.biz Can .Biz ever have any success?

[Sparhawke]

I know that everyone here hates it, and that longterm considerations are never took into account by most of us but every extension has a chance of getting to the top spots regardless of anything else and even if you do have the fabled .com the type in traffic pales in comparison to direct search.

With this in mind there seems to be some startlingly good names available for a cheap pick-up by anyone...so has anyone ever had the idea of taking a long term 10yr punt on some on the basis that with .com prices going way above the realms of all but the richest companies that those in the lower realms will want a piece?

15 years ago I don't think anyone could've guessed the insane prices that domains would go for when they were picking them up for what seems now to be such a low price, and there are still many many millions of people still to come online...

 

[Kate]

When you look at the fastest growing areas, it's .com & ccTLDs.

Saying that, most extensions are 'growing' (even the crap ones) but the second/third tier extensions are growing at a much slower rate, so the gap is actually widening.
Today there are nearly 90 million .com and .biz remains hardly above 2M.
Bottom line: .biz is not gaining traction, it's getting more marginal every day.
Yes, in case you haven't noticed I have a bias :sold:

 

[MicroGuy]

The .SC registry raised standard renewals from around $35 to $95 overnight with no warning or notice. The same thing can happen to other ccTLDs only it could be worse.

Standard renewals could be converted to premium renewals, etc., etc.

[Sorry. I intended for this to merge with my previous post]

 

[Datalife]

Nobody mentioned Google. To me, almighty Google is the one who decided to put .biz in the dump, and it's still keeping it there. Google is also the one who decides that .info is not as respectable as the big 3. They have a lot of sway in domaining.

If I'm not mistaken, when .biz first came out, it was marketed as a cheap extension, like what .info is today. And many spammers jumped in on the cheap price and built lousy sites with it. Google then canned both .biz and .info and swept the spammers away, but the stigma remains - till today. It worked though for Google, since .info is largely avoided till today. Underpricing the extension was a bad mistake with both .biz and .info.

If Google were to respect .biz and .info and make a public statement about it, I guarantee you, .biz and .info values will shoot up. They have always been shifty about it, unfortunately. In the end, Google and the big spammers brigade both indirectly colluded to stigmatize the extensions...

 

[malcarada]

I think that .biz is a very respectable TLD for business related domains, even better than a .com I see future in .biz it is far ahead than .ws and .sc for example.

However, it will never achieve .com/.net value but you can still make money with it, just don't expect a quick and amazing sale.

 

[enlytend]

To me, almighty Google is the one who decided to put .biz in the dump, and it's still keeping it there. Google is also the one who decides that .info is not as respectable as the big 3.

Where did you get that information?

It's more a case of biz/info domains having far less representation overall and proportionately fewer quality sites. Add in the number of people who have used them for spammy sites because they're cheap, people using them who are clueless about SEO and the likelihood that if you have to resort to info or biz there is probably established competition on .com/net/org.

If Google were to respect .biz and .info and make a public statement about it,

They've stated that they do not discriminiate among gtlds on numerous occasions. Amit Singhal (head of the ranking team at Google) has his own site on a .info.

 

[MicroGuy]

I think that .biz is a very respectable TLD for business related domains, even better than a .com

NamePros quote of the week. IMO.

 

[gazzip]

Overstock is a particular case.
We all know they want to secure O.com one day. That's the only reason why they got o.co & o.biz, to strengthen their TM.

LOL I did'nt, I just figured that one out last night, damn I'm slow :zzz::red:

...did they find out who killed Jimmy Hoffa yet :blink:

.

 

[akcampbell]

They've stated that they do not discriminate among gtlds on numerous occasions.

Every SEO expert in the world has stated that but it still doesn't register with the average domainer.

I agree with Microguy, there is a risk with ccTLDs like .tv, .me, and .co that one day a government will reclaim their extension for local businesses or kill their golden goose by overcharging the registry which in turn overcharges registrants.

It amazes me that registrants pay so much for premium .tv domains. 2-3 years of paying $1,000-$5,000 in premium renewal fees and there is no chance of ever recovering your investment.

I disagree with Microguy that .biz or any extension is not needed. There is a market for alternative extensions because people want certain keywords but can't afford them in .com, .net or .org or they just don't want to pay silly money for a site that probably won't generate much revenue anyway. Developing a site that is well known online even amongst niche users is a 1 in 10,000 chance.

Most domainers assume domain names confer more benefit to a developer than they actually do. Whether you start a site with a particular keyword on a .tv, .me, .info, or .biz, it makes little difference, it's not an aged .com with backlinks so you are going to have to develop a site that is better than every existing .com in that niche and that is out of reach for 99.99% of amateur developers using templates and Wordpress.

When somebody puts money, high quality original content and technical skill into a project on an alternative extension, it can end up ranking well. Vienna.info, Austria.info, and Slovenia.info are good geo .info examples.

The mistake domainers make is to over-register alternative extensions. Registering the 2,000,001 st .biz domains for resale is as good a throwing money down the drain. If you have 10 years to spare to get a return on your investment, you'd be far better off buying $100 of shares in a company with some new invention worth a couple of million dollars, forget about it, and check in 10 years if is worth several hundred millions dollars.

When I was buying .pros, there were about 6,000 registered. That are now 46,000 domains registered, renewal fees have fallen by 90% and I have been able to recover 1/3 of my investment by selling 10 of my 250 .pro domains. I don't regard a 66% loss to date as a success but from a standing start, there is no mileage in .biz or .info because there are too many registered to pick up saleable keywords and the horrendous illiquidity is not fully priced in to reseller prices.

 

[VirtualT]

I have made quite a bit of coin selling .biz domains to end users, on the other hand I have never sold an .info to an end user, take from that what you will.

 

[MicroGuy]

Sounds like we got a couple here that would make great snake oil salesmen. :notme:

 

[VirtualT]

Sounds like we got a couple here that would make great snake oil salesmen. :notme:

Statements like that only serve to highlight your ignorance of the subject at hand, no offense intended. I only state my experience of the extension, end of story.

 

[MicroGuy]

Statements like that only serve to highlight your ignorance of the subject at hand, no offense intended. I only state my experience of the extension, end of story.

No offense taken. Just calling it like I see it. :gl:

... come to think of it, maybe it's just your avatar.

 

[Datalife]

Where did you get that information?

It's more a case of biz/info domains having far less representation overall and proportionately fewer quality sites. Add in the number of people who have used them for spammy sites because they're cheap, people using them who are clueless about SEO and the likelihood that if you have to resort to info or biz there is probably established competition on .com/net/org.



They've stated that they do not discriminiate among gtlds on numerous occasions. Amit Singhal (head of the ranking team at Google) has his own site on a .info.

Saying one thing and meaning another is the name of the game, or..... didn't you know?

All these years, my .biz and .info domains are routinely not indexed by Google if I left them parked, compared with parking those .com - All things being equal. Google does index parked .coms though....except for spammy sounding domains.

Need I point out that Google also won't easily index .com domains that have adult related terms or spammy themes like weight loss and teeth whitening IF they are parked.

Matt Cutts has never said anything about this.....it's just knowledge gained from experience. Google does discriminate. And you can pick up the signs from these little experiments, quite easily.

BTW, .biz pricing is no longer a cheap tld, in fact it is the same as other TLDs and yet people still shun it, because of the stigma originating from like, 10 years ago. If they didn't get brainwashed by the .com brigade that is....many businesses out there have no problem with .biz.

I blame Google and the spammers.

 

[Sparhawke]

If that makes you sleep better at night, keep believing it. Keep this thread bookmarked and check back in a few years. Best of luck.

If you think this topic will still be alive in a few years Micro you are even crazier than I am!

Never underestimate my ability to kill a topic prematurely Muwhahahaha

Honestly though I like the differing viewpoints, it seems quite evident what is happening both with registered domains and peoples ideas that registering .biz is a bloody bad idea all around unless you have the few category killers.

I have just gone through every word in the English dictionary to test this, almost every word of value is taken, leaving the scraps and if that cannot help an extension I don't really know what will :p

And your conclusion about cctld's is interesting too, and I did see that something like Mike.tv has a yearly renewal fee of $5000

Wtf are they thinking??!

In that respect I would agree not to register domains from those countries because they are so damn greedy and cannot see that a well priced domain is to the benefit of all and not just corrupt politicians...however can the same be said true of the strongest of all extensions like .uk or .de where there aren't only a few thousand people getting their balls mangled but millions?

If one bloke registers a domain for $5000 on an obscure extension who really gives a shit in all honesty?

If one million people are suddenly facing renewal fees of 15,000% then that will make headline news, not just in domainer circles but worldwide. No politician can afford to put that many businesses to the gutter

 

[MicroGuy]

Google does discriminate. And you can pick up the signs from this quite easily.

My experience tells me you are correct. They are hard at work trying to deliver the best "user experience" in terms of search. They routinely implement methods to achieve this for example penalizing sites using known parking company servers.

 

[enlytend]

All these years, my .biz and .info domains are routinely not indexed by Google if I left them parked, compared with parking those .com - All things being equal. Google does index parked .coms though....except for spammy sounding domains.

My experience is different from yours. While parking is a topic in itself, I DO have parked .biz and .info domains which are in the index.

And, an example as a site owner, I have a .biz and a .info which are well indexed (231 pages from the .biz, 197 from the .info) - both have 1st page rankings for a variety of keywords. Last time I checked, the .biz had a popular internal page of the site sitting in #7 (Just below Amazon and 2 notches above Zales) for a keyword which produces well for me. The .info is fully indexed and brings in considerable revenue each summer (seasonal topic) from a combo of affiliate sales and adsense.

If the content is worth being shown to searchers, there's no point in them arbitrarily discriminating because of the extension - it would make no sense for them to do so. Parked pages really don't add value to search to begin with so even when they're indexed few of them will show up in the SERPS like they used to.

I still think the APPEARANCE of them discriminating is a correlation to the smaller pool of sites and the overall site quality on those extensions. Your mileage may vary.

User interraction is another matter. While my .info doesn't seem to suffer from the "wtf factor", I suspect my biz site does and would get better clickthrough with a more familiar extension (though the first half of the domain isn't helping either.) I may rebrand that site on a .com after New Years, so I'll get a chance to see if it bears out that theory.

 

[John Baron]

here are the .biz sales last month on sedo alone

Domain Sold Date Price Source
fahrraeder.biz 9/9/2010 1,275 Sedo
zinsen.biz 9/8/2010 1,080 Sedo
mediation.biz 9/6/2010 2,579 Sedo
portugal.biz 9/4/2010 1,250 Sedo
greetings.biz 9/4/2010 4,448 Sedo
biostep.biz 9/4/2010 967 Sedo
daniel.biz 8/31/2010 1,419 Sedo
areacode.biz 8/27/2010 763 Sedo
myonlineoffice.biz 8/26/2010 444 Sedo
booklets.biz 8/26/2010 952 Sedo
clinch.biz 8/25/2010 1,139 Sedo
fluor.biz 8/25/2010 631 Sedo
roulette.biz 8/25/2010 1,551 Sedo
ozone.biz 8/24/2010 2,524 Sedo
abandonware.biz 8/24/2010 189 Sedo
bake.biz 8/24/2010 2,533 Sedo
glamour.biz 8/24/2010 1,897 Sedo
seal.biz 8/24/2010 759 Sedo
Andalucia.biz 8/24/2010 3,150 Sedo
webportal.biz 8/23/2010 101 Sedo
kauai.biz 8/23/2010 1,578 Sedo
car.biz 8/23/2010 15,024 Sedo
euronet.biz 8/23/2010 2,907 Sedo
gesund.biz 8/23/2010 758 Sedo
partysupplies.biz 8/21/2010 1,271 Sedo
sport.biz 8/21/2010 12,710 Sedo
holidayinsurance.biz 8/20/2010 1,283 Sedo
sverige.biz 8/20/2010 1,268 Sedo
political.biz 8/20/2010 634 Sedo
holm.biz 8/20/2010 1,141 Sedo
ndt.biz 8/20/2010 2,542 Sedo
tee.biz 8/20/2010 1,430 Sedo
materials.biz 8/19/2010 855 Sedo
holiday.biz 8/17/2010 3,864 Sedo
Europe.biz 8/17/2010 6,450 Private
Antarctica.biz 8/17/2010 1,935 Sedo
sanierung.biz 8/15/2010 637 Sedo
mailboxes.biz 8/15/2010 4,468 Sedo
camp.biz 8/14/2010 1,275 Sedo
bangladesh.biz 8/14/2010 1,531 Sedo
cases.biz 8/14/2010 1,659 Sedo
terrorism.biz 8/14/2010 1,912 Sedo
kostenlos.biz 8/14/2010 1,530 Sedo
buzzer.biz 8/14/2010 1,670 Sedo
uniforms.biz 8/14/2010 1,275 Sedo
single.biz 8/14/2010 1,275 Sedo
datensicherung.biz 8/13/2010 1,915 Sedo
lwr.biz 8/13/2010 643 Sedo
offertes.biz 8/13/2010 773 Sedo
performer.biz 8/13/2010 1,416 Sedo
werbeartikel.biz 8/13/2010 900 Sedo
brooklyn.biz 8/13/2010 767 Sedo
parfum.biz 8/13/2010 2,307 Sedo
lakehavasu.biz 8/13/2010 2,870 Sedo
sofortkredit.biz 8/13/2010 1,544 Sedo
panama.biz 8/13/2010 8,933 Sedo
kredit.biz 8/13/2010 4,793 Sedo
answer.biz 8/13/2010 2,551 Sedo
ringtones.biz 8/13/2010 6,240 Sedo
unity.biz 8/13/2010 637 Sedo
ingenieur.biz 8/12/2010 1,292 Sedo
alternatives.biz 8/12/2010 859 Sedo
keuken.biz 8/12/2010 1,921 Sedo
horoscope.biz 8/12/2010 2,561 Sedo
mails.biz 8/12/2010 576 Sedo
asp.biz 8/12/2010 3,849 Sedo
eurosex.biz 8/12/2010 1,286 Sedo
select.biz 8/12/2010 859 Sedo
the-news.biz 8/12/2010 1,347 Sedo
air-max.biz 8/12/2010 2,566 Sedo
kroatien.biz 8/12/2010 1,282 Sedo
auto-insurance.biz 8/12/2010 1,661 Sedo
mec.biz 8/12/2010 1,284 Sedo
mediashop.biz 8/12/2010 3,213 Sedo
kosmetik.biz 8/12/2010 1,285 Sedo
score.biz 8/11/2010 4,516 Sedo
grundstueck.biz 8/11/2010 773 Sedo
carz.biz 8/11/2010 644 Sedo
kaartjes.biz 8/11/2010 2,252 Sedo
xxxportal.biz 8/11/2010 1,287 Sedo
kniga.biz 8/11/2010 527 Sedo
kingdom.biz 8/11/2010 643 Sedo
futurestore.biz 8/11/2010 611 Sedo
crm.biz 8/11/2010 7,722 Sedo
blacklight.biz 8/11/2010 643 Sedo
vladivostok.biz 8/11/2010 1,739 Sedo
geschenk.biz 8/11/2010 1,367 Sedo
meteo.biz 8/11/2010 1,926 Sedo
hermes.biz 8/11/2010 12,846 Sedo
boatloans.biz 8/11/2010 642 Sedo
eha.biz 8/11/2010 1,091 Sedo
geschenkidee.biz 8/11/2010 964 Sedo
inductor.biz 8/11/2010 642 Sedo
cookbook.biz 8/11/2010 861 Sedo
hyperactive.biz 8/11/2010 643 Sedo
africa.biz 8/11/2010 3,473 Sedo
creative.biz 8/11/2010 2,048 Sedo

 

[ddesigns]

here are the .biz sales last month on sedo alone

Domain Sold Date Price Source
fahrraeder.biz 9/9/2010 1,275 Sedo
zinsen.biz 9/8/2010 1,080 Sedo
mediation.biz 9/6/2010 2,579 Sedo
portugal.biz 9/4/2010 1,250 Sedo
greetings.biz 9/4/2010 4,448 Sedo
biostep.biz 9/4/2010 967 Sedo
daniel.biz 8/31/2010 1,419 Sedo
areacode.biz 8/27/2010 763 Sedo
myonlineoffice.biz 8/26/2010 444 Sedo
booklets.biz 8/26/2010 952 Sedo
clinch.biz 8/25/2010 1,139 Sedo
fluor.biz 8/25/2010 631 Sedo
roulette.biz 8/25/2010 1,551 Sedo
ozone.biz 8/24/2010 2,524 Sedo
abandonware.biz 8/24/2010 189 Sedo
bake.biz 8/24/2010 2,533 Sedo
glamour.biz 8/24/2010 1,897 Sedo
seal.biz 8/24/2010 759 Sedo
Andalucia.biz 8/24/2010 3,150 Sedo
webportal.biz 8/23/2010 101 Sedo
kauai.biz 8/23/2010 1,578 Sedo
car.biz 8/23/2010 15,024 Sedo
euronet.biz 8/23/2010 2,907 Sedo
gesund.biz 8/23/2010 758 Sedo
partysupplies.biz 8/21/2010 1,271 Sedo
sport.biz 8/21/2010 12,710 Sedo
holidayinsurance.biz 8/20/2010 1,283 Sedo
sverige.biz 8/20/2010 1,268 Sedo
political.biz 8/20/2010 634 Sedo
holm.biz 8/20/2010 1,141 Sedo
ndt.biz 8/20/2010 2,542 Sedo
tee.biz 8/20/2010 1,430 Sedo
materials.biz 8/19/2010 855 Sedo
holiday.biz 8/17/2010 3,864 Sedo
Europe.biz 8/17/2010 6,450 Private
Antarctica.biz 8/17/2010 1,935 Sedo
sanierung.biz 8/15/2010 637 Sedo
mailboxes.biz 8/15/2010 4,468 Sedo
camp.biz 8/14/2010 1,275 Sedo
bangladesh.biz 8/14/2010 1,531 Sedo
cases.biz 8/14/2010 1,659 Sedo
terrorism.biz 8/14/2010 1,912 Sedo
kostenlos.biz 8/14/2010 1,530 Sedo
buzzer.biz 8/14/2010 1,670 Sedo
uniforms.biz 8/14/2010 1,275 Sedo
single.biz 8/14/2010 1,275 Sedo
datensicherung.biz 8/13/2010 1,915 Sedo
lwr.biz 8/13/2010 643 Sedo
offertes.biz 8/13/2010 773 Sedo
performer.biz 8/13/2010 1,416 Sedo
werbeartikel.biz 8/13/2010 900 Sedo
brooklyn.biz 8/13/2010 767 Sedo
parfum.biz 8/13/2010 2,307 Sedo
lakehavasu.biz 8/13/2010 2,870 Sedo
sofortkredit.biz 8/13/2010 1,544 Sedo
panama.biz 8/13/2010 8,933 Sedo
kredit.biz 8/13/2010 4,793 Sedo
answer.biz 8/13/2010 2,551 Sedo
ringtones.biz 8/13/2010 6,240 Sedo
unity.biz 8/13/2010 637 Sedo
ingenieur.biz 8/12/2010 1,292 Sedo
alternatives.biz 8/12/2010 859 Sedo
keuken.biz 8/12/2010 1,921 Sedo
horoscope.biz 8/12/2010 2,561 Sedo
mails.biz 8/12/2010 576 Sedo
asp.biz 8/12/2010 3,849 Sedo
eurosex.biz 8/12/2010 1,286 Sedo
select.biz 8/12/2010 859 Sedo
the-news.biz 8/12/2010 1,347 Sedo
air-max.biz 8/12/2010 2,566 Sedo
kroatien.biz 8/12/2010 1,282 Sedo
auto-insurance.biz 8/12/2010 1,661 Sedo
mec.biz 8/12/2010 1,284 Sedo
mediashop.biz 8/12/2010 3,213 Sedo
kosmetik.biz 8/12/2010 1,285 Sedo
score.biz 8/11/2010 4,516 Sedo
grundstueck.biz 8/11/2010 773 Sedo
carz.biz 8/11/2010 644 Sedo
kaartjes.biz 8/11/2010 2,252 Sedo
xxxportal.biz 8/11/2010 1,287 Sedo
kniga.biz 8/11/2010 527 Sedo
kingdom.biz 8/11/2010 643 Sedo
futurestore.biz 8/11/2010 611 Sedo
crm.biz 8/11/2010 7,722 Sedo
blacklight.biz 8/11/2010 643 Sedo
vladivostok.biz 8/11/2010 1,739 Sedo
geschenk.biz 8/11/2010 1,367 Sedo
meteo.biz 8/11/2010 1,926 Sedo
hermes.biz 8/11/2010 12,846 Sedo
boatloans.biz 8/11/2010 642 Sedo
eha.biz 8/11/2010 1,091 Sedo
geschenkidee.biz 8/11/2010 964 Sedo
inductor.biz 8/11/2010 642 Sedo
cookbook.biz 8/11/2010 861 Sedo
hyperactive.biz 8/11/2010 643 Sedo
africa.biz 8/11/2010 3,473 Sedo
creative.biz 8/11/2010 2,048 Sedo

Thanks for sharing liror, Reps added..

 

[Datalife]

These sales give us hope!

I haven't used Sedo that much to find out how these people find their buyers over there...any tips would be appreciated :tu:

 

[theSun]

Just by looking at the title, I thought you are selling my domain name

Sell me all your .biz

 

[Fundraiser]

Based on that list of recently sold domains, someone got a good deal yesterday and you know who you are.