What will be the biggest flop in '08?

[jacal1]

By the way, this IS an "official" thread - in case you were wondering :hehe: .

My guesses for biggest flops:

dictionary words with no commercial connection

.us

.tv

"brandable" nonsense words

LLLLs in anything but .com

all but the 4-5 biggest silent auctions (or was that '07?)

.biz (or was that '06?)

 

[Rubber Duck]

That's true. But end-users not always read and understand what certain tld means. According to your words .biz domains must have been second most popular after .com because its business internet zone. I don't read what .tel means but for me it sounds like domain somewhat connected to telephones. It can be phone numbers, mobile content, etc.

Some superpremium LL-Ls are already 2-3 regfees even considering that there are still available premium LL-Ls.

WTF is a Superpremium LL-L? To be recognised a Premium even surely there has to be tacit acknowledgement by the market that this class of domain is even investment grade in the first place?

 

[Andrei P.]

WTF is a Superpremium LL-L? To be recognised a Premium even surely there has to be tacit acknowledgement by the market that this class of domain is even investment grade in the first place?

f,g,h.o,g,l,o are considered worst premium letters
s, c, a (sometimes t and i if its first letter) are considered best premium letters. So domain like sn-s, sc-a, a-sm etc. are commonly considered super-premiums I encountered this classification several times already.

 

[Kate]

f,g,h.o,g,l,o are considered worst premium letters
s, c, a (sometimes t and i if its first letter) are considered best premium letters. So domain like sn-s, sc-a, a-sm etc. are commonly considered super-premiums I encountered this classification several times already.

Hyphened names like that do not classify as premium in my books either...

 

[hawkeye]

f,g,h.o,g,l,o are considered worst premium letters
s, c, a (sometimes t and i if its first letter) are considered best premium letters.

'o' must be a pretty bad letter if it gets mentioned twice in as a worse premium.

So domain like sn-s, sc-a, a-sm etc. are commonly considered super-premiums I encountered this classification several times already.

...oohh, definitely 'these types' of names look to be 'wise' and lucrative investments'.

 

[akcampbell]

.Pro is a commercial gTLD so it's worth mentioning, but not in the context of flopping in 2008 because it hasn't left its nest yet. It's ludicrously overpriced to register and has some dumb restrictions but it's easier on the eye and ear than other alternative extensions and very brandable.

Show.biz, Cable.tv and Ringtones.mobi are stunning but most alternative extensions lack goodness of fit with their keyword outside very narrow parameters. .Mobi works with anything mobile phone related even though it's a clumsy made up word and .tv works with anything to do with film, TV, and media. The strength of .Pro is it works with a very broad range of keywords because everybody wants to be a Pro at what they do.

I don't buy the old wives' tale that .Mobi is the red carpet for the mobile internet to strut down. It can't be beyond the wit of man to develop a browser that recognises screen resolution and adapts page layout accordingly. It seems a bit self-defeating to be betting on and against technology simultaneously.

Having said that, I can't see .mobi flopping in 2008, it does what it say on the tin with the right keyword, and the .mobi registry and other interested parties have worked miracles getting people to pay low to mid $XXX,XXX for the best keywords. It's the closest thing to alchemy I've ever seen and that sort of momentum isn't going to disappear overnight.

 

[sashas]

That's true. But end-users not always read and understand what certain tld means. According to your words .biz domains must have been second most popular after .com because its business internet zone. I don't read what .tel means but for me it sounds like domain somewhat connected to telephones. It can be phone numbers, mobile content, etc.

Agreed. End users don't always understand TLDs. They understand just .com. And believe me, I've been told that from more than one end user, that even .net are "worth nothing". Just do a search for generic names...many premium .coms are owned by end users, while the same names in .net, .org, etc. are held by domainers.

.com has been drilled into public consciousness so much that anything else seems like second change.

 

[ajkula]

There is no such a thing called "biggest flop" in the eye of end-user. Useful content (developed website) is ending goal for any internet user. Having a good domain name may be big plus for SEO, but for smart developer it is not such a big deal. :imho biggest flop in domainer’s world is when you are lazy to learn how to develop your internet property. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE can learn how to develop at least a simple mini-site.

 

[Kate]

They understand just .com.

And their own ccTLD (in most major developed countries)

 

[Rubber Duck]

f,g,h.o,g,l,o are considered worst premium letters
s, c, a (sometimes t and i if its first letter) are considered best premium letters. So domain like sn-s, sc-a, a-sm etc. are commonly considered super-premiums I encountered this classification several times already.

Do you believe everything you are told?

 

[Andrei P.]

Agreed. End users don't always understand TLDs. They understand just .com. And believe me, I've been told that from more than one end user, that even .net are "worth nothing". Just do a search for generic names...many premium .coms are owned by end users, while the same names in .net, .org, etc. are held by domainers.

.com has been drilled into public consciousness so much that anything else seems like second change.

Com is beyond competition. But when there is a choice between for example hyipoffers.com and hyip.biz I wouldn't tell that .com is definitely better.

f,g,h.o,g,l,o are considered worst premium letters
s, c, a (sometimes t and i if its first letter) are considered best premium letters. So domain like sn-s, sc-a, a-sm etc. are commonly considered super-premiums I encountered this classification several times already.

Do you believe everything you are told?

This in not only my opinion Letters S,C,A are most popular in acronyms and thus more companies might need it. Imaginary SCA.com would be much more expensive than GFH.com on reseller market. Let's end with this offtopic

 

[Rubber Duck]

Com is beyond competition. But when there is a choice between for example hyipoffers.com and hyip.biz I wouldn't tell that .com is definitely better.


This in not only my opinion Letters S,C,A are most popular in acronyms and thus more companies might need it. Imaginary SCA.com would be much more expensive than GFH.com on reseller market. Let's end with this offtopic

LL-L and L-LL have no intrinsic value irrespective of what letters they contain.

They are worthless now.

They will still be worthless in 20 years time.

I am big on acronyms myself but I have mainly gone for single Unicode Characters, yes IDN and they actually get type in more than top IDN Generics.

Acronyms are valuable in as much as they are in short supply in demand and intuitive. These LL-L frankly are none of these things. All it proves is that you are totally devoid of investment inspiration.

 

[domtastic]

I dont think anything will 'flop' in 2008 but I see a greater price margin between the uber-premium .com and the other extensions as time goes on.

I wish I knew the way .mobi was going to go. I have only 2 of those (my most valuable brands) and only regged those to protect myself, but no plans to develop them yet. I do think .mobi has the POTENTIAL to crash more than any other extension, because it's success is so dependent upon what the technology of mobile units achieves in the future with regards to handling full internet.

 

[thetruman]

LL-L and L-LL have no intrinsic value irrespective of what letters they contain.

They are worthless now.

They will still be worthless in 20 years time.

I am big on acronyms myself but I have mainly gone for single Unicode Characters, yes IDN and they actually get type in more than top IDN Generics.

Acronyms are valuable in as much as they are in short supply in demand and intuitive. These LL-L frankly are none of these things. All it proves is that you are totally devoid of investment inspiration.

Please read this recent sales (and there are more). Personally I own one so I am not into this kind of domains. Just a note on your sentence telling that those domains are worthless:they are not and you are wrong

few sales i found on namebio

be-b.com $400 sedo 2007-07-03

i-cy.com $246 sedo 2007-06-05

e-na.com $2k buydomains 17-01-07

 

[hawkeye]

Please read this recent sales (and there are more). Personally I own one so I am not into this kind of domains. Just a note on your sentence telling that those domains are worthless:they are not and you are wrong

One can find sales on .biz, .ws, etc etc. Doesn't make them wise or good investments.

 

[Shasta]

As for my predictions on the big losers of the year...I'd rather post on a thread titled "Best Bets" because I don't think this thread is good for the domain business. Most everything you post is slurped up by a bot and could end up on someones blog or wind up hurting your own portfolio or costing some domainer a sale.

.......................................................................................................

LL-L and L-LL have no intrinsic value irrespective of what letters they contain.

They are worthless now.

They will still be worthless in 20 years time.

I wouldn't lump all the ll-l and l-ll together. I've sold several in the $xx and $xxx. Also, I see here at namepros that S-UV is going for about $30 in one thread and $zz-z about the same, which is 4 x their registration fee.

be-b.com $400 sedo 2007-07-03

i-cy.com $246 sedo 2007-06-05

e-na.com $2k buydomains 17-01-07

If you were a small time enduser on a limited budget of say $500 or less, and you wanted to use your companies initials acp...which would you choose?

a-cp.com for $70
or acp.com for $7000

 

[thetruman]

One can find sales on .biz, .ws, etc etc. Doesn't make them wise or good investments.

I didn t say is a good or bad investments. Just giving sales figures that are evidently in contrast with the previous statement LL-L and L-LL have no intrinsic value irrespective of what letters they contain.

They are worthless now.

They will still be worthless in 20 years time.
Just isnt true. Do you agree?

 

[domainer50]

One can find sales on .biz, .ws, etc etc. Doesn't make them wise or good investments.

I dont understand that post at all. If I can pull up 100 sales of over $100 for .biz names and I buy some .biz names are you saying I made a bad investment? That is a very one sided post to me.

 

[Sam]

.mobi and .asia

 

[domainer50]

.mobi and .asia

I agree with .asia. However with .mobi if the person develops the site then :imho: it is a good buy.

 

[namewaiter]

The biggest flops of '08 will be some of these predictions ... it will be fun to revisit near '09

 

[Shasta]

I just found the post for 2006 predictions...

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...ns-for-2006-a.html?highlight=2007+predictions

Perhaps someone could find a link to the 2007 predictions?

 

[sashas]

I agree with .asia. However with .mobi if the person develops the site then :imho: it is a good buy.

Development basically goes against the entire idea of domaining. If you were developing, it wouldn't matter if it was a .mobi or a .la or a .bs. Last.fm is a good example, so is another .cc site in the Alexa top 100 (don't quite remember the name).
The very basic tenet of domaining is to get a name, park it, earn PPC, sell it at a later date for profit.
Development is something entirely different, and is pursued by non-domainers and domainers alike.

Think about it. You buy a 600k name, then spend another 50k developing and promoting it. You'll NEED to have a high Google rank for some VERY competitive keywords, for which you'll need to SEO the hell out of the site as you'll be competing with long established sites run by large corporations.
Moreover, quality content is not cheap.

Now if you had the .com, you could've at least counted on some very steady type-in traffic. But since your site is on some other obscure extension, even that avenue is closed to you.

So development at THIS stage in the game (5 years back it wasn't that hard) on a bad name in an obscure extension is not fruitful, IMO.

There's a good reason why its always recommended that you build your website on the best .com you can afford. Because that way, you know that the type-ins you get can be converted into users

Just my 3.5 cents

I just found the post for 2006 predictions...

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...ns-for-2006-a.html?highlight=2007+predictions

Perhaps someone could find a link to the 2007 predictions?

This is AMAZING!

Look at some of the predictions back in Dec. 2005:
1.) LLLL.coms will be regged out.

- They did reg out. But it took 2 years

2.) .us will be "queen" to .com's King.

- .us is nowhere on the map with very few sales and no reseller market.

3.) No more million dollar sales in 2006

- Don't know about 2006, but 2007 has seen some very healthy million dollar sales.


Hindsight gives you such a great view..

 

[Sam]

wretch.cc is the one you must be talking about. big big site!

 

[dna]

LLLL.COM has to be the dumbest idea being promoted by domainers.
There is no future for these domain names.
These names are worth less than nothing.

 

[thetruman]

true... how much you want to have for some of mine ? :yell: