great extension given the right use, or 2nd level name in front of it.

There are at least several reasons one might gravitate to the .pro extension. Sounded like one of your arguments is that using .pro is just self-aggrandizing P.R. and thus cheesy. As if that's a bad thing. Have you ever heard the term "There's no such thing as bad publicity"? It's a valid way to play the game, especially if it works. Sometimes one really is a professional, and the .pro extension can help emphasize the distinction, when it's a useful distinction to make. Some of the best .COMs work merely because they sound catchy or cool.

Here's an example: photography.pro sounds neat and would be more appropriate than photography.com in certain cases. photography.pro sounds like a service with the emphasis on skill and caliber of the person/people providing the service, whereas photography.com sounds like where I might go to buy a new macro lens. If I saw each name side-by-side on a SERP, which one I clicked on would depend on the nature of what I was looking for.

The problems with .pro have more to do with the current trends, public awareness, weird rules/marketing/attitude of the .pro registry, and recognition of .com as king. There is nothing written that says it has to stay that way, particularly to the point of keeping upstart businesses from getting into the game. At some point there's going to have to be a viable way around that roadblock.

 

[MicroGuy]

I think your definition of what makes an extension interesting or potentially valuable is way too subjective and narrow and doesn't reflect how other people think or use domain names.

I think it is important to study the economic principle of supply and demand. In addition, a sustainable business model must have ongoing revenue generation.

If the model is based on an industry that has expanding supply AND contracting demand, and if you couple that with a zero revenue model, and work this model trading in a niche extension that no one in the public has ever heard of, you wind up with a either an expensive hobby or a negative revenue business destined to die.

 

[gkjunior]

I think it is important to study the economic principle of supply and demand. In addition, a sustainable business model must have ongoing revenue generation.

If the model is based on an industry that has expanding supply AND contracting demand, and if you couple that with a zero revenue model, and work this model trading in a niche extension that no one in the public has ever heard of, you wind up with a either an expensive hobby or a negative revenue business destined to die.

Industry that has contracting demand ? I enjoy reading this...reminds me of the Sunday Comics

 

[JoeBiz]

Well I said "we need ideas and we need to get on with it" and here's the idea. Now who can persuade Forbes that shining a light on .Pro will be much more meaningful than promoting .Me.

http://www.thedomains.com/2012/08/09/forbes-shines-the-light-on-me-domains-including-meet-me/


8^X

 

[Kate]

What's wrong with being in competition with the saturated and increasingly unavailable and unaffordable.COM extension?
I thought competition is a good thing. Why be anti-competitive and pro-monopoly?

The problem is that domain names are not commodities or household products. The notion of 'competition' has a different meaning.
For example, you can switch from Ford to Honda. That's competition in the automotive industry.
You don't change domains every 5 years or so because your domain is your identity.

I find that the extensions that are doing best are those that have found their own niches, .org .info .me would be examples.

On the other hand .eu was dommed from the start because it competes against national extensions, most of which are very strong and pervasive.

The extensions that try to steal the thunder from powerful, established extensions are poised to fail

 

[sky]

The extensions that try to steal the thunder from powerful, established extensions are poised to fail

Look at the Forbes article link posted above. .COM has stolen its own thunder. Now people are being forced by lack of availability of decent coms at decent prices to turn to other extensions, and .PRO sounds cool. I'm not saying it's cooler than .LLC, for example. I have an LLC, so I'd like that for my domain name and will be right on top of that when it opens up. I'm just saying .PRO sounds good, it works, it's less saturated and spendy than .COM.

So when is .PRO going to shrivel up and die? What about people who have .PRO domains and manage to sell them? Does that just evaporate? If it doesn't evaporate, what does "die" mean? As you can see from my earlier posts, I have real issues with the .PRO registry and how they manage the extension. But domain names with the word .PRO in them are cool, IMO. I'm not betting my life on them, but I like them okay and have a few and one will be the website for a service I'm working on for a business soon. I also have .COMs, .US and .INFOs that I like a lot, although I understand the weaker demand for the non .COMs, particularly if the keyword isn't super super strong. I'm not a domain extension bigot, though I like some more than others.

 

[webdomain]

Young startup companies is the answer. I don't think the younger generation cares more about price savings.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

$3.49 @EnCirca

www.encirca.com/domain-news/2012/3-49-for-new-pro-registrations/

 

[webdomain]

$3.49 for new .PRO registrations

wtf????

.pro pricing is so abrupt?!

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

EnCirca announces a major promotion for the month of August…

 

[mwzd]

There have been no new points raised by naysayers in this thread in the last 2-3 years, it's the same old arguments rehashed.

And, not surprisingly, the replies from those invested in the extension are the same as well.

Bottomline, if you have the cash - buy the .com, if you don't and still need a gtld for your project, for for .pro - it's a lot better than a .me or a .io or a .ly, or even .biz/.info given the availability of top keywords, unlike in those extensions.

You really can't compare profession.com to profession.pro on a one is to one, it's like a heavyweight fighting a welterweight.

What you can compare is myprofessionmycity.com to profession.pro - which offers you higher brand value or recall depends on the intelligence of your target market.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

.PRO has been discussed by me and Namecheap today…
So I'm waiting for good news in the near future…

And I added .PRO into Dynadot request list.

 

[sky]

There have been no new points raised by naysayers in this thread in the last 2-3 years, it's the same old arguments rehashed.

And, not surprisingly, the replies from those invested in the extension are the same as well.

Bottomline, if you have the cash - buy the .com, if you don't and still need a gtld for your project, for for .pro - it's a lot better than a .me or a .io or a .ly, or even .biz/.info given the availability of top keywords, unlike in those extensions.

You really can't compare profession.com to profession.pro on a one is to one, it's like a heavyweight fighting a welterweight.

What you can compare is myprofessionmycity.com to profession.pro - which offers you higher brand value or recall depends on the intelligence of your target market.

What he said.

 

[JoeBiz]

I came across this awhile back and have been meaning to post it ... but I misplaced it. I just found it.

- 564 words and short phrases end with Pro

- 1200 words begin with Pro


8^X

 

[terol]

And I added .PRO into Dynadot request list.

I also did it (with a true private whois option), but Dynadot neither listens their good customers.

Now, they are working on a control panel change that nobody needs ... :bah:

 

[akcampbell]

I transferred 283 .pros from Encirca to Hover for $9 each using the promotional code "honest". Main problem was checking out, I had to manually check no registrant email test and add the transfer authorization code 283 times. For some reason 8 of my .pros wouldn't unlock at Encirca and had to be removed from the Hover cart. It took me about 2 hours to checkout, 10 minutes for my card to process at the end, and 6 days for the transfers to complete. I would have preferred to keep my .pros at Encirca but the most attractive deals seem to be pitched at new registrants.

 

[sky]

Based on the current .PRO rules, what are the current fully legitimate
ways to become a .PRO domain name holder?

I was told [in this thread] that becoming a notary public is one of
the easiest ways (in my state I think it's only $39 and a 2-3 hour training).

However I just started a new LLC...

So I want to know if providing the state license (e.g. registry) number
for that business qualification enough these days? *update* Looks like the answer is yes!

I'm still seeing mixed messages from the registry about which way their going.
EnCirca has slashed registrations for new .PROs to $3.49, implying they want a
lot of people to register them. However someone told me they read that the
.PRO registry they're going to start enforcing the qualification requirements.


And is this a liability against the registrars that could undo their attempts
to enforce? Why don't they provide an obvious way to *update* .PRO licensing information
via their sub-registrars? Isn't that all subject to change? Can't someone be
a licensed pro at one point, and subsequently lose that license, or someone be
unlicensed and then become licensed? I just get the feeling if anyone wanted
to really make a case against the registry for messing with them they could,
for even a half-assed attempt at satisfying the requirements.

 

[akcampbell]

Total .pros registered to April 2012, excluding zip .pros, increased by 6.5% in the month to 105,554. Average daily WHOIS searches increased 13% to 86,885. Year on year total .pros registered are up 65.3% and average daily WHOIS searches are up 194.9%. Hover.com is the fastest growing .pro registrar with total registrations up 29.5% in the month to 1,527. Encirca is still the biggest .pro registrar on 20,392 .pros followed by RU Center on 17,357.

 

[sky]

Total .pros registered to April 2012, excluding zip .pros, increased by 6.5% in the month to 105,554. Average daily WHOIS searches increased 13% to 86,885. Year on year total .pros registered are up 65.3% and average daily WHOIS searches are up 194.9%. Hover.com is the fastest growing .pro registrar with total registrations up 29.5% in the month to 1,527. Encirca is still the biggest .pro registrar on 20,392 .pros followed by RU Center on 17,357.

The $3.49 EnCirca promotion is great. I just found 3 (THREE!) single keyword domain names of pretty good quality for re-sale, surprisingly. I would have thought that all three of them would be long gone. So there's still some gold in them hills and at $3.50 a pop if there was ever a time, it is now.

---------- Post added at 01:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:19 PM ----------

FYI, it looks like my LLC qualifies for .PRO registration based on the
requirements I see:

http://Total.pro documents the basic requirements:

1. Provide professional services

2. Admitted to or licensed by a government certification body or jurisdictional licensing entity recognized by a governmental body that regularly verifies the accuracy of its data.

3. In good standing with the licensing authority.


The following business license information is required*:

· First Name (or company/organization) my llc name

· Last Name (or company/organization) leave blank

· Date of Licensure date LLC was formed

· Type of Profession custom software services

· Jurisdiction Country my county

· Licensing Authority my state

· License Number State registry # for LLC from licensing site

· Licensing Authority Website State business licensing site URL where LLC
was formed ($100/yr filing/renewal fee)

---------- Post added at 02:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 PM ----------

Look at http://registry.pro front page, on their website. That picture says it all.
Rich white male snobs. That's what their image seems to convey.
That's their target audience and the people they seem like they're
trying to impress or woo.

---------- Post added at 02:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:03 PM ----------

.PRO extension - Where grey haired professionals meet grey area rules:

Look at Encirca's $3.49 .PROmotional write up:
====================
EnCirca calls all the following professions to take advantage of this low price: Lawyers, Accountants, Engineers, Doctors, Architects, Dentists, Educators, Chiropractors, Veterinarians, Surveyors, Plumbers, Inspectors, Investment Advisors, Real Estate Brokers, Insurance Brokers, Nurses, Opticians, Optometrists, Podiatrists, Psychologists, Therapists, Social Workers, Building Contractors, Electricians, Patent and Trademark Examiners, Court Reporters, Police and Fire Safety Officers and any other profession where an official credential is required for a business or individual to offer services.
===================
So a software engineer with an LLC? Licensed sexual massage therapists? Professional broccoli chopper with a $39 state notary license and an unused notary pad? A dog walker with a city business license? A forum comedian determined to mock hypocritically snooty authoritarianism by finding loopholes, such as a gov't license of any sort?

---------- Post added at 02:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 PM ----------

********************************
*** AND REMEMBER, FOLKS ****
********************************

You can have FlibbertyGibblet.PRO if you are a licensed Investment Advisor!
Because there is a well-established link between the two professions!

You can have Software.PRO if you are a notary public, but not if you are
a professional software engineer with decades of professional software
development career work in senior positions at corporations.

 

[MicroGuy]

Based on the current .PRO rules, what are the current fully legitimate
ways to become a .PRO domain name holder?

I think simply registering the domain is sufficient. I know people who have used DL numbers, random numbers, etc., etc. This should be of NO concern. The registry does not care anymore about accreditation based on my understanding.

 

[sky]

I think simply registering the domain is sufficient. I know people who have used DL numbers, random numbers, etc., etc. This should be of NO concern. The registry does not care anymore about accreditation based on my understanding.

Unfortunately, for people who are basing their business on a domain name they can count on, that isn't a solid enough guarantee.

 

[webdomain]

Sky, if you have a business license use that. If you have any professional registration you can use that as well. I'd adhere to the rules, but also don't make it highly complicated for yourself.