Should I just throw in the towel on .ws?

[johnny6]

Well, for like 18 months now, I've been holding on to some just monstrous keyword .ws (although I bet I let a few drop without noticing). I keep waiting for something good to happen to .ws. And I'm still waiting.... waiting..... waiting.... snore.

Is it a lost cause? A year ago I was flipping .ws like hotcakes. Heck, talk to member QADN about .ws, he was selling at least 1 a day for like a 300% profit with absolutely no effort until a few months ago.... Has the market just dried up completely? Should I just cut my losses?

Any hope at all? It just seemed like such a promising extension!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Cheers,
John

 

[1rrr1]

I feel that .ws still has some way to go. If you are hodling a lot, sell some for a profit and keep the rest. They will hopefully come through in the end.

 

[Jonathan]

I'd hold on to really good keywords, but dump the rest. .ws was going to do best when it was hyped as world site or something like that. I don't think it's going to 'explode' ever again, especially as new tlds become available.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

I think even the registry has given up...
Looking at DNJ's big board, not looking too good for the 'ol .ws this year.
And of course, I still hate the MLM type scheme being used to promote the ongoing "landrush" in the .ws namespace ... meh.
-Allan

 

[stscac]

Well, for like 18 months now, I've been holding on to some just monstrous keyword .ws (although I bet I let a few drop without noticing). I keep waiting for something good to happen to .ws. And I'm still waiting.... waiting..... waiting.... snore.

Is it a lost cause? A year ago I was flipping .ws like hotcakes. Heck, talk to member QADN about .ws, he was selling at least 1 a day for like a 300% profit with absolutely no effort until a few months ago.... Has the market just dried up completely? Should I just cut my losses?

Any hope at all? It just seemed like such a promising extension!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Cheers,
John

looks as if it is time to throw in the towel

if you are going to reg a .ws, make sure you can at least get ppc of the reg cost.

-Steve

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Yay .ws?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46689&item=7521995727&rd=1

Bigger-blah

-Allan

 

[stscac]

Yay .ws?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46689&item=7521995727&rd=1

Bigger-blah

-Allan

that big red stop sign means dont register any more .ws domains.

GO ccTLDs that still havent been sold off. Like .ca, .ru, co.uk and .de

-Steve

 

[CrazyTech]

Potential is still there IMHO but what time will tell, I don't know. I picked up a few .ws ext names myself - nothing huge but there are a few that aren't bad. I'm thinking I'll hold on to them but at this point with all the new TLDs I'm starting to question how much they'll be worth in the end.

 

[dewd]

ever since someone pointed out .WS is NOT meant to be .website but some country, i lost interest instantly

 

[dgridley]

My two .ws are two of my "better" websites.. I think the key is: you need to develop and brand for true value. IMO, a developed website is always worth more than an undeveloped domain.

 

[theparrot]

I think they made a good move in lowering the prices recently. Now if they would just turn off that darn wildcard dns. I think .ws can make sense for development more so then pure domain speculation.

 

[stscac]

My two .ws are two of my "better" websites.. I think the key is: you need to develop and brand for true value. IMO, a developed website is always worth more than an undeveloped domain.

good point dave!

-Steve

 

[webdome]

I'm long time internet user since 1996, in my opinion .ws come second after com net and org. Keep it. :bingo: However, I never tried to cash up on ws domains, kinda old school, coms and orgs are my field.

 

[floatingworld]

drop 'em

 

[Joey]

Yeah, the .ws domains aren't that popular. .com is still going!

 

[dgridley]

I disagree that the .ws domains aren't "popular".. I suspect they are better known than many of the other ccTLD's...

 

[jeter4982]

ever since someone pointed out .WS is NOT meant to be .website but some country, i lost interest instantly

I don't think it really matters what domaineers know about the true meaning of an extention, IMO it is what the consumer's think. I bet if you ask anyone with out knowledge of domains, they would say .ws stands for website, not a country.

Anyways, back to the original post, I think it really depends on how great the .ws domains really are. Obviousally if it is something like sex.ws, then keep it :gn: , but I think in most cases I would try to sell it cheap, or just let them drop. I don't really see much potential in the .ws extension unless you develop them.

Tom

 

[stscac]

I disagree that the .ws domains aren't "popular".. I suspect they are better known than many of the other ccTLD's...

well that is true, you do have a point there. based on commercialization (sellout) of the Western Samoa ccTLD. but i still think that my stance is valid when I say from a ccTLD standpoint that the value of a target audience drops whereas a .de, .co.uk or a .ca would target users from Germany, the UK and Canada respectively.

It is obvious that the .ws domain name space wasn't going to be well used in Western Samoa, in which case it made sense to sell it off. But I hate to see domain names for as far as Dotsters stunts where everything targets the United States economy with .de for Denver and .ch for Chicago where real locales are Germany and Switzerland respectively.

This is my stance, I would be happy to debate.

-Steve

 

[dgridley]

I'm somewhat Machiavellian.. from a marketing standpoint, if it works, run with it!

But I hate to see domain names for as far as Dotsters stunts where everything targets the United States economy with .de for Denver and .ch for Chicago where real locales are Germany and Switzerland respectively.

This is my stance, I would be happy to debate.

-Steve

 

[billinchina]

that big red stop sign means dont register any more .ws domains.

LOL

I think you should try to sell them off dirt cheap or let them expire (unless you are attached to them as a collector is to his coin collection). If you have some nice one word dot ws domains, put some content on them and try to get search engine traffic...

I picked up some cheap .ws domains like pirate.ws and techno.ws to use for music projects in my spare time, but I didn't pick them up to make money off of...