.net

[CoolJay]

Are investors still interested in .net domains?

 

[algofox]

Vaguely "investors" is an oxymoron,
If you are able to sell its considered (+1) SAIL!
FUNFACT: .Net was initially conceived for the networking companies.

 

[davin0halligann]

I think so

 

[STIJL]

I’ve had a few end users buy .net & .org’s when the .com was not within reach.

 

[BaileyUK]

Hard to sell a .net unless it's a highly desirable key word/term. Don't make the mistake I did in the early days thinking there was a market for every domain

 

[Leo2k]

As per the below poll, .net sales are in the second place after .com.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/what-non-com-extensions-have-you-sold-in-2024.1323435/

Though the holding period will be more, volume and price lesser compared to its .Com name.

You can also see some high value sales reported in Namebio, just in the past 3 months.

So, end users prefer .net when they want a particular name but it's .com is not available or selling at a significantly higher value which they are not interested / can't afford.

But if it's only about investors, most investors prefer .com mostly unless the .net name is good enough to hold for a long time.

 

[MKA]

Are investors still interested in .net domains?

Some are, but there's not as much of a market for them.

Think about it. If you want the best domain for [your brand], what would it be? [your brand].com, obviously.

If you can't get that, what do you do?

1. Rebrand.
2. Add a keyword to the SLD.
3. Get another TLD.

Presuppose someone opts to go for option 3. Then there's still a bunch of competition: .ai, .io, etc. and the chances of you getting it right with he .net are slim.

But even if they want the .net as the second alternative. There's a chance that they didn't get the .com because of budget-constraints. So now you have to price your domain competitively, so they don't decide to go for the .com anyway.

But anyone worth their salt knows that they need the .com. Take gandi.net, they've been around for 25 years and people still think of them as a bush league company.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, no one cares about the silver medalist.

 

[PassingThrough]

@MKA is spot on.

I'd go further and say that .net long ago was an acceptable 2nd choice, but with all of the other options it's not really that anymore for most companies.

A recent example: I saw that my surname.io recently dropped so I cross-checked other TLDs before registering it and found that surname.net, which has been registered since the 90's -- I'm sure I checked it back then, is for sale for a pretty low cost. I asked my 14 year old whether he'd want to have surname.net or surname.io and he looked at me like I was joking. I don't think he even knew .net was a thing, but he is very aware of .io.

My current view of .net is as if it were a new TLD for networking businesses or for an internal company's LAN use.

 

[CoolJay]

Some are, but there's not as much of a market for them.

Think about it. If you want the best domain for [your brand], what would it be? [your brand].com, obviously.

If you can't get that, what do you do?

1. Rebrand.
2. Add a keyword to the SLD.
3. Get another TLD.

Presuppose someone opts to go for option 3. Then there's still a bunch of competition: .ai, .io, etc. and the chances of you getting it right with he .net are slim.

But even if they want the .net as the second alternative. There's a chance that they didn't get the .com because of budget-constraints. So now you have to price your domain competitively, so they don't decide to go for the .com anyway.

But anyone worth their salt knows that they need the .com. Take gandi.net, they've been around for 25 years and people still think of them as a bush league company.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, no one cares about the silver medalist.

Thanks so only .coms is my best bet ?

 

[MKA]

Thanks so only .coms is my best bet ?

Yes. Because that's really what the clients want.

Sure, you have the occasional .net sales, but it's not really comparable.

Here's the number of the .com sales from last week.

Show attachment 257478

Here's the number of the .net sales from last week.

Show attachment 257477

So at one hand you have over 2,000 sales, on the other less than 100.

All else considered equal (which it really isn't) it will take you 20 times longer to sell a .net. So if it takes you 5 years to sell a .com, you can expect it to take 100 years to sell a .net. This is of course statistic data, but it gives you a rough idea what you're in for as a potential .net investor.

 

[VURG]

Most of my domain names are .net. There is a move in trade towards buying from companies for political reasons. This has the potential for younger entrepreneurs to use alternative extensions than .com as .com is associated with a common cultural style of operating that young people don't like. I see this as in the long term having a resurgence in .net popularity.

 

[Future Sensors]

I see this as in the long term having a resurgence in .net popularity.

Based on your feelings, or measurements and facts?

 

[dirk]

Based on your feelings, or measurements and facts?

Feelings most probably.

When you're young, you question the system (and rightly so). When you grow older and wiser, you decide it's better to put your energy in things that actually matter/make a difference.

There was a time when people genuinely avoided using the .com (left it open for registration) and opted for a .net or .org. silly them/me.

Even gen Z would have to agree, nowadays the only reason for not using the .com is because its either not available or you cannot afford it (some cctlds excluded).

There's always the next best thing. Could work out very well. Ultimately, you really want to own the .com, but you can't.

You're left with the choice: rebrand, or settle for a subpar extension.

I would dare to state, only because of the popularity of .com, .net still has a right of existence. Widely recognised, but always a runner up.

Does that matter? No. Lots of companies not trying to go for world domination and fine with using .net (or whatever).

Target those. Get your expectations right.

Huge fan of .net.

 

[VURG]

Based on your feelings, or measurements and facts?

I'm not the only one getting ready for a bear market. I know that we are minority now but there are some big players with good track records that I am sharing company with.

.com has had a strong bull market for decades now. As life starts getting harder for people, I see .net as a contender to appeal to the coop communities who want to push down the cost of living through strong negotiating. The statistics that I look at are the massive amounts of debt Western governments with the US government debt a big signal. I am also paying attention to the massive inflation that has hit the world over the last 4 years that is limiting countries from being able to pay down debt. I am anticipating a cultural shift when the bears take over and .com as a brand to potentially be hit hard. I am not looking at PPC advertising statistics on domains. Cultural shifts lead to changes in the language systems and this affects emerging domain behaviour.

 

[dirk]

.com has had a strong bull market for decades now. As life starts getting harder for people, I see .net as a contender to appeal to the coop communities who want to push down the cost of living through strong negotiating. The statistics that I look at are the massive amounts of debt Western governments with the US government debt a big signal. I am also paying attention to the massive inflation that has hit the world over the last 4 years that is limiting countries from being able to pay down debt. I am anticipating a cultural shift when the bears take over and .com as a brand to potentially be hit hard. I am not looking at PPC advertising statistics on domains. Cultural shifts lead to changes in the language systems and this affects emerging domain behaviour.

... But why .net and not .lol? That would be a real cultural shift.

Some might even say .top.

 

[VURG]

... But why .net and not .lol? That would be a real cultural shift.

Some might even say .top.

.net sounds similar to netting which can be correlated to coop forms of shopping. I am expecting the emerging money opportunity through lean buying coops. Cost-of-living pressures are leading people to band together to form coops. .net also has lower renewal fees than extensions like .lol and .top.

 

[HotKey]

Dot-net is strong always will be it's just not exciting. With this extension use it as a respected TLD on the bus to the potato farm rather than a seat on the fomo train to the whale party.

 

[Leopard]

It can work for

(1) short 2L to 4L .net (abbreviations)
- IBM.net, ASP.net ..

(2) One word .net
- Media.net, Hosting.net

(3) If someone wants to brand and promote as a "Social Network"
- Gymming.net, Gaming.net

 

[Future Sensors]

I've had a few popular .net websites since the 1990s, and .net really matched the original objective for these sites.

Later on, I had a huge series of .com, .net and .org websites for Adsense and Amazon affiliate shops, where it didn't really matter for SERPs whether the domain was really good, as long as it contained some relevant terms and matching content.

In 2024, I skip .net altogether for new registrations and focus mainly on .com, and sometimes .org.

 

[dirk]

.net sounds similar to netting which can be correlated to coop forms of shopping. I am expecting the emerging money opportunity through lean buying coops. Cost-of-living pressures are leading people to band together to form coops. .net also has lower renewal fees than extensions like .lol and .top.

Ok, this is a first, people looking into an alternate meaning for .net

.net is actually quite expensive compared to .com /org.

Fascinating view, thanks for sharing!