domain Some .pro

[AlexB]

Hello.

mergers(.)pro
pokerclub(.)pro
technics(.)pro

Appraise, please.

 

[MicroGuy]

The .PRO extension fell short of expectations. You need a killer name to have minimal value in this extension. These names are also not well suited for the extension.

In my opinion, you should seek a refund on these domains.

 

[dotprofan]

Gulf.pro just went on auction with a starting bid of $8000, not sure if that is considered a "killer" name or "minimal" value. That said, I don't really like technics.pro and pokerclub.pro as technics seems to be a registered trademark of panasonic and pokerclub doesn't really seem all that interesting or relevant to the extension. Mergers.pro could be good for a law firm specializing in mergers, but I suspect they would want merger.pro first.

The .PRO extension fell short of expectations. You need a killer name to have minimal value in this extension. These names are also not well suited for the extension.

In my opinion, you should seek a refund on these domains.

 

[MicroGuy]

Gulf.pro just went on auction with a starting bid of $8000, not sure if that is considered a "killer" name or "minimal" value. That said, I don't really like technics.pro and pokerclub.pro as technics seems to be a registered trademark of panasonic and pokerclub doesn't really seem all that interesting or relevant to the extension. Mergers.pro could be good for a law firm specializing in mergers, but I suspect they would want merger.pro first.

So you agree with my appraisal? Zero? :hi:

 

[dotprofan]

I would say $0 to reg fee for the first two and possibly low-mid $xxx for the mergers.pro name.

So you agree with my appraisal? Zero? :hi:

 

[Smartphone]

Also agree $0-Reg fee.

 

[AlexB]

Thanks.
mergers.pro was my first registration not in .ru zone

 

[johname]

pokerclub(.)pro has the most value in my opinion (assuming no trademark problems) because there is the possiblity of talking a young hotshot poker player into buying the name.

 

[DubDubDubDot]

Mergers.pro could be good for a law firm specializing in mergers,

That is really pushing it.

Low $x on all of these for me.

 

[terol]

I like .pro, but I don't like these domains. Just my 2c.

 

[akcampbell]

Not great .pros but a couple have potential, I agree with the comments made by dotprofan.

Killer .pros have alot more than minimal value, I paid $3,000 for Studio.pro, Guide.pro and Survey.pro, I know DotProFan sold Chef.pro for $3,650, and I turned down a $4,500 offer for Offshore.pro 2 months ago.

Micro.Pro is 100 times more brandable and saleable than MicroGuy.net. "Micro Guy Net" has 3 indexed Google references versus 163,000 for "Micro Pro". Micro and Pro are indexed together by Google on 15.7m pages, "Micro Guy" and net is indexed together on 620 pages. Built-in association between keyword and extension boosts brandability, memorability, and credibility.

1 in 8 of the Google indexed pages with the keyword Mergers in also have Pro in. Compare that to 1 in 11 for Info, 1 in 30 for Biz, and 1 in 533 for Mobi, and the .pro doesn't look like a bad fit. Mergers are advised on by corporate financiers and they are in turn professionals, usually qualified accountants, sounds logical to me.

"Poker Pro" has 850,000 Google unique so slotting in the place where people play poker, which is also one of the four suits of a pack of cards, works for me.

 

[johname]

I'd say they are all worthless to anyone who knows domain values. To anyone that has no clue or just likes the domains b/c they sound cool....then maybe.

agreed thats why i thought the poker one was best

Micro.Pro is 100 times more brandable and saleable than MicroGuy.net. "Micro Guy Net" has 3 indexed Google references versus 163,000 for "Micro Pro". Micro and Pro are indexed together by Google on 15.7m pages, "Micro Guy" and net is indexed together on 620 pages. Built-in association between keyword and extension boosts brandability, memorability, and credibility.

i dont think microguy mention any comparing his name to micro.pro, your point could be made without using his name.

 

[akcampbell]

I'd say they are all worthless to anyone who knows domain values. To anyone that has no clue or just likes the domains b/c they sound cool....then maybe.

These have the value of a lottery ticket ....IMHO. I'd rather have domains that are worth something right out of the gate and everyone already knows they are valuable.
.

You could say .com domains were lottery tickets and not worth something straight out of the gate but that didn't stop you regging and buying them, that you trash alternative extensions in appraisals to encourage "anyone who knows domains" to continue to finance your lifestyle, and that the whole purpose of a domain name is to sound cool because that adds credibility and helps people remember it.

As a developer, I like .pro because it means I have a "cool" canvas to paint on for the next 30-40 years and I can sleep soundly at night knowing that I'm not the donkey keeping you in sports cars. .com is the twilight of it's reign supreme, the explosion of new TLDs will open the flood gates for developers who have the skills but not the cash to wax on .com domains. Tomorrow's internet will be about SEO, content, functionality, and design, not about domain extensions.

i dont think microguy mention any comparing his name to micro.pro, your point could be made without using his name.

MicroGuy said the appraisal domains didn't fit the extension when they clearly do. If somebody says that and blogs from the domain Chalk.cheese their own domain name becomes fair game for analysis in the context of what constitutes a good fit between a keyword and extension.

 

[akcampbell]

You obviously can't handle anyone that has a dissenting opinion in regards to .pro. Good luck with .pro.....you'll need it I can see from the belligerent attitude.

If you tell a newbie their domains are worthless in a high handed and patronising way - e.g. "anyone who knows domains..." "...to anyone with no clue they sound cool...", as a .pro enthusiast I will have something to say about that.

I frequently agree with reg fee .pro valuations but there is a nice way and a not so nice way of communicating that. Your final "Good luck...you'll need it" comment is arrogant and that was the problem I had with how you made your initial point.

People who have made fortunes from domaining shouldn't swat little guys on forum appraisal threads and certainly not in the way you did, that's just my opinion.

 

[DubDubDubDot]

If you tell a newbie their domains are worthless in a high handed and patronising way - e.g. "anyone who knows domains..." "...to anyone with no clue they sound cool...", as a .pro enthusiast I will have something to say about that.

As a .pro enthusiast, can you explain to me why even though I practically live online I can't name one single developed .pro off the top of my head?

Aside from having existing investments in them, why do you support something that developers are so cold to?

 

[mjs]

As I've advised others who have chosen to spar with Mr. Campbell, you would be better served reading his body of work. While I assure you that I did not start out as a fan, it soon became readily apparent that the gentleman is most gifted...

 

[DubDubDubDot]

As I've advised others who have chosen to spar with Mr. Campbell, you would be better served reading his body of work. While I assure you that I did not start out as a fan, it soon became readily apparent that the gentleman is most gifted...

Great. Then he will be able to answer my two questions above so well that I will start buying .pro domains.

 

[mjs]

Great. Then he will be able to answer my two questions above so well that I will start buying .pro domains.

Mr. Campbell gives far more to the domain community than he takes. If you approach him in a respectful manner, he may well offer you the guidance you desire. You should know, as well, that beyond domaining, Mr. Campbell is an active professional. To this end, his time is valuable. Thank you for your attention and interest. I wish you luck in your endeavors whether you choose add .Pro domains to your portfolio, or not.

 

[akcampbell]

As a .pro enthusiast, can you explain to me why even though I practically live online I can't name one single developed .pro off the top of my head?

The vast majority of .pro registrants have only legally owned their .pros since Sep 2008. I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to develop domains they don't legally own. There were about 9,000 .pros regged in Sep 2008, 30,000 at the end of Dec 08 and maybe up to 40,000 now. The average number of .pros in those 6 months is, say, 25,000. Mathematically, that works out to 12,500 .pro years.

.com has grown rapidly since 1998 so let's assume the average .coms registered in the last 10 years are 25m. That's 25m x 10 years = 250m .com years. Therefore, .com has had 20,000 times more development time under it's belt. Evolution turned a dinosaur into a man in that time frame.

Even without building in .com's vast first mover advantage, statistically you would have to visit 20,000 .com sites before finding 1 .pro. If you visited 10 sites per day, it would take you over 5 year to stumble on a .pro.

Aside from having existing investments in them, why do you support something that developers are so cold to?

I started buying .coms in 2006 but within 6 months I didn't feel I was getting good value for money. I bought a couple of 2 word key phrases but nothing rocked my boat and I was paying $2,000-$3,000 for each domain and putting in 100's of hours of search time.

The first non .com domain I bought was Rates.info for $10,000. I followed that up with Prices.info for $12,000, Coupons.info for $7,000 and Savings.info at $4,000. Although, I was paying a bit more, I was getting short, generic, commercial keywords that would cost $1m-$2m in .com but had a more logical fit with in .info.

About 1 year later I discovered .pro. I'm an accountant in the UK so I met the registration criteria. What I liked about .pro is it conveyed credibility, was naturally brandable, and fitted a wide range of keywords, in some cases far better than .com, e.g. Golf.pro, Poker.pro.

Better still, it had awkward restrictions and cost $99 to register so domainers ignored it, people had been forking out $99 for 4 years so decent keywords were dropping by a process of attrition. In the first couple of weeks I registered Gadget.pro, Pension.pro, Piano.pro, Quiz.pro, and Puzzle.pro, I could only dream about keywords like this in other gTLD's. I worked out .pros dropped at 8:57AM UK time when most people in the US were in bed, and for 3-4 months I had virtually no competition on the drop.

For me, investing in .pro is like investing in an unquoted company versus a Fortune 500 company, .pro is illiquid, risky, new, few people outside of domaining have heard of it. However, the potential upside is tremendous. .pro is the only gTLD brandable enough to take on .com. .net is too geeky for big business, .org is not for profit, .biz is lightweight and informal text speak, .info isn't brandable, and .mobi is plain ugly and artificial and doesn't fit many keywords.

.pro produces stunningly beautiful, almost perfect keyword fits, I hold Office.pro, Studio.pro, Expert.pro, Mobile.pro, Digital.pro, Image.pro, Survey.pro, Training.pro, Company.pro, Staff.pro, Guide.pro, Play.pro and many others. I've just started developing my first .pro, Total.pro.

For .pro to become attractive to developers and accessible, the remaining .pro restrictions have to be lifted, reg fees must be cut in line with other gTLD's and .pro has to be sold by more than a handful of registrars. If that happens, I think developers will warm to .pro.

I work near Saville Row in London, I liken .pro to a tailored Saville Row suit, it produces exceptional keyword fit but it's only ever going to be worn by a small number of discerning customers. .com is an off the peg suit, keyword fit is not an issue, most people wear them, but what you can buy in a shop for a $7 reg fee doesn't impress me.

2 weeks ago I bought London.pro and Power.pro for $150 each, "Power Pro" has 1,420,000 Google uniques, that built-in mindset value impresses me. London.com would cost $5m but if I'm better at SEO and have more valuable London content than London.com, I win the game and save $5m. People will continue to type in London.com, but as search engines improve fewer people are going to do that, even now only 1/6 of internet traffic is direct navigation. The value of that diminishing 1/6 will shrink as PPC falls and the internet gets ever more saturated with sites and extensions so you have a double whammy of downward pressure on overpriced generic .coms.

 

[AlexB]

Thanks for such complete answer, akcampbell!