Future of domains

[Keral_Patel]

Saw that many people are writing articles. So tried my hand to it.

Here it is:

Future of domain names. It is clear now that when some poor guy wants to start a web site the first problem is to get a descent domain name. Every domain name he can think of, is already registered. Even if he finds some name which is going to drop in a week or so, there is no chance that he will get it. Domineer all around the world are waiting right there with their backorders placed on that name.

3 character domains cannot be found for registrations not even 4 letters nowadays. All TLD's like .com, .net, .info and .org have been regged to the 4 letters limit. While I am writing this there are less then hundred 3 character domains left in '.net' and '.org' extensions with a mixture of letters and numbers. And around 2000 junk letter names in LLLL combination. Some lists can be found here. http://www.namepros.com

So every domineer likes to have a 3 letter 4 letter and some dictionary and some brand able domains in his or her portfolio. There are more flavors too. Like LLL.com's, LNL.com's, NNN.com's and generic domains.

There are millions of domains registered. Imagine just $5 average per domain registration. And you will know how big this domain industry is. From where I am seeing it, there is no downfall of this domaining business. People who are breaking Trademarks and registering company names are also being hit hard nowadays. But still you can't file a case against some John for registering JOHN.COM and the show goes on.....

 

[EbookLover]

What the article does to mention is that that "poor guy" who gets a website and thinks that, for instance, bob.com might be available does not understand that domains are like real estate property and to think that bob.com would be available is absurd.

I cannot tell you how many times I hear newbe/wanna be website owners say,

"I'm going to put up a site about football so I will now go register football.com".

You tell them that there is no way they will ever get that domain and they look at you with a perplexed look and as "why?".

You tell them why and then they say, "OK. I'll just go register football.sdlkjsdflk or even fo-ot-ba-ll.com". LOL.

 

[Keral_Patel]

HE HE HE. Yeah has happened to me. Whenever my clients come in and say I want diamond.com or engineering.com then I say to them that it is not available.

Then they make faces and tell me to check it out before making any statements. :D

Fools don't understand the situation.

 

[gazzip]

HE HE HE. Yeah has happened to me. Whenever my clients come in and say I want diamond.com or engineering.com then I say to them that it is not available.
.

Damn, next time can you tell your clients that I have diamondctr.com for sale - I though it was a great domain and would be easy to sell when I first reg'd it ! :lol:

 

[wow!]

.Every domain name he can think of, is already registered. Even if he finds some name which is going to drop in a week or so, there is no chance that he will get it.
.....

Well tell him I have a nice list
of 100 available domains that has
great keywords or SE friendly.
Yes good unregistered domains are still available with some research.
oops...there are 99 now...

 

[noname]

I want to write an article about the future of domains, but i think many poeple wouldn't like it.

Future 1:
after the peak on the domain registration craze, so many domains were registered that it became impossible to find any usable unregistered domain names. the internet was filled with domain parking services (sedo /etc). so it becomes near impossible to aquire a domain at a reasonable price.
In an attempt to remedy the situation ICANN is forced to increase domain registration fees to $99/year. The combination of drop in domain parking revenue (due to the large amout of parked domains) and increased domain fees have caused the domain market to crash.

Future 2:
The wikipedia project evolves to a degree to make other websites irrelevant. it was expanded and reorganised to include opinions, auctions, and online stores for the items that are looked up.
There is no more point in using search engines to get a list of 1 zillion sites and look through them to find a site with the relevant information, when you can just look it up in wikipedia.
the demand for websites was greatly reduced to use by organizations similar banks, corporations and governments services. and therefore the demand for domains.

 

[cache]

future 3: unified root and other country extension domains will dilute current .com holders (or at least I wish it would since I don't have many great names).

 

[webfreak]

There's not going to be a sudden increase from around $8 to $99 per year. If anything, the registration fee will gradually rise. Moreover, I can see that people would switch from trying to acquire .com domains to ccTLDs, many of which would still have their favorite keyword available.

I also do not think that Wikipedia will become the number one Internet powerhouse. Just think of how many well established sites it would have to take over to gain the type of market share you described. An Internet monopoly seems unimaginable. Even Google faces fair competition from Yahoo! and MSN.

Finally, .com may stabalize with the introduction and growing familiarity of ccTLDs, but it's importance is never going to be diluted. It was the first and will be most recognized with the Internet.

Only time will tell.

 

[Keral_Patel]

Future News:

The owner of ksjsdsfsdsdkfsdfsdjf231232.com was kidnapped and killed for his domain

 

[AdoptableDomains]

ICANN is in the process now of considering more gTLD's. I can't see any becoming available this year, but probably in 2007. It will make the last round of .info and biz seem more legitimate and established, and send some of the junk buyers to the new TLD's. This will also make the buzz about the recent sTLD's go the same place as the buzz about the previous sTLD's of .aero, .museum, and .coop (nowhere-land). I think a new round will most hurt the non-resident ccTLD buyers of .in and .cn who purchased english keywords with drops in resale value. I don't think it will effect .com much more than .info and .biz did, which isn't much.

 

[{insert name here}]

Future News:

The owner of ksjsdsfsdsdkfsdfsdjf231232.com was kidnapped and killed for his domain

Thats funny, but in the future I would not be suprised to see domain "type" crimes, and then we will get L&O Domains :lol:

 

[mole]

I don't think it will effect .com much more than .info and .biz did, which isn't much.

The only thing true about this statement is that it prompted people people to go out and buy 5k+ .COM domains of crap.

The name of the game in new namespace is to always get the best keywords and extreme category domination, whereas in old namespace, its really one big fat compromise scenario even if you have a deep pocket.

 

[VURG]

Looking at the data on zoonic.com you can see that the number of registered .com domains has doubled in just 2.5 years. (around 47 million) I talk to people and a lot of them don't even know what domains are. I think that there is going to be a continued large growth in the number of registered domains. The smart people of today are going to find the better bargains of today and make a lot of money, but the disorganised domain speculators will lose lots of money.

I think there will be a day when you can have adhosted web hosting of any size website for free. Virtually every web based service for website hosting will become free over time for those who want to provide the service on the condition that the hosting group gets adhosting revenue. The domain is the only real cost. Even third world countries will have large amounts of people who will be able to afford that.

The definate change of the future on the web will be the increased influence by non-english speaking countries. India, China, Africa and the Middle Eastern Countries influence on the web will grow and grow. My opinion is that the big winners in domains will be the ones with insider knowledge about emerging trends in these areas that are experiencing large growth on the net.

 

[Keral_Patel]

I talk to people and a lot of them don't even know what domains are.

Very true.