Helping out new and struggling extensions

[h2o]

I had this idea not too long ago. Lets assume you have invested largely in extensions such as dot me, dot asia, or dot mobi. What may be needed is a few large corps using these extensions and promoting them heavily for the public to be aware that they exist. How about just offering some names to corps, for instance, like Live.me for Microsoft for bargains in return for a written agreement that the company will develop/and or promote that domain?

After all celebrities, with all the money they have, end up getting all their clothing for free. Designers are eager to offer them apparel for free in hopes that it will help them in the long run.

Whatever the case may be if a huge registrar like GoDaddy stopped with the funny skits about boobies and started making funny skits about owning awesome domain names they we would be on a roll.

 

[Jeff]

Beautious.

Similarly, as an example ... folks at wayward and greedy mTLD (using the struggling "dot Mobey" extension, for instance) have bypassed the opportunity to successfully place min. dozens+/+ of premium / generic "reserved" domains into the hands of End users via the now abandoned RFP process, as well as have failed to offer the domains to developers in "no reserve" auctions as well, IMHO.
The "ecosystem" and their credibilty - as well as, to your point, their greater awareness - have proven failures because of these broken promises and inactions! :red: :imho:
Tick. Tock.

Good suggestions, otherwise! :gl:
-Jeff

 

[Kate]

I think we need more than just a few 'showcase' sites to make an extension thrive.
The problem with most new extensions... they are not needed. How do you convince end users to purchase things they don't need ?

 

[h2o]

The problem with most new extensions... they are not needed. How do you convince end users to purchase things they don't need ?

Tell that to ICANN who plan on dishing out 50+ new extensions.

 

[Jeff]

I think we need more than just a few 'showcase' sites to make an extension thrive.
The problem with most new extensions... they are not needed. How do you convince end users to purchase things they don't need ?

Great points, Kate ... regarding the latter, it may come down to a branding preference or need / or perception of need (with the critical assumption that the new product is, in fact, more easily brandable than what is already established and well known). Again, using the long, two syllabled, and extremely cumbersome (for its target, especially) "dot Mobey" as an example ... this extension is counter intuitive and NOT easily brandable - again highlighting the complete failure and lack of vision at the top, at mTLD! :red: :imho:

On the other hand, the highly brandable .TEL and .WEB extensions, as examples, don't suffer from this immediate branding problem, potential need in my view! :music:
Just my two sense.
-Jeff

 

[dbtbandit67]

Tell that to ICANN who plan on dishing out 50+ new extensions.

they could add 50,000 new extensions, that doesn't necessarily make them valuable. i dont understand how a domainer could branch out into exotic extensions when there are plenty of good deals for .com/net/org right now. the problem is that a lot of domainers are too inclined to reduce their overhead; just because you are paying someone a profit doesn't mean you're getting a bad deal. depending on the situation, you could be getting a really good deal. and there are plenty of good deals right now

 

[MicroGuy]

The problem with most new extensions... they are not needed. How do you convince end users to purchase things they don't need ?

Boy, you really hit the nail on the head there. :bingo:

 

[ALG]

Boy, you really hit the nail on the head there. :bingo:

That and the fact that people are going to be trying to tak the easy way out when we are all embedded with .com.net.org

Oh boy oh boy!

 

[labrocca]

Jeff is right....part of the appeal of mobi was the promises from mTLD that a process would be in place to ensure quality sites were made by top-tier companies. It was quickly evident the process was designed to line their pockets as quick as possible.

Domains are pretty much free to create. They could have chosen the top 500 companies and offered free domain for eternity in exchange development. Their decision to require very very high prices and to auction the names has imho broken the confidence many had in the extension thus helping in it's demise as a beloved long-term investment.

So far registries have used domains to print money. I have hopes for dotweb but we shall see.

 

[h2o]

Domains are pretty much free to create. They could have chosen the top 500 companies and offered free domain for eternity in exchange development. Their decision to require very very high prices and to auction the names has imho broken the confidence many had in the extension thus helping in it's demise as a beloved long-term investment.

So far registries have used domains to print money. I have hopes for dotweb but we shall see.

Yep exactly. It's true that one or two "showcase" websites can't determine between a winning and a losing extension but you need all the good exposure you can get.

 

[snoop]

I had this idea not too long ago. Lets assume you have invested largely in extensions such as dot me, dot asia, or dot mobi. What may be needed is a few large corps using these extensions and promoting them heavily for the public to be aware that they exist. How about just offering some names to corps, for instance, like Live.me for Microsoft for bargains in return for a written agreement that the company will develop/and or promote that domain?

I don't think this is realistic, as mentioned mtld actually tried to give names away in similar fashion with very little interest. No big company is going to spend money developing a domain they aren't particularly interested in. If domainers really believe in new extensions then they should be willing to put their own money behind development.

They could have chosen the top 500 companies and offered free domain for eternity in exchange development.

That is assuming top 500 companies actually put enough value in these domains to warrant spending money on development, which is doubtful.

 

[Aggro]

Don't worry about .ME

Live,me (and the all other desired keywords) will auctioned to the highest bidder.
Same business model as ,MOBI etc

As if the registry give a chit about how it is used.
Like a whore they only care about the $$$. Better than printing money.
LOL - they've even been helpful in supplying a list of "Past Premium Auction Results"
http://live.me

 

[Kate]

Tell that to ICANN who plan on dishing out 50+ new extensions.

What I mean is that some of the new TLDs may be non-commercial/community-focused (like .cat), therefore it would matter little if they made no profit. Something like .coop maybe ?
That being said, most of the post-2000 extensions have been failures and I would not expect the next extensions to fare any better.

If domainers really believe in new extensions then they should be willing to put their own money behind development.

Well put. Domainers should always put their money where their mouth is :blink:

 

[h2o]

What I mean is that some of the new TLDs may be non-commercial/community-focused (like .cat), therefore it would matter little if they made no profit. Something like .coop maybe ?
That being said, most of the post-2000 extensions have been failures and I would not expect the next extensions to fare any better.
Well put. Domainers should always put their money where their mouth is :blink:

Depending on which names I get, I will be developing a lot of .web domains. Not to mention .web was originally introduced in 1995.

 

[Jeff]

Agreed.

So far registries have used domains to print money. I have hopes for dotweb but we shall see.

:hi:

Someone wiser than me may soon advise the folks at the GREEDY and struggling mTLD / "dot Mobey" ... to quickly eradicate anyone who currently works there and/or advises them and seriously consider purchasing either the highly brandable .TEL or the .WEB registries, and start all over again from scratch - with an emphasis, this time, on actual End users / developers and also immediate major promotions and awareness / adoption (and not simply coming in to existence for pure GREED MONEY with an obviously unbrandable and highly problematic extension)! :yell: :imho:

Just my two sense.
-Jeff

 

[Work In Progress]

Quite frankly, the only positive I see out of .tel is maybe the simplicity of developing?

:zzz:


Come on, a tld specifically to be used as a business directory? I thought that's what "Contact Us" pages were for? Please enlighten me on why I should consider investing in .tel?

I'm not seeing any reason for this extension unless they change their thinking.

 

[Kate]

Please enlighten me on why I should consider investing in .tel?

Simply put, it's not an extension for investment.
Besides, I find that the very name is misleading. It has little to do with 'telephony'.

 

[labrocca]

That is assuming top 500 companies actually put enough value in these domains to warrant spending money on development, which is doubtful.

If you can't get top companies to develop a free domain then what hope does it have as a paid domain? Initially they had a lot of "backers"...from MS and the cell providers to some other heavyweights. More emphasis should have been placed with providing these companies tools and resources to start a site or place any existing mobile sites onto a FREE mobi domain. Heck that's a start there....find as many companies using a mobile site and tell them they can have a free mobi in exchange for all future advertising to include the mobi version. Deals COULD have been made. The extension had mTLD done it's part could have been huge. This "could have been" was the reason so many invested so much. However I saw early on the faults of mTLD and it's inability to disclose what the backers provided (which seemingly was nothing) and how they would run their RFP (which ended up as auctions).

I have almost no faith left that new extensions will be jackpots for domainers as a whole. Yeah there is always someone grabbing some nice domains on sunrise and finding a buyer but I probably have the same odds at the casino slot machines. I prefer the slot machines...at least I know the revenue stays local.

 

[snoop]

If you can't get top companies to develop a free domain then what hope does it have as a paid domain? Initially they had a lot of "backers"...from MS and the cell providers to some other heavyweights. More emphasis should have been placed with providing these companies tools and resources to start a site or place any existing mobile sites onto a FREE mobi domain. Heck that's a start there....find as many companies using a mobile site and tell them they can have a free mobi in exchange for all future advertising to include the mobi version. Deals COULD have been made. The extension had mTLD done it's part could have been huge. This "could have been" was the reason so many invested so much. However I saw early on the faults of mTLD and it's inability to disclose what the backers provided (which seemingly was nothing) and how they would run their RFP (which ended up as auctions).

I have almost no faith left that new extensions will be jackpots for domainers as a whole. Yeah there is always someone grabbing some nice domains on sunrise and finding a buyer but I probably have the same odds at the casino slot machines. I prefer the slot machines...at least I know the revenue stays local.

I still don't see why any large company would care about any of this. Outside of domainers circles the prospect of a free domain in an unpopular extension isn't exactly going to be compelling