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discuss Why new gTLDs rule in usability!

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Dealing exclusively with new gTLD names, I noticed several facts, which are maybe obvious for gTLD enthusiasts, but not so much for the rest of domain community. Here is what will happen, when we consider possible modes of use on different platforms.

As example, lets take new gTLD name enjoying.life, and its .TLD counterpart, enjoyinglife.TLD, where TLD can be .com, .net, .org, .us, .co.uk, etc..hundreds of different names possible as we have hundreds of TLDs.

Here is what can we do with these domains:

1. Use the domain name for a website: you can create websites www.enjoying.life, and www.enjoyinglife.TLD

.TLD names are more known to people at the moment, .life name is shorter, but some people can at first glance at it in surprise as it is something new to them. If company or business will be named "Enjoying life", enjoying.life would be shorter possible version (exact mirror) of the company name, while enjoyinglife dot TLD (which can be .com .net, .org, .us, .co.uk, .de, .be, .fr, etc) will be usually geo versions of the company name (with .be meaning the site is meant for Belgium, for example). Thus enjoying.life is most universal point of access to internet available to the particular company named "Enjoying Life"

2. Use of the name for email address: with .life name, you can create email addresses like [email protected], or [email protected]. With .TLD version, your email will look like Iam@enjoyinglife dot TLD ..not bad, but from semantic point of view, .TLD is redundant there.

3. Twitter use : limited to 140 characters, shorter domains are better for tweets, which make gTLD names rule on the platform.

4. Facebook - we can create subdomains pointing to individual people's facebook pages, like Robert.is.enjoying.life or Sara.is.enjoying.life...We can do that also with enjoying.TLD names, it will be Robert.is.enjoying.life.TLD...which is worse, as .TLD is redundant there.

5. Instagram: unmarketed phrase enjoying.life has over 1.7 million tags on Instagram. Nothing similar exists for its .TLD couterparts, as tags at Instagram are phrases describing content of the photo. Sees like lot of potential to use new gTLD names in connection to Instagram.

6.Billboards and stylized logos/slogans : enjoying.life can be displayed at billboards in form of stylized logos/slogans, which is not possible for .TLD version of the name.

So just few points to prove, that new gTLD names can be very useful for media agencies/brands/marketing/viral campaings, with potential modes of use, which can be only partly achieved by names with suffixes, like .com, .co.uk, .de, etc.

What are your thoughts ? Does that make more clear why so many of us start to like new gTLDs?
:)
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Good write up, but just about everyone is aware of this kind of thing, nTLD "haters" included.

The problem is - these points are extremely insignificant on a commercial level.

The balanced keyword domain you use, enjoying.life, is a solid example of using an nTLD to create a full phrase while eliminating an unrelated extension. There are many generic examples of this across all of the nTLDs, such as "Travel.Agency" "Home.Builders" and "Merry.Christmas".

But what seemingly every nTLD speculator fails to realize is that there are only a handful, if that many, of these examples per extension. Unfortunately, Travel.Agency cannot and will not justify the .agency extension to enough end users to survive. The same thing goes for .builders, .christmas, and almost every single other new extension.

When it comes to emails and social media, 99% of people won't give a shit what extension they see, but unfortunately again, 99% of them aren't nTLD investors who are desperate to save the extension. One startup using .xyz and Google using .company for a sidepage no one visits DOES NOT justify nTLD future success.

It only further diminishes the likelihood of nTLD success that the registration and renewal fees are exorbitantly high, not to mention that just about every high quality nTLD domain has 10x the fee in premium pricing.

No one is holding a gun to nTLD speculator's heads saying they shouldn't be investing in the space. Every time I have contributed to the debate, it has solely been to educate and enlighten people on the REALITY of domain name investing today.

Unless you can get your hands on (for a fair registration AND renewal price) one of the very, very few nTLD domain names that both make sense and have commercial value, you are absolutely wasting money expecting these extensions to sustain themselves in the market and have legitimate value.
 
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Good write up, but just about everyone is aware of this kind of thing, nTLD "haters" included.

The problem is - these points are extremely insignificant on a commercial level.

The balanced keyword domain you use, enjoying.life, is a solid example of using an nTLD to create a full phrase while eliminating an unrelated extension. There are many generic examples of this across all of the nTLDs, such as "Travel.Agency" "Home.Builders" and "Merry.Christmas".

But what seemingly every nTLD speculator fails to realize is that there are only a handful, if that many, of these examples per extension. Unfortunately, Travel.Agency cannot and will not justify the .agency extension to enough end users to survive. The same thing goes for .builders, .christmas, and almost every single other new extension.

When it comes to emails and social media, 99% of people won't give a sh*t what extension they see, but unfortunately again, 99% of them aren't nTLD investors who are desperate to save the extension. One startup using .xyz and Google using .company for a side page no one visits DOES NOT justify nTLD future success.

It only further diminishes the likelihood of nTLD success that the registration and renewal fees are exorbitantly high, not to mention that just about every high quality nTLD domain has 10x the fee in premium pricing.

No one is holding a gun to nTLD speculator's heads saying they shouldn't be investing in the space. Every time I have contributed to the debate, it has solely been to educate and enlighten people on the REALITY of domain name investing today.

Unless you can get your hands on (for a fair registration AND renewal price) one of the very, very few nTLD domain names that both make sense and have commercial value, you are absolutely wasting money expecting these extensions to sustain themselves in the market and have legitimate value.

I'm not sure if its insignificant if there are already significant socially motivated statistics behind certain ngtld names like enjoying.life, names like this are in the top 1-2% of all ngtlds and are likely the only names worth buying. 1.7 million unmarketed hashtags indicates massive potential for the name commercially.

A TV/youtube commercial with the #enjoyinglife and the domain enjoying.life, for a product like Corona beer for example could become extremely viral because there is already a massive amount of organic use for the phrase and associating the product with the phrase adds another dimension to its already colloquial use. You'll have people snapping instagram photos with their beers in a bar, on a beach, in a club, watching the football match or in any situation really using that hashtag. You can further the synonymy by associating the phrase with a contest and an annual/quarterly/ music festival/event run by the brand under the domain and by doing that you'd have legitimized an entire phrase to be synonymous with a beer.

You'll have people tweeting the hashtag or instagramming the hashtag with a corona beer to enter the contest or following the instagram page/facebook page and going to the domain directly for news, view lineups ,to watch interviews and listen music by artists who are "enjoying life"....and that's just scratching the surface.


There is a lot of power in word.word combinations but you have to think not only as a domainer but as marketer and an end user to truly understand how it could be used in the real world. I like ngtlds but I won't register 99% of them because I cannot conceptualize enough derivative uses for them apart from being a website, however, names like this are very rare examples of the potential and actionable uses ngtlds will have in the years to come.


Enjoying.Life is an example of how ngtlds can be used as an alternative marketing method that is not just more economical than a premium .com but something that can also have a devastatingly positive effect on a business looking to popularize their image.

Your definitely right that unless its a great name with low renewals there is no point, but that's what domainers like the OP are making their bread and butter. They are grabbing the good ones while most people are still unsure about them, which is the best time to acquire domains because competition for good names is mediocre at best and the only real deterrents at this time are the varyingly expensive renewal fees some extensions are trying to push on people. The thing is renewals are actually going down and some big players in the space that want to compete in the long run have already began making moves.

http://domainnamewire.com/2017/01/23/mmx-drops-expensive-renewals-premium-domain-names/

What's happening right now with ngtlds has already been predicted. The poor performers and registrars influenced by unflappable greed are getting eaten up and over the past year there has been a consolidation of extensions to the biggest players and moves like this will continue to happen. The number of new gs being introduced every year has also been halved, things are starting to settle down and the market for them is only beginning to take shape. Whether it will be positive or negative on domain prices in general is still up in the air but, personally I think they will have a negative effect across the board due to the added price competition.

Also, by the time someone is "pointing a gun to your head to invest" its already too late imho. Now remember, I am not arguing what you said I in fact agree with most of your points but just not the fact you think that the OP's points are insignificant commercially.
 
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Good write up, but just about everyone is aware of this kind of thing, nTLD "haters" included.

The problem is - these points are extremely insignificant on a commercial level.

The balanced keyword domain you use, enjoying.life, is a solid example of using an nTLD to create a full phrase while eliminating an unrelated extension. There are many generic examples of this across all of the nTLDs, such as "Travel.Agency" "Home.Builders" and "Merry.Christmas".

But what seemingly every nTLD speculator fails to realize is that there are only a handful, if that many, of these examples per extension. Unfortunately, Travel.Agency cannot and will not justify the .agency extension to enough end users to survive. The same thing goes for .builders, .christmas, and almost every single other new extension.

When it comes to emails and social media, 99% of people won't give a sh*t what extension they see, but unfortunately again, 99% of them aren't nTLD investors who are desperate to save the extension. One startup using .xyz and Google using .company for a sidepage no one visits DOES NOT justify nTLD future success.

It only further diminishes the likelihood of nTLD success that the registration and renewal fees are exorbitantly high, not to mention that just about every high quality nTLD domain has 10x the fee in premium pricing.

No one is holding a gun to nTLD speculator's heads saying they shouldn't be investing in the space. Every time I have contributed to the debate, it has solely been to educate and enlighten people on the REALITY of domain name investing today.

Unless you can get your hands on (for a fair registration AND renewal price) one of the very, very few nTLD domain names that both make sense and have commercial value, you are absolutely wasting money expecting these extensions to sustain themselves in the market and have legitimate value.
I think you are having good point here - I agree with you that there are only handful of meaningful combos per each new gTLD..good investment strategy is to invest in these combos, if possible, for standard renewals.

(I personally do not care about overall success of particular gTLD extension..I care whether I was able to secure good combos in it or not. I think all extensions will survive no matter how many registrations will there be in total, as you can already see that only few companies operate most of the extensions..once extension is live and all initial fees were paid by registrar, no big deal to operate it further if such company operates another dozens of extensions..)

I do disagree with you that points I mentioned (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, emails, bilboards) are extremely insignificant for businesses..I think total opposite :)
 
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I think you are having good point here - I agree with you that there are only handful of meaningful combos per each new gTLD..good investment strategy is to invest in these combos, if possible, for standard renewals.

(I personally do not care about overall success of particular gTLD extension..I care whether I was able to secure good combos in it or not. I think all extensions will survive no matter how many registrations will there be in total, as you can already see that only few companies operate most of the extensions..once extension is live and all initial fees were paid by registrar, no big deal to operate it further if such company operates another dozens of extensions..)

I do disagree with you that points I mentioned (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, emails, bilboards) are extremely insignificant for businesses..I think total opposite :)
When did I say social media was insignificant for business? I said it has virtually no impact on the value of domain name extensions.

Facebook, twitter have been around for almost a decade, yet domain names and actual company branding are still dominated by the same handful of extensions.

I'm not sure if its insignificant if there are already significant socially motivated statistics behind certain ngtld names like enjoying.life, names like this are in the top 1-2% of all ngtlds and are likely the only names worth buying. 1.7 million unmarketed hashtags indicates massive potential for the name commercially.

A TV/youtube commercial with the #enjoyinglife and the domain enjoying.life, for a product like Corona beer for example could become extremely viral because there is already a massive amount of organic use for the phrase and associating the product with the phrase adds another dimension to its already colloquial use. You'll have people snapping instagram photos with their beers in a bar, on a beach, in a club, watching the football match or in any situation really using that hashtag. You can further the synonymy by associating the phrase with a contest and an annual/quarterly/ music festival/event run by the brand under the domain and by doing that you'd have legitimized an entire phrase to be synonymous with a beer.

You'll have people tweeting the hashtag or instagramming the hashtag with a corona beer to enter the contest or following the instagram page/facebook page and going to the domain directly for news, view lineups ,to watch interviews and listen music by artists who are "enjoying life"....and that's just scratching the surface.


There is a lot of power in word.word combinations but you have to think not only as a domainer but as marketer and an end user to truly understand how it could be used in the real world. I like ngtlds but I won't register 99% of them because I cannot conceptualize enough derivative uses for them apart from being a website, however, names like this are very rare examples of the potential and actionable uses ngtlds will have in the years to come.


Enjoying.Life is an example of how ngtlds can be used as an alternative marketing method that is not just more economical than a premium .com but something that can also have a devastatingly positive effect on a business looking to popularize their image.

Your definitely right that unless its a great name with low renewals there is no point, but that's what domainers like the OP are making their bread and butter. They are grabbing the good ones while most people are still unsure about them, which is the best time to acquire domains because competition for good names is mediocre at best and the only real deterrents at this time are the varyingly expensive renewal fees some extensions are trying to push on people. The thing is renewals are actually going down and some big players in the space that want to compete in the long run have already began making moves.

http://domainnamewire.com/2017/01/23/mmx-drops-expensive-renewals-premium-domain-names/

What's happening right now with ngtlds has already been predicted. The poor performers and registrars influenced by unflappable greed are getting eaten up and over the past year there has been a consolidation of extensions to the biggest players and moves like this will continue to happen. The number of new gs being introduced every year has also been halved, things are starting to settle down and the market for them is only beginning to take shape. Whether it will be positive or negative on domain prices in general is still up in the air but, personally I think they will have a negative effect across the board due to the added price competition.

Also, by the time someone is "pointing a gun to your head to invest" its already too late imho. Now remember, I am not arguing what you said I in fact agree with most of your points but just not the fact you think that the OP's points are insignificant commercially.


You're right that a hashtag can make a domain name valuable, something could go viral and the exact match domain would gain value. But that's only one domain. It's virtually impossible for a hashtag to become so viral that it makes an entire extension so widespread that enough companies use it for branding and investors see real liquid value for it to become sustainable.

The best example of this has been with computer games and start ups using .io, which is still an extremely generic and open ended extension compared to nTLDs which really railroad the types of domain name potential
 
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When did I say social media was insignificant for business? I said it has virtually no impact on the value of domain name extensions.

Facebook, twitter have been around for almost a decade, yet domain names and actual company branding are still dominated by the same handful of extensions.




You're right that a hashtag can make a domain name valuable, something could go viral and the exact match domain would gain value. But that's only one domain. It's virtually impossible for a hashtag to become so viral that it makes an entire extension so widespread that enough companies use it for branding and investors see real liquid value for it to become sustainable.

The best example of this has been with computer games and start ups using .io, which is still an extremely generic and open ended extension compared to nTLDs which really railroad the types of domain name potential

I agree. However, the extension might not become viral....but the fact that there are .whatever extensions available might.
 
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When did I say social media was insignificant for business? I said it has virtually no impact on the value of domain name extensions.

Facebook, twitter have been around for almost a decade, yet domain names and actual company branding are still dominated by the same handful of extensions.




You're right that a hashtag can make a domain name valuable, something could go viral and the exact match domain would gain value. But that's only one domain. It's virtually impossible for a hashtag to become so viral that it makes an entire extension so widespread that enough companies use it for branding and investors see real liquid value for it to become sustainable.

The best example of this has been with computer games and start ups using .io, which is still an extremely generic and open ended extension compared to nTLDs which really railroad the types of domain name potential
Sure sure..but in this thread I do not really intend to discuss future of new gTLD extensions as such - we have dozens of unproductive threads about that in this forum - I just want to share experience and ideas about how we can use new gTLD names (I mean particular domain names, not whole extensions) in many innovative ways, which were not really possible before :)
 
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Sure sure..but in this thread I do not really intend to discuss future of new gTLD extensions as such - we have dozens of unproductive threads about that in this forum - I just want to share experience and ideas about how we can use new gTLD names (I mean particular domain names, not whole extensions) in many innovative ways, which were not really possible before :)

Social media (Twitter) has trigger an explosion in domain shortening services - both public (bit[dot]ly) and private (hrc.io) - and has boosted the profile of a number of ccTLDs as a result.

IO is also now a dominant force in the tech-startup market and growing rapidly
 
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I agree with the basic premise - we call them "[human] readable domain names" - and I think this will be the killer app for the nGTLDs

When Windows introduced human-readable file names and swept away the old 8.3 file names of MS-DOS we all breathed a sigh of relief (geez, I'm showing my age!) - I think the same will be true of readable-domain-names.

You just have to compare the on-line real-estate sites in the UK (Zoopla, Yopa, Tepilo, Emoov etc) with a domain like homes[dot]for[dot]sale to see which is preferable.

Its true that for some nGTLDs there aren't many matches (especially in the dot-COM me-too nGTLDs), and those may go by the wayside - but drop to the third level, and the embrace our culture's almost ubiquitous three-word-slogan, and the space explodes.

dot-COM hasn't really been growing for over a year, and the vast majority of names are owned by speculators, but are worthless. You just have to read the valuation guide at Flippa to see a scathing condemnation of most portfolios that typically have a few really good names and then are padded out with 100s of long wordy dot-COMs that are never going to sell ... so you could argue "there aren't many good ones" never stopped dot-COM exploding.

If for dot-COM a general rule is no more than (say) 8 to 10 letters, when you start getting domain names that people can say (to each other & their phones), that use natural language, the rule book changes. This also applied to the fact that the demographic of the internet has changed (since the dot-COM boom), both in terms of users and devices - it's now dominated by less-technical people using mobile devices - devices people are more likely to talk to than type on.

Because of this shift in demographic, we're seeing 1000s of people a day trying to use our readable-domain-names becuase they simply have little or no understanding as to why they wouldn't work.

But surely, it's not an either-or argument - you can keep your main branding in dot-COM, but use a range of readable-domain-names in TV, radio, poster & leaflets to promote specific products and help people find them on your site.

You can be sexywatches,com but still use watches,for,men to help people find the actual product they saw promoted - we call these WebShorts. QR codes are great, but hard to talk to a friend about.

So here's some additions to the original points...
1 & 2) Readable-domain names let you promote just your brand. If you are "Harrods of London", then harrords,of,london (sales@harrords,of,london) presents your brand, and only your brand, much better than harrodsoflondon,com

3) tweet a readable-domain-name / WebShort and its clickable - come and see our great watches,for,men, on discount till Feb - no ugly url shortening

6) When it comes to linking the real world with your online presence, which may be your primary way of generating actual sales, WebShorts come into their own - whether its TV, Radio, poster or billboard - if you can use a domain name people can say, they are more likely to remember it & tell their friends.

If you simply post your main brand URL, there can often be no end of frustration finding the actual product you saw. If people turn up to your site with money to spend, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to find the exact product they're looking for.


And a point I would also add is - SEO - if your domain name matches the search term and you have relevant content, this can provide a significant boost to your rankings - right now our names have zero relevant content and yet we're already top ranking on a wide range of the readable-domain-names we have for sale.

Here's a pretty obscure search that acts as a good example - google "myC6is for sale" - despite the fact we have no Citroen C6 or Corvette C6 for sale, we dominate the front page of listings - taking places 1, 2, 3, 5 & 8 on the front page.

I heard, from a large nGTLD registry operator, that Google have said that where a search term matches exactly a nGTLD domain name, they will highlight the listing - I've not seen any highlighting in practice - other than the standard emboldening.


I better stop there, otherwise I might go on forever :)

Apologies for the commas instead of dots in the domain names - I'm new here so not allowed to post actual domain names!


James
 
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Thanks James, some very interesting points there!

Mainly (as an investor who invests exclusively in new gTLD names) I really like this part of your post

"I heard, from a large nGTLD registry operator, that Google have said that where a search term matches exactly a nGTLD domain name, they will highlight the listing - I've not seen any highlighting in practice - other than the standard emboldening."

If this will be the real case in future, value of meaningful new gTLDs would skyrocket :)
 
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Thanks James, some very interesting points there!

Mainly (as an investor who invests exclusively in new gTLD names) I really like this part of your post

"I heard, from a large nGTLD registry operator, that Google have said that where a search term matches exactly a nGTLD domain name, they will highlight the listing - I've not seen any highlighting in practice - other than the standard emboldening."

If this will be the real case in future, value of meaningful new gTLDs would skyrocket :)


I heard it from a nGTLD registry operator who run about 30 nGTLDs, so seemed legit, but I've not seen it in practice.
 
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Casey L says,
"Every time I have contributed to the debate, it has solely been to educate and enlighten people on the REALITY of domain name investing today."
Well said! This is exactly the mistake the .commie camp is making.
ALL New "G" investors believe in .com's investing "REALITY" today and future. No brainer dude. FEW believe the monopoly will stand forever. Business 101.
What the .commie camp can't wrap their head around is INVESTING IN THE FUTURE. It's too risky. Too expensive.
As long as sales are made, sites are developed and registrars market, there will be a market for something other than legacies.

Neither "Preference" is superior to the other. Just different investing. Both are viable. Sure bet or Long shot.
It is pathetically absurd to suggest "there's only one way" regardless of which way one chooses.
Start your own thread about the virtues of "only one way" and how "safe" it is. Save it for the "masses" so we can get on with
developing more reasons for the end-user to apply the products WE LIKE without the BS from outsiders that have no balls or interest.
Go.Global or go home :)
Happy Hunting
 
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I
And a point I would also add is - SEO - if your domain name matches the search term and you have relevant content, this can provide a significant boost to your rankings - right now our names have zero relevant content and yet we're already top ranking on a wide range of the readable-domain-names we have for sale.

Here's a pretty obscure search that acts as a good example - google "myC6is for sale" - despite the fact we have no Citroen C6 or Corvette C6 for sale, we dominate the front page of listings - taking places 1, 2, 3, 5 & 8 on the front page.

I heard, from a large nGTLD registry operator, that Google have said that where a search term matches exactly a nGTLD domain name, they will highlight the listing - I've not seen any highlighting in practice - other than the standard emboldening.

I have noticed EMD dominate result too, and most everyone is telling me otherwise! Funny because every time I test, and there is a developed site on an EMD, it ranks, and usually #1, even if it is a terrible site overall.

Just search 'domains, and you will see, "domains.google" on top. Google bought "selfdriving.car", "driverless.car", etc. Google owns '.ing', the ultimate extension for ranking for EMD, as you can cover both version (ie: walk + walk.ing) effectively. The writing is on the wall. Google is self-serving, and they can afford to buy these EMD's and 'legitimately' rank their sites #1 across important terms.

See my post: https://www.namepros.com/threads/does-emd-help-seo.981024/ asking "Does EMD help SEO"
 
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Great thread. Very enlightening (y)
 
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So really brings nothing new, you can already do all that but you mentioned 2 big issues with them.

".TLD names are more known to people at the moment"

This moment and probably future moments.

"Billboards and stylized logos/slogans"

Billboards, if somebody sees that as they're passing by, will probably type in the .com by habit

Some of the reasons you gave are kind of "cute reasons" just like hacks.

I guess if you're just looking for a little personal type site where most visitors are friends and family, ok. But real business, not so much. Evidenced by startups pretty much staying away from them.
 
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...I guess if you're just looking for a little personal type site where most visitors are friends and family, ok. But real business, not so much. Evidenced by startups pretty much staying away from them.
Agreed! But I don't think anyone is disputing this fact here.

My takeaway from this thread is that:

- many (but not all - see below) new gTKD's are complementary to .COM :sneaky:

- not all new gTLD's are creared equal. Those "alternative" to .COM - like .XYZ - will fare no better than .BIZ or .INFO. Not much potential there. However, those complementary, niche gTLD's have many possibilities as add-ons (in additiin to an end user's primary .COM(s)
 
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Casey L says,
"Every time I have contributed to the debate, it has solely been to educate and enlighten people on the REALITY of domain name investing today."
Well said! This is exactly the mistake the .commie camp is making.
ALL New "G" investors believe in .com's investing "REALITY" today and future. No brainer dude. FEW believe the monopoly will stand forever. Business 101.
What the .commie camp can't wrap their head around is INVESTING IN THE FUTURE. It's too risky. Too expensive.
As long as sales are made, sites are developed and registrars market, there will be a market for something other than legacies.

Neither "Preference" is superior to the other. Just different investing. Both are viable. Sure bet or Long shot.
It is pathetically absurd to suggest "there's only one way" regardless of which way one chooses.
Start your own thread about the virtues of "only one way" and how "safe" it is. Save it for the "masses" so we can get on with
developing more reasons for the end-user to apply the products WE LIKE without the BS from outsiders that have no balls or interest.
Go.Global or go home :)
Happy Hunting

Oh geez - not someone talking some sense on the internet - that's not fair! ;)
 
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Agreed! But I don't think anyone is disputing this fact here.

My takeaway from this thread is that:

- many (but not all - see below) new gTKD's are complementary to .COM :sneaky:

- not all new gTLD's are creared equal. Those "alternative" to .COM - like .XYZ - will fare no better than .BIZ or .INFO. Not much potential there. However, those complementary, niche gTLD's have many possibilities as add-ons (in additiin to an end user's primary .COM(s)
You are revealing information here that lot of people do not understand so far...that when we speak about new gTLDs, we should not put the all in one set...we should speak at least about 2 sets:
a) what you call "alternative" to .com gTLDs
b) what you call complementary, niche gTLDs
Too difficult for many .com people to understand this, as they always want to discuss "future of all gTLDs" :)
 
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You are revealing information here that lot of people do not understand so far...that when we speak about new gTLDs, we should not put the all in one set...we should speak at least about 2 sets:
a) what you call "alternative" to .com gTLDs
b) what you call complementary, niche gTLDs
Too difficult for many .com people to understand this, as they always want to discuss "future of all gTLDs" :)

Yes, there is a lot of variety in the nGTLDs - so to lump them all together is a mistake - but I think those heavily invested in dot-COM like to try and throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I agree that what I call the "dot-COM me-too" domains, the ridiculously generic ones like ONL or WEBSITE are a waste of time - XYZ got lucky when Google bought ABC[dot]XYZ, but that was luck - it led to some growth, but that's now stalled - it will be interesting to see how many crash out in Jul (a year after the growth spurt).

Personally, I like the natural language nGTLDs and I see a real future for them as a prefered option for the less technical - like I said - being able to speak a domain name is a big advantage.

But that doesn't mean they have to be niche - I can think of quite a lot of short natural language phrases that end in the word SALE :)

When Windows came along with long-filename support and we could give our documents decent names, nobody missed the old 8.3 file names of MSDOS, but they stuck around for a while, for historical reasons.


If you get a chance - have a look at my site names·of·london - we have a few nice nGTLD names that we sell in sub-domains for human readable web-shortening - like *·for·sale e.g. watches·for·sale - or the sub-domain can be used just like a normal domain name.

I'll be getting an export license soon, then I change all the prices into dollars.
 
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Another cult type thread for gtlds....please, if they were so good, you wouldn't need to post long winded posts like this every week.
 
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Thanks James, some very interesting points there!

Mainly (as an investor who invests exclusively in new gTLD names) I really like this part of your post

"I heard, from a large nGTLD registry operator, that Google have said that where a search term matches exactly a nGTLD domain name, they will highlight the listing - I've not seen any highlighting in practice - other than the standard emboldening."

If this will be the real case in future, value of meaningful new gTLDs would skyrocket :)

In 2000, ICANN conducted a limited expansion of gTLDs. In 2005 ICANN approved the rules for the new gTLD program.

In 2001 Stanford (Google) come up with the method for node ranking. The scores, weighting factors, plurality, etc, all is described in the patent US6285999 ( 2001).

Launch of new gTLDs is nothing new. Going back since 1996. Is a New gTLD Worth? Yes, in 2025.

Kind regards
 
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Another cult type thread for gtlds....please, if they were so good, you wouldn't need to post long winded posts like this every week.

Agreed. Some of the points the OP makes are ridiculous. Please, do tell your friends to visit your Facebook page at: 'Robert.is.enjoying.life'...see how many of your friends actually ever make it there. And stylized logos? Who said you can't have a cool logo just because you have a .com? If these names sold themselves, there would be no need to come up with a list of half-baked 'advantages'.
 
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Yes, there is a lot of variety in the nGTLDs - so to lump them all together is a mistake - but I think those heavily invested in dot-COM like to try and throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I agree that what I call the "dot-COM me-too" domains, the ridiculously generic ones like ONL or WEBSITE are a waste of time - XYZ got lucky when Google bought ABC[dot]XYZ, but that was luck - it led to some growth, but that's now stalled - it will be interesting to see how many crash out in Jul (a year after the growth spurt).

Personally, I like the natural language nGTLDs and I see a real future for them as a prefered option for the less technical - like I said - being able to speak a domain name is a big advantage.

But that doesn't mean they have to be niche - I can think of quite a lot of short natural language phrases that end in the word SALE :)

When Windows came along with long-filename support and we could give our documents decent names, nobody missed the old 8.3 file names of MSDOS, but they stuck around for a while, for historical reasons.


If you get a chance - have a look at my site names·of·london - we have a few nice nGTLD names that we sell in sub-domains for human readable web-shortening - like *·for·sale e.g. watches·for·sale - or the sub-domain can be used just like a normal domain name.

I'll be getting an export license soon, then I change all the prices into dollars.
I checked your page, and I like it very much. Great way to learn (also for other people/domainers imo) how some of new gTLD names can be used as web-shortening, human readable sub-domains. We are coming to age when quick search by voice has good chance to become more and more important, and so will be domain names with this potential. Not 100% certainty on that, of course, but there is a good chance. Thanks for posting that mate:)
 
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So really brings nothing new, you can already do all that but you mentioned 2 big issues with them.

".TLD names are more known to people at the moment"

This moment and probably future moments.

"Billboards and stylized logos/slogans"

Billboards, if somebody sees that as they're passing by, will probably type in the .com by habit

Some of the reasons you gave are kind of "cute reasons" just like hacks.

I guess if you're just looking for a little personal type site where most visitors are friends and family, ok. But real business, not so much. Evidenced by startups pretty much staying away from them.

Just for you posted today by James Iles,
IN JUST 3 YEARS .COM HAS LOST 33% OF THE START-UP CROWD. I would add to that, Asia being the hottest start-up market going forward it's not likely .com will regain any portion of the loss but most likely continue to loose the start-up market. Wont be long before .com has less than 50%.
Cheers
The Domain Extensions

We have some extremely interesting results here. In terms of the domain extension used by each company, we have a more even playing field. In past editions of Domain Data, .COM has been dominant, with upwards of 85% to 90% of companies we tested using .COM. Sequoia Capital companies, for example, had 98% .COM usage. Here, it’s far less.

500.jpg Just 67% of the startups on our list are using .COM, with far more opting for new domain extensions or country code domain extensions. Below is a pie chart with data from the domain extensions on our list. In total, there were thirty-four different domain extensions used, most with just one or two occurrences such as .MY or .JP. The pie chart shows the six most popular extensions.

As you can see, .COM is still the most used by a long way, which you’d expect. However, we do see an enormous amount of other extensions in use, with .CO and .IO being relatively popular. These two extensions have traditionally been seen as being popular alternatives to expensive .COM’s for early stage startups, and we have proof of that here. It’s also interesting to see that .NET is far less popular than .IO or .CO.

I think that this shows that many smaller startups are looking to creative solutions for domain names, often seeking alternative extensions in order to find the right name. There are several cases of startups adopting new gTLDs here, something that is rarely seen in larger companies we’ve analysed.

For example, smart textiles company Siren is using siren.care and Norwegian startup Graphiq is using graphiq.design.
 
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Just for you posted today by James Iles,
IN JUST 3 YEARS .COM HAS LOST 33% OF THE START-UP CROWD. I would add to that, Asia being the hottest start-up market going forward it's not likely .com will regain any portion of the loss but most likely continue to loose the start-up market. Wont be long before .com has less than 50%.
Cheers
The Domain Extensions

We have some extremely interesting results here. In terms of the domain extension used by each company, we have a more even playing field. In past editions of Domain Data, .COM has been dominant, with upwards of 85% to 90% of companies we tested using .COM. Sequoia Capital companies, for example, had 98% .COM usage. Here, it’s far less.

500.jpg Just 67% of the startups on our list are using .COM, with far more opting for new domain extensions or country code domain extensions. Below is a pie chart with data from the domain extensions on our list. In total, there were thirty-four different domain extensions used, most with just one or two occurrences such as .MY or .JP. The pie chart shows the six most popular extensions.

As you can see, .COM is still the most used by a long way, which you’d expect. However, we do see an enormous amount of other extensions in use, with .CO and .IO being relatively popular. These two extensions have traditionally been seen as being popular alternatives to expensive .COM’s for early stage startups, and we have proof of that here. It’s also interesting to see that .NET is far less popular than .IO or .CO.

I think that this shows that many smaller startups are looking to creative solutions for domain names, often seeking alternative extensions in order to find the right name. There are several cases of startups adopting new gTLDs here, something that is rarely seen in larger companies we’ve analysed.

For example, smart textiles company Siren is using siren.care and Norwegian startup Graphiq is using graphiq.design.

Not sure what this has to do with startups pretty much staying away from new gtlds on the whole. Many threads pointing out the low adoption rate. From the ones looked at, it was around 2%.

I just read that blog post you referenced, it's incomplete. They looked at 265 and they didn't even post how many of those are new gtlds.
 
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