new gtlds Greatest Lesson Learned From Rick Schwartz

[Digital Nomad]

When I first started domaining in 2011, I was excited about the new "opportunity" of .CO and I bought thousands of dollars of domains, I even bought many many .NETs! And I did read about @Rick Schwartz saying only buying .COM but I thought I knew better and had to see for myself.

Some years later after only two sales in .CO and one in .NET I dropped all thousands of names and bought only .COMs such as Rick always suggested! Within 2 months I sold my first name into the thousands of dollars, since then I was hooked. Now I have sold into the 6 figures and rising, all .COMs!

Rick has thought me a great many things, but first I had to fail to really understand his point of view. Maybe a lesson for these new gTLDs too for others? I do not know, but I do not own even 1 gTLD! I am not saying you cannot earn money with these, but the chances are much much much greater with a .COM, less risky.

PS this is just a opinion and a personal experience! Hope this helps. My 2 cents.

 

[NameOmnia]

Congrats, good job.
Just curios as what your investment in .com was. To sell 6 fig names you must have bought some great domains

 

[Ategy]

I all honesty .. without actually showing the actual domains you dropped it's impossible to know the true story behind your history?

.Co's aren't just _____.co ... there is a huge spectrum ranging from very good down to incredibly bad! Maybe it was more the fact you might have had really bad domains even for .co that lead you to not being successful? I am NOT saying that's what actually happened, but without seeing the actual domains nobody can really relate to your advice as either good or bad.

Sure .com's are great .. by far the most desired .. nobody is questioning that (or at least they shouldn't be domaining if they are .. lol)

But at some point the shorter more concise .co will be better than the .com that is available for a similar price. For example .. as an end user .. one could certainly prefer Authorise.co over YoureAuthorised.com. As time goes by, SOME shorter more concise premium non-com's will start to become more appealing than less premium longer 2-3 word .com's.

Some would say it's even already happening .. what's important to note is that it's not an absolute yes or no .. every domain comparison is unique .. plus it will change over time as awareness of non-com increases ..

Nobody is saying Authorise.co is worth more than Authorise.com ... simply that as time moves forward, more and more people will select Authorise.co over YoureAuthorised.com .. and if you have good premium non-com .. that's all you need .. but if you're holding YoureAuthorised.co (not .com), then you have a worthless domain that will likely never be sought after by any end user because they have too many other options available.

Here .. copy paste copy paste copy paste .. lol

I'm relatively new .. but I'm getting reeeeaaaally tired of the all or nothing debates on every aspect of the new gTLD's .. seriously .. there are so many factors and shades of grey that everybody conveniently leaves out to justify their point of view ...

Yes they can be some great use of them ..
.. but (IMO) yes most domainers don't seem to understand what works and what doesn't

Yes most of them are garbage ..
.. but yes some of them do have their rightful place on the Internet and are useful

Yes there was a good argument to add new TLD's
.. but yes they added too many and they were also implemented quite sloppily.

If you're buying 10 cent domains then unless you go there in the first 3 minutes it's very likely not worth it ..
.. if you're buying premiums that cost $1000's per year then it's also likely not worth it ..
.. if you find a cool span.thedot domain for $10-20 per year with an initial acquisition cost a fraction the cost of the equivalent .com then there's a chance you could be doing it right and might make a little $$ in the long term.

At the end of the day there are some fantastic nTLD domains ..
.. but most of them are garbage (seems I already said that .. lol)

So yes .. there are aspects of them that are inovative ...
.. and yes .. there are some aspects of them that are not!


ANYBODY who blanket judges and chooses one side or the other is missing out both potential losses and on potential opportunity.

Yes ... and ... Yes [/QUOTE]

 

[Digital Nomad]

Congrats, good job.
Just curios as what your investment in .com was. To sell 6 fig names you must have bought some great domains

What I meant is total sales, but have gotten offers close to 6 figures for single names too.
I started out if I remember correctly with about $5,000 in .COMs then reinvested all money of sold names in buying higher quality names and for renewals.

 

[Digital Nomad]

I all honesty .. without actually showing the actual domains you dropped it's impossible to know the true story behind your history?

.Co's aren't just _____.co ... there is a huge spectrum ranging from very good down to incredibly bad! Maybe it was more the fact you might have had really bad domains even for .co that lead you to not being successful? I am NOT saying that's what actually happened, but without seeing the actual domains nobody can really relate to your advice as either good or bad.

Sure .com's are great .. by far the most desired .. nobody is questioning that (or at least they shouldn't be domaining if they are .. lol)

But at some point the shorter more concise .co will be better than the .com that is available for a similar price. For example .. as an end user .. one could certainly prefer Authorise.co over YoureAuthorised.com. As time goes by, SOME shorter more concise premium non-com's will start to become more appealing than less premium longer 2-3 word .com's.

Some would say it's even already happening .. what's important to note is that it's not an absolute yes or no .. every domain comparison is unique .. plus it will change over time as awareness of non-com increases ..

Nobody is saying Authorise.co is worth more than Authorise.com ... simply that as time moves forward, more and more people will select Authorise.co over YoureAuthorised.com .. and if you have good premium non-com .. that's all you need .. but if you're holding YoureAuthorised.co (not .com), then you have a worthless domain that will likely never be sought after by any end user because they have too many other options available.

Here .. copy paste copy paste copy paste .. lol



Yes they can be some great use of them ..
.. but (IMO) yes most domainers don't seem to understand what works and what doesn't

Yes most of them are garbage ..
.. but yes some of them do have their rightful place on the Internet and are useful

Yes there was a good argument to add new TLD's
.. but yes they added too many and they were also implemented quite sloppily.

If you're buying 10 cent domains then unless you go there in the first 3 minutes it's very likely not worth it ..
.. if you're buying premiums that cost $1000's per year then it's also likely not worth it ..
.. if you find a cool span.thedot domain for $10-20 per year with an initial acquisition cost a fraction the cost of the equivalent .com then there's a chance you could be doing it right and might make a little $$ in the long term.

At the end of the day there are some fantastic nTLD domains ..
.. but most of them are garbage (seems I already said that .. lol)

So yes .. there are aspects of them that are inovative ...
.. and yes .. there are some aspects of them that are not!


ANYBODY who blanket judges and chooses one side or the other is missing out both potential losses and on potential opportunity.

Yes ... and ... Yes

First thing I learned is to have respect, be quiet and read and listen and be open minded, then speak more.

There is a saying, if you have never tried an apple before, and I try to explain to you how it tastes with thousands of words and books and videos, about the chemistry properties, experiences of others etc., photos of apple fields... Will you trust my word if I tell you it tastes good? No of course not and that is understandable. But whenever you take a bite for yourself, only then will you really know the taste of an apple, and no one else has to tell you otherwise. Maybe you would not like the taste of the apple, but that is your personal taste.

When Rick said buy .COM I just did not listen, and wanted to see for myself, and it has cost me thousands of dollars in losses. Some names I had in .CO where iRemember - Baked - TattooIdeas (still own it for SEO purposes, the only one I have left, no offer ever received and which has more than 100k searches/month) - anyways I do not have to explain to you my friend. This was just a post to help, if you want to listen good for you, if you do not want to listen, also good. People always try a way to blame/criticize or praise, always, whoever and whatever one says or does, good or bad. It is all fine, good luck with your investments. I also have to add, if you or anyone else has shitty .COMs they will not sell either

FYI to earn this PRO badge (which I am proud to wear) I had to send videos of my escrow accounts to the NP management team for verification. This is not to brag, I have never really reported anything in the open, I have even rejected multiple interviews to avoid trouble/negativity and jealousy, but all I am trying to say now is that .COM is indeed the best extension to own, and I hope this inspires newbies like you and I mean it in good faith!

PS Here are just some past sales I reported: https://www.namepros.com/threads/report-completed-domain-name-sales-here.83628/page-511

Peace,
Frans

 

[DnEbook]

Good luck with it all

 

[Ategy]

Hey hey .. lol .. I wasn't saying your advice was bad .. but I was simply pointing out that it's not even really advice if the .co names in question are not shared to bring context to the said advice!

People can make money in .co and .com *IF* they buy the right domains at the right price.

iRemember.co isn't what I would consider a good enough domain for .co .. but I own .co names like MassMedia, OnlinePayment, Persuasive, Autoroute, Decibel, Potash, Wealthy, Optometry, Lernen, Authorise, Hypotheque, Sante and Impotence .. all which I consider to be obviously less valuable than their .com equivalent .. however I do think they are equal at least to good solid 2-3 word .com's .. which is all i need them to be worth in order to make nice margins!

I'm fairly sure most old school domainers would say to stay away from anything non-com .. but that's more likely because it's harder to find good solid non-com like the ones I've mentioned at relatively low cost. So the advice as a broad unspecific generality is well intended .. but actually not precise in any way because opportunity is there in non-com .. just as it is equally easy for someone to lose their shirt in .com if they buy bad .com domains.

Rick's advice is about as good as can be for 140 characters .. and at that it certainly is well intended I have no doubt .. he's also right that most non-com registered are garbage .. but the longer and more complete answer is that there is also a lot of .com garbage out there while all there being some good solid non-com available.

The more complete answer is the one that should be given to new domainers .. along with thorough examples of what constitutes good and bad domains in both com and non-com (because even I will agree that the standards of what makes a good domain differs drastically between the various TLD's)!

 

[Digital Nomad]

Hey hey .. lol .. I wasn't saying your advice was bad .. but I was simply pointing out that it's not even really advice if the .co names in question are not shared to bring context to the said advice!

People can make money in .co and .com *IF* they buy the right domains at the right price.

iRemember.co isn't what I would consider a good enough domain for .co .. but I own .co names like MassMedia, OnlinePayment, Persuasive, Autoroute, Decibel, Potash, Wealthy, Optometry, Lernen, Authorise, Hypotheque, Sante and Impotence .. all which I consider to be obviously less valuable than their .com equivalent .. however I do think they are equal at least to good solid 2-3 word .com's .. which is all i need them to be worth in order to make nice margins!

I'm fairly sure most old school domainers would say to stay away from anything non-com .. but that's more likely because it's harder to find good solid non-com like the ones I've mentioned at relatively low cost. So the advice as a broad unspecific generality is well intended .. but actually not precise in any way because opportunity is there in non-com .. just as it is equally easy for someone to lose their shirt in .com if they buy bad .com domains.

Rick's advice is about as good as can be for 140 characters .. and at that it certainly is well intended I have no doubt .. he's also right that most non-com registered are garbage .. but the longer and more complete answer is that there is also a lot of .com garbage out there while all there being some good solid non-com available.

The more complete answer is the one that should be given to new domainers .. along with thorough examples of what constitutes good and bad domains in both com and non-com (because even I will agree that the standards of what makes a good domain differs drastically between the various TLD's)!

Keep in mind that I do appreciate your feedback and will listen to anyone. Only thing I will say now is baked.co sold for about $406 and baked.com for about $15,000. What is the difference? .COM!

 

[Justin Matmor]

If a user was asked to type in the browser baked.co I guarantee you 99% of users would type in baked.com

The difference is enormous.

 

[Digital Nomad]

If a user was asked to type in the browser baked.co I guarantee you 99% of users would type in baked.com

The difference is enormous.

I did a test with family and friends, for example I asked them to remember the domain bla.bla
After an half hour I ask them to type it in a browser ALL typed in blabla.com instead of bla.bla!

EDIT:

If you are gonna try it, remember to ask them without explaining to them about new gTLDs and the difference with .com and let time pass, just like in a commercial they will not explain why there is no .com, but just say go to bla.bla. And the time delay is important too, it is like seeing a billboard when driving and then in a half hour coming home to type the URL in the browser you saw.

 

[Ategy]

Keep in mind that I do appreciate your feedback and will listen to anyone. Only thing I will say now is baked.co sold for about $406 and baked.com for about $15,000. What is the difference? .COM!

Again .. I never EVER say otherwise .. in fact .. if you read my post above you'll see:

Nobody is saying Authorise.co is worth more than Authorise.com ... simply that as time moves forward, more and more people will select Authorise.co over YoureAuthorised.com .. and if you have good premium non-com .. that's all you need .. but if you're holding YoureAuthorised.co (not .com), then you have a worthless domain that will likely never be sought after by any end user because they have too many other options available.

It is completely wrong to compare Baked.co with Baked.com because the acquisition costs are in completely different universes .. sure Baked.co sold for $400 and Baked.com sold for $15,000 .. but if you were to purchase them both you'd probably pay $40 for baked.co and well over $3000 for baked.com

ROI on .co = 10x
ROI on .com = 5x

Final sale price is only one half of making money in domaining ... and most would likely say the far more important half is what you buy a domain at ... because that's what you can control the most ...


But that's just one example ... it could easily go the other way as well and it could just as easily be a bigger % for a different domain in .com vs .co .. I admit .. my point actually isn't that .co is better than .com .. but actually that you can find opportunities in both *IF* you buy the right domain at the right price!

 

[Digital Nomad]

Again .. I never EVER say otherwise .. in fact .. if you read my post above you'll see:



It is completely wrong to compare Baked.co with Baked.com because the acquisition costs are in completely different universes .. sure Baked.co sold for $400 and Baked.com sold for $15,000 .. but if you were to purchase them both you'd probably pay $40 for baked.co and well over $3000 for baked.com

ROI on .co = 10x
ROI on .com = 5x

Final sale price is only one half of making money in domaining ... and most would likely say the far more important half is what you buy a domain at ... because that's what you can control the most ...


But that's just one example ... it could easily go the other way as well and it could just as easily be a bigger % for a different domain in .com vs .co .. I admit .. my point actually isn't that .co is better than .com .. but actually that you can find opportunities in both *IF* you buy the right domain at the right price!

I recently hand registered iimmerse.com goimmerse.com and a lot of others, which is a booming trend in VR/AR/MR if you know about that. Would I register iimmerse.co or iimmerse.com or iimmerse.network? There are so many opportunities now. Go look into the completed sales I and others reported above (Edit: keep scrolling for more), and you will see how cheap I bought some .COMs and sold them for huge profits with ROI's of 500x and more! So buy the right domain for the right price in the right extension .COM! Anyways my man, all the best to you Am just trying to help, I can show you the path, but I cannot walk it for you.

 

[Digital Nomad]

Today was announced that virtual.network sold for a whopping $15,000! Congrats to the seller.
(link removed by Staff)

So indeed there is value in new gTLDs, but how much more is the .com worth? Does anyone know? What do you think?

 

[Justin Matmor]

$2m

 

[Digital Nomad]

$2m

Who knows, a enduser may surely pay into the mid-high six figures to low 7 figures for sure! Tried to buy it but not for sale as expected.

 

[GoKaizen]

Rick bought a lot of .CO domains too, then dropped them.

When I first started domaining in 2011, I was excited about the new "opportunity" of .CO and I bought thousands of dollars of domains, I even bought many many .NETs! And I did read about @Rick Schwartz saying only buying .COM but I thought I knew better and had to see for myself.

What type of domains do you buy/sell?

Some years later after only two sales in .CO and one in .NET I dropped all thousands of names and bought only .COMs such as Rick always suggested! Within 2 months I sold my first name into the thousands of dollars, since then I was hooked. Now I have sold into the 6 figures and rising, all .COMs!

Each dollar you spend on new gTLDs could have been better spent on .com, .org, or ccTLDs.

Rick has thought me a great many things, but first I had to fail to really understand his point of view. Maybe a lesson for these new gTLDs too for others? I do not know, but I do not own even 1 gTLD! I am not saying you cannot earn money with these, but the chances are much much much greater with a .COM, less risky.

PS this is just a opinion and a personal experience! Hope this helps. My 2 cents.

 

[Tia Wood]

When I first started domaining in 2011, I was excited about the new "opportunity" of .CO and I bought thousands of dollars of domains

OUCH

Glad it worked out for you though. Sounds like you turned it around.

 

[Digital Nomad]

OUCH

Glad it worked out for you though. Sounds like you turned it around.

Thanks for your kind words It really can work for everybody, that is the only reason I said it in the open after all these years. It is never too late, anything is possible, let go of mistakes, and repeat what has worked and increase your chances. Hope this inspires others too, that in can be done, even with a low budget today.

 

[Digital Nomad]

Each dollar you spend on new gTLDs could have been better spent on .com, .org, or ccTLDs.

The absolute best is only in .com for the right price vs. quality.

Not saying it is not possible to earn good money with .nets, .orgs, ccTLDs, ngTLDs, but a .com truly increases the chances to sell on the long run and the value is proven to rise in time with good names, it is less risky and more stable.

There are many opportunities to buy cheap and sell high, but it is hard work for sure, nothing comes easy.
I have worked maybe about 20 hours a day for 6 months straight to learn, buy, sell, read, and read some more about what the best in this industry have done etc. @Ali is a great example of hard work and that anything is possible if you put your heart and soul into it, anytime, anywhere, no matter what, it is truly never too late. But never forget to love life, do not work too hard for too long, because life is way too short.

 

[Brand Herald]

I agree wholeheartedly to invest predominantly in .CoMs regardless of whether one is new to domaining or not. The occasional flutter with a Gtld reg may not hurt - in fact, it may work out handsomely if the reg has meaning (such as prop.bet or virtual.network) - but unless an investor really knows what he/she is doing, it's likely best to stay away for multiple GTLDs reg

 

[Digital Nomad]

I agree wholeheartedly to invest predominantly in .CoMs regardless of whether one is new to domaining or not. The occasional flutter with a Gtld reg may not hurt - in fact, it may work out handsomely if the reg has meaning (such as prop.bet or virtual.network) - but unless an investor really knows what he/she is doing, it's likely best to stay away for multiple GTLDs reg

Totally agree, and a advice to beginners is to read a lot here on NP and on all domain blogs (for example ricksblog, thedomains etc.), study past sales at dnjournal/namebio and watch as many interviews at domainsherpa. Do all of this before investing any penny, believe me from experience, it will save you a lot of money.