discuss How to register new gTLD names in 2019 (and actually sell them).

[Brands.International]

How to register new gTLD names in 2019
(and actually sell them).

This is written particularly for new domain investors - I hope it will save you some money
It is only my personal opinion, and I might be wrong (of course). So here we go:
​

1. Register 1 word domain name, in most cases try to avoid 2 word domain names ​

Example of 1 word domain name: holy.life. Example of 2 word domain name: myholy.life or ourholy.life.
Why? Because chances of selling 2 word domain name in new gTLD space is very small (consult namebio.com). Do not think you can outsmart someone with your word1word2.gTLD combo...in most cases you will not outsmart anyone, and usually you will be dropping such names after 1 year. There are exceptions from this rule of course, but safest bet is to simply avoid it, particularly when you just start with domain investing.

2. Register names with not many alternatives in new gTLD space​

This simply means, that end users can not find alternatives for your name in other new gTLD extension, for reg fee.(use uniregistry.com to check that). Particularly when you ignore point no.1 and register 2 word domain name, you will usually find that your string exists in dozens of other new gTLD extensions...and is available to be registered by anyone for reg fee. This subsequently means you will have no leverage when it comes to negotiations with end users.To learn exactly what "alternatives in new gTLD space" means, read this new gTLD appraisal thread here.

3. Register names with large pools of potential end users.​

You can have perfect new gTLD name, but if there are only few suitable end users who can use your name, it will usually take long time to sell it. If you register name where millions of potential end users exist (so something pretty broad and generic), you will be getting much more offers, and you will be able to close much more sales.

4. To be first is not always better...sometimes it is better to be second.​

When registering new gTLD names, consider this: when extension is brand new, there is almost zero awareness about it among end users (unless there is a huge marketing campaign for it you know about).
It can take years for awareness to be created. This also means that for many extensions there is almost 0 aftermarket in early times. Usually only fellow domain investors. This is natural - if something is very new, almost no one knows about it. So if you want to be first to get best names, fine, but budget for your investments accordingly - it is not wise to expect that you will buy something totally new for USD 10, and you will be able to flip it to end user for USD 10k. It happens, but rarely. There are many experienced new gTLD domain investors, who simply wait for drops after 1st year and pick up some very nice names. But this wisdom comes with years of investing experience and is not something what can be intuitively understood, at least from what I see.

5. Make sure renewals of your domain names are sustainable.​

Second most important thing in new gTLD domain investment (after quality of the name) - make sure you understand renewal fees for your domain names. In order for you to be in a long term game, renewal fees of your domain names must be sustainable (aka low). Otherwise you will be dropping almost all of your names after 1 year, and all your effort will be wasted.

6. Make proper landers for your names​

Do not just let your domain names without proper landing pages. Do not be lazy and immediately prepare landers for them. Imo best option is undeveloped.com atm, but many good alternatives are available as well.
Some old school domainers are used to the fact that they were contacted by people who found their contact details in WHOIS database - this is not possible anymore, as due to GDPR legislation most records from WHOIS database are now masked. This also means that when you have new gTLD domain name, your details will be masked in most cases (again, there are few exceptions from this rule, but do not rely on them),. Buyers thus have no way how to contact you. Clear landing pages are a must in 2019.

7. Do not follow the herd.​

Just because all people at Namepros are registering .panda (just an example), it does not mean you also need to register .panda...Most people are not profitable and are actually loosing lot of money - so if you will do the same thing as most people, you will have the same results as most people....

When you follow the herd, it is not only that competition is huge, but you will end up registering nonsense word1 word2 names, in times where there is no aftermarket created yet, when you do not know if there are some renewal promotions in future, when major domain selling sites not yet support that extension, and when there is no awareness yet among end users. Likely result of your action: you will drop your names prior first renewal round. This is happening since 2014 in many forms and shapes, still it seems like most people like to repeat those mistakes happily again and again.

You need to find your niche/extensions/areas of expertise and go from there. The most lucrative way is still to buy new gTLD names from fellow domain investors, but almost no one is doing it, except few people. Typical newbie new gTLD domain "investor" will rather spend USD 10 on 200 bad names and will not sell even 1 of them, prior dropping them all, then to pay USD 2000 for 1 great name which can sell for great profit. Which leads to:

8. Get 2-3 good names instead of 200-300 bad names (which you will drop anyway).​

Buy only quality new gTLD names, as only highest quality sells in 2019. And you know that you have great new gTLD domain name, if you have a good feeling renewing it 9 years in advance.This should be always your test: am I confident enought for this name, so I have no problem to pay years in advance for it's renewal fees? Now to critics which would tell you that you are blocking unnecessarily your capital by paying renewals in advance, I would like to remind:
a) renew your name years in advance if there is a great renewal promotion (you can save sometimes 90% of total cost, as some renewal promotions for new gTLDs are simply amazing)
b) when you renew your new gTLD name 9 years in advance, it tells your potential buyers something about your commitment....in my experience, it is much easier to negotiate if your name is renewed like that.

Buyers are not stupid: they will check everything possible about you and your names, and in most cases they are simply waiting if the name does not expire/if you do not drop it . But when we are in 2019 and your name is renewed until 2027, this waiting game is simply over for them, and they need to approach you if they want the name. But to play this game, you really need to have good new gTLD names.

9. Get to social media and make lot of connections.
​

Do not be a secret seller. Have your portfolio clearly visible to anyone, and go to Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Youtube and Facebook at least. People with most success have great online presence, and professionally looking marketplaces.

10. Price your domain names as a pro, do not be a chicken
​

Look, if you price your domains with $120 price tag (for example), this will result in following: you will sell your best domains quickly for low price (and when you report it, fellow domain investors will say Congrats congrats, congrats, and you will feel great as super-seller), but at the same time you will be left with portfolio of bad domain names, which no one wants even for this low price tag. This is sure way to poor financial status and poverty. You do not want that. New gTLD names are very unique, as they are are pure phrases without any suffix, and are therefore also geo neutral. They have great value, and this value grows in time.
If you have great new gTLD name, renew it for years in advance, and do not let it go for cheap - as one day you might retire on it...

11. Bonus point - do not listen to "voices of past" with "only .com is an good investment" mantra
​

This is already past us and so not 2019 - luckily we see this nonsense less and less ...

What is your opinion when it comes to new gTLDs registrations ? ​

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

Whois registry reserved? Dot com registry Verisign has no second level ‘live’ names on their dot com Registry Agreement Schedule of Reserved Names, last rev 1-December-2012.

https://shop.whois.com/domain-registration/index.php

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

timen.space (time n space)
standing.space

and because most were unavailable... except...

unavailable.space

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

Names like arcv.live? What you talk about? Awful.

I bet you said IT was awful, the internet was just a fad.

You don't even know what it means. I've been a Systems Developer and Programmer for 30 years. Let me enlighten you about something called new technology.

 

[johnnie018]

Putting in some simple numbers. Let's say I have a name that based on previous sales if it sells would sell for $1200. Let me also estimate that the probability of sale is 1/400 This means it only makes sense as a domain investment if the annual cost is $3 (overlooking a few things for simplification). That means it might be worth my while to try it for one year if I can get it at $1 or $2 (although barely so) but probably not worth keeping if my lowest renewal (at a registrar I want to use) is $9. It also means if I could get a multi year renewal at $3 per year it might make sense, but not at $6 per year (if I trust the precision of my numbers to that degree).

Google's extensions have pricing that make them more like .com, except for premium and EAP about $12 per year period, but many others are like my example.

I think deciding some of your domains have a one year exit plan, unless you have offers or inquiries which makes the probability more favourable, also is an inducement to get them listed and in front of potential purchasers.

Bob

Interesting, I would say though the the margin is too small, all business have costs.

The problem is the 1 in 400 and the $1,200 selling price. If the odds are that bad at such a low price resale price then you've got to put a big question mark next to that type of name.

 

[johnnie018]

I bet you said IT was awful, the internet was just a fad.

You don't even know what it means. I've been a Systems Developer and Programmer for 30 years. Let me enlighten you about something called new technology.

Show attachment 111384

You are right, I had no idea what it meant, and I still have no idea! You are slamming other names (e.g. 4 letter .com) whilst the names you are buying are much lower quality.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

You are right, I had no idea what it meant, and I still have no idea! You are slamming other names (e.g. 4 letter .com) whilst the names you are buying are much lower quality.

You are a guesser. If that works for you then great.

I am not against acronyms or short names.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

Don't be naive people .com might just end up meaning "common" with the right marketing from the domain registries. A lot of old domainers in here. Talking down to the young who are selling to... young entrepreneurs. How do you think that will work for you in the near future?

Look at these prices... digest... and get smarter.

exhibition.space $7.000 USD / renewal $7.000 USD

exhibiting.space $0.88 USD / renewal $38 USD

Change is not coming. It is here. Better be prepared.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

I bought 20 domains last night for around 50 USD but I looked at about 200 which could have cost $40.000 USD in total. There are some gems.

Even @NYJimbo got himself a cool Iggy Pop domain in the new gTLD zone.

 

[johnnie018]

Don't be naive people .com might just end up meaning "common" with the right marketing from the domain registries. A lot of old domainers in here. Talking down to the young who are selling to... young entrepreneurs. How do you think that will work for you in the near future?

Look at these prices... digest... and get smarter.

exhibition.space $7.000 USD / renewal $7.000 USD

exhibiting.space $0.88 USD / renewal $38 USD

Change is not coming. It is here. Better be prepared.

I don't think you are actually selling domains, just talking up the low quality names you've registered.

Exhibiting.space is not a good name, it doesn't even make grammatical sense. It is not worth 88 cents or even 1 cent.

 

[Brands.International]

Can I state something obvious, but that I think we overlook. Many (not all) new extensions have significantly lower prices in the first year than in later years, even if you do shop around for the best renewal rates as discussed earlier in the thread.

If we look at the idea that your probability of a sale times the expected net profit from the sale must be greater than a yearly cost for the investment to make sense, then it seems to me that there are domains that make sense to hold for one year, but may not have sound arguments to hold longer.

Putting in some simple numbers. Let's say I have a name that based on previous sales if it sells would sell for $1200. Let me also estimate that the probability of sale is 1/400 This means it only makes sense as a domain investment if the annual cost is $3 (overlooking a few things for simplification). That means it might be worth my while to try it for one year if I can get it at $1 or $2 (although barely so) but probably not worth keeping if my lowest renewal (at a registrar I want to use) is $9. It also means if I could get a multi year renewal at $3 per year it might make sense, but not at $6 per year (if I trust the precision of my numbers to that degree).

Google's extensions have pricing that make them more like .com, except for premium and EAP about $12 per year period, but many others are like my example.

I think deciding some of your domains have a one year exit plan, unless you have offers or inquiries which makes the probability more favourable, also is an inducement to get them listed and in front of potential purchasers.

Bob

Thanks Bob, this is a very nice summary of what I like to call "1 year experiment".

I go this route as well myself, partially. But It is always best to have some kind of balance between our "core names" (those which we wish to hold for many years) and "experimental names" (those which we want to experiment with in a 1 year period). From my experience, ideal ratio for good portfolios should be 9:1 (so if you have 100 names, 90 should be core names, and 10 can be experimental names).

I think it is important to have some experimental names - of those regs prove profitable, one can extend them. If not, to drop them is the best way to do ("do not send good money after bad money" is the name of the game here)

Some people seem to have only experimental names - in many cases they will probably loose money, because to get probabilities of sales right (in a way as you described in it your post) is not easy at all, and many investors are overestimating them

 

[Grego85]

Waaay too much hand reg talk here imo. Hand regging is almost always settling for lower tier names. Everyone has their own approach I guess, but in the ngtld space I cant see how you can expect to make it off mostly hand regs. Its very very difficult to make that approach work even with .com names.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Waaay too much hand reg talk here imo. Hand regging is almost always settling for lower tier names. Everyone has their own approach I guess, but in the ngtld space I cant see how you can expect to make it off mostly hand regs. Its very very difficult to make that approach work even with .com names.

Greg..in all due respect it really is all about marketing...it always is

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I would like to see in this thread a little discussion about this....

Do not be a secret seller. Have your portfolio clearly visible to anyone, and go to Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Youtube and Facebook at least. People with most success have great online presence, and professionally looking marketplaces.

I feel a little bit conflicted. I agree for sure about having a portfolio clearly visible and a professional looking marketplace. Social media, I am less sure. I know that some, like @lolwarrior are really active on LinkedIn and if you have great connections there I can see that can be very helpful. Posting good content there is a way to establish a personal brand and get known. I also see that Twitter might be helpful (as long as you don't abuse it) to make it known what your niche is and make some connections.

I have never had an Instagram account. Is it helpful for domains?

I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook, and I must say I personally would not consider using it for domaining. But have some done so successfully?

Now I have never done it, but if you have the technical skills and time and energy, I can see that a well done YouTube channel might well help you reach a good audience some of whom might be interested in your domains.

What do others think? If you've had success please let us know.

Bob

 

[johnnie018]

I would like to see in this thread a little discussion about this....


I feel a little bit conflicted. I agree for sure about having a portfolio clearly visible and a professional looking marketplace. Social media, I am less sure. I know that some, like @lolwarrior are really active on LinkedIn and if you have great connections there I can see that can be very helpful. Posting good content there is a way to establish a personal brand and get known. I also see that Twitter might be helpful (as long as you don't abuse it) to make it known what your niche is and make some connections.

I have never had an Instagram account. Is it helpful for domains?

I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook, and I must say I personally would not consider using it for domaining. But have some done so successfully?

Now I have never done it, but if you have the technical skills and time and energy, I can see that a well done YouTube channel might well help you reach a good audience some of whom might be interested in your domains.

What do others think? If you've had success please let us know.

Bob

It is garbages advice. A good names will attract interest by itself, the right kind of interest. Trying to promote domains result in the wrong kind of interest, people who just aren't very interested. For the people who post on social media or spam, those people are desperate becoz their names are no good.

When they don't get inquiries they think the problem is they need to promote the names, instead they should let those names expire and try to figure out what names will have people knocking

 

[johnnie018]

Everyone should look at brand.international right now. This is not the way to sell domains, it lists hundreds of unsold domains, there is logo designed for names, some names are near identical to others.

It is like looking at a house to buy and they tell you they will mow the lawns for a year and throw in a free grill if you buy, when you try to sneak out without being further accosted with a sales pitch the agent tells you the rest of the street is also for sale.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

I don't think you are actually selling domains, just talking up the low quality names you've registered.

Exhibiting.space is not a good name, it doesn't even make grammatical sense. It is not worth 88 cents or even 1 cent.

Spot on. I am not selling (for now). So what am I doing with these names you may ask yourself?

You were probably right about the exhibiting but I have seen worse. So now I just bought exhibitor.space for 88cents.

Anyway johnnie018 you buy and sell domains whereas I build and sell products. There is a big difference.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

I would like to see in this thread a little discussion about this....


I feel a little bit conflicted. I agree for sure about having a portfolio clearly visible and a professional looking marketplace. Social media, I am less sure. I know that some, like @lolwarrior are really active on LinkedIn and if you have great connections there I can see that can be very helpful. Posting good content there is a way to establish a personal brand and get known. I also see that Twitter might be helpful (as long as you don't abuse it) to make it known what your niche is and make some connections.

I have never had an Instagram account. Is it helpful for domains?

I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook, and I must say I personally would not consider using it for domaining. But have some done so successfully?

Now I have never done it, but if you have the technical skills and time and energy, I can see that a well done YouTube channel might well help you reach a good audience some of whom might be interested in your domains.

What do others think? If you've had success please let us know.

Bob

Social media has a definite advantage over the listing sites because there is more interaction.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

I don't think you are actually selling domains, just talking up the low quality names you've registered.

Exhibiting.space is not a good name, it doesn't even make grammatical sense. It is not worth 88 cents or even 1 cent.

Btw. The image shows comparisons. The total amount to prove the .88cents against $7000 USD. I didn't actually buy exhibiting.space

 

[Brands.International]

Waaay too much hand reg talk here imo. Hand regging is almost always settling for lower tier names. Everyone has their own approach I guess, but in the ngtld space I cant see how you can expect to make it off mostly hand regs. Its very very difficult to make that approach work even with .com names.

Totally agree with @Grego85 .. people should seriously discuss much more important things, and that is the ability to drop - catch. Or another important skill, and that is an ability to buy from other fellow investors for wholesale prices.

Seriously - I guess from my 1k+ new gTLD names, there are maybe 20 where I am the first registrant for them (and honestly, those are probably not my best names, lol

 

[Brands.International]

I would like to see in this thread a little discussion about this....


I feel a little bit conflicted. I agree for sure about having a portfolio clearly visible and a professional looking marketplace. Social media, I am less sure. I know that some, like @lolwarrior are really active on LinkedIn and if you have great connections there I can see that can be very helpful. Posting good content there is a way to establish a personal brand and get known. I also see that Twitter might be helpful (as long as you don't abuse it) to make it known what your niche is and make some connections.

I have never had an Instagram account. Is it helpful for domains?

I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook, and I must say I personally would not consider using it for domaining. But have some done so successfully?

Now I have never done it, but if you have the technical skills and time and energy, I can see that a well done YouTube channel might well help you reach a good audience some of whom might be interested in your domains.

What do others think? If you've had success please let us know.

Bob

Bob, social media are amazing. Yesterday I had lovely moment on LinkedIn, as I just achieved 10k followers there. I should have more, but I am pretty lazy. I am also in 42 groups, too complext to describe here really which (but they are in relation to my domain, like crypto, real estate, cannabis, etc).

Anyway, I want to have 30k followers on Linkedin until end of this year. I am not yet on Facebook, Twitter , Instagram or Youtube yet, but that will change in future.

Why social media? For example 2 days ago, I made simple post about my names in LInkedin. It took me 1 minute, and of course, I do not pay anything for it, it is totally free to post there. Until 24 hours, it got few likes, and about 1000 people checked it in their feed. Those 1000 people are all end users, marketing directors, company owners, etc...so people with money and interest, aka relevant end user pool

I got 3 inquires related to that post just in that 1 day. People are curious about new gTLDs, some of them never heard of them, some simply just ask "how much".....using social media, you can make deals within minutes.

It is all about visibility: if people do not know about our domain names, they will not consider them. I think to spend 1 minute to post to LInkedIn and to reach 1000 relevant people without any additional effort is much easier then to send 1000 emails with your domain names (which would be spam anyway)...and of course, try to send 1000 emails..that is quite an effort

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Waaay too much hand reg talk here imo. Hand regging is almost always settling for lower tier names. Everyone has their own approach I guess, but in the ngtld space I cant see how you can expect to make it off mostly hand regs. Its very very difficult to make that approach work even with .com names.

Thanks for the well expressed commentary. I have no doubt that those in .com who do it as a business (i.e. full time or nearly so) for the most part ignore hand-reg in .com.

I think the situation in ngTLDs is somewhat different, however, and I am not as convinced that there is a significant quality difference between the best hand-reg and the best ones available for purchase from other domainers at reasonable prices. I say this for 4 reasons.

1. The saturation is way less in the ngTLD (even when you include the registry reserved names). In .com there are roughly 138 million names registered. Most of the ngTLD extensions considered by investors have about 1 million or less, so naturally more names are still available.
2. Many fewer domain investors are looking in the ngTLD space. In .com many hundreds of thousands of domain investors have been searching the space for decades. It really is true that except for new trends or really creative names, most ideas have already been considered and usually registered. In the new extension space not only have people had at most a few years to look, but also the number of people looking is far fewer and there are many more places to look (500+ available extensions).
3. The registration/renewal pricing favours expiration in the ngTLD space. I never used to do this, but in recent months I have more often used tools like DT to look at a history of names I was considering or had acquired. If I don't include newish extensions (like APP, PAGE, ICU) most names I am acquiring have been held previously even though I am hand regging them. Also, when I let names drop in many cases I see someone else picks them up as hand-reg within a few days. Officially the new owner has hand-regged because of the expiration, but essentially someone has held the name most of its available life.
4. There is not a developed drop-catch and auction system for ngTLDs. I might be uninformed but to my knowledge there are not similar paid services for catching ngTLDs by paying an extra fee as there is in .com, nor has any auction place become the go-to place for domainer to domainer auctions in the way that GoDaddy and NameJet are (and Flippa used to be) for the legacy extensions. The closest would be Dynadot. It seems that there are places in China active in new extension resale market. I actually view it as a positive that there are not companies taking a cut of this, and prefer the new extension system of expiration and being picked up by alert followers at hand-reg fees without an additional charge.

I personally am not opposed to buying from other domainers (or selling to them ) but only rarely do I see names that I want at the available prices. Yes, I do scan the NPs offerings and the Namecheap Marketplace offerings for quality names at discount prices, but it is only a small part of my acquisition strategy.

I think this is another place that the experience of successful .com domain investors, while fantastically valuable in that space (knowing valuations, how to pick up great dropping names and at auction, etc.), has only limited transferability to the new gTLD space. I think @lolwarrior comment at the bottom of his OP has been misinterpreted. He was not discounting .com expertise for commenting on the legacy investing space, but pointing out that unless they have actually followed and invested in ngTLD space the truths they have learned in legacy investing are not necessarily as helpful in new extension investing. At the same time there are factors (like finding competitive renewal pricing) that are important in ngTLDs but not so critical in legacy investing.

Thank you for your well expressed comment. While I feel somewhat differently for the reasons above, I totally agree that the view you made is legitimate and many would agree.

Bob

 

[Bob Hawkes]

By the way, maybe others knew of this, but I realized today that DomainNameStats make it really easy to browse both new registrations in an extension, and also the names that are dropping in the extension.

For example here is a link for .solutions domain names that dropped today
https://domainnamestats.com/solutions/dropped-domains

Or here is a link for the .dev domain names added today, arranged alphabetically (a lot in that list!)
https://domainnamestats.com/dev/new-domains

You need to use the little pull down menu at the middle top to choose today or the last few dates.

Very nice!

Bob

 

[johnnie018]

Btw. The image shows comparisons. The total amount to prove the .88cents against $7000 USD. I didn't actually buy exhibiting.space

Both equally bad names. $7,000 or 88 cents it is a complete waste.

 

[johnnie018]

1. The saturation is way less in the ngTLD (even when you include the registry reserved names). In .com there are roughly 138 million names registered. Most of the ngTLD extensions considered by investors have about 1 million or less, so naturally more names are still available.

Nah, ntlds have 25million names registered and 1% market share of the aftermarket, that is a completely saturated situation. Why you keep on pushing these names given your own statistics show that they sell badly?

 

[johnnie018]

Bob, social media are amazing. Yesterday I had lovely moment on LinkedIn, as I just achieved 10k followers there. I should have more, but I am pretty lazy. I am also in 42 groups, too complext to describe here really which (but they are in relation to my domain, like crypto, real estate, cannabis, etc).

Anyway, I want to have 30k followers on Linkedin until end of this year. I am not yet on Facebook, Twitter , Instagram or Youtube yet, but that will change in future.

Why social media? For example 2 days ago, I made simple post about my names in LInkedin. It took me 1 minute, and of course, I do not pay anything for it, it is totally free to post there. Until 24 hours, it got few likes, and about 1000 people checked it in their feed. Those 1000 people are all end users, marketing directors, company owners, etc...so people with money and interest, aka relevant end user pool

I got 3 inquires related to that post just in that 1 day. People are curious about new gTLDs, some of them never heard of them, some simply just ask "how much".....using social media, you can make deals within minutes.

It is all about visibility: if people do not know about our domain names, they will not consider them. I think to spend 1 minute to post to LInkedIn and to reach 1000 relevant people without any additional effort is much easier then to send 1000 emails with your domain names (which would be spam anyway)...and of course, try to send 1000 emails..that is quite an effort

Funny you'll spend time with long posts on this but refuse to actually disclose any sales. I'm not convinced your advices are back up by profitable domain selling.