Alright, its time for the voice of reason….
First of all, I wanted to say that, it hasn’t escaped my attention that the forum seems to have risen to new heights this year.
There are more registered users posting and, perhaps even more importantly, “guests” popping through .tv land for a looksee.
There have been notable sales and some notable new .tv websites.
Bud.tv is going to be great for .tv and whilst the jury is out on Demand Media, I think it’s fair to say that our good friends there have injected some new life into the TLD.
Jeff has threatened to reg a .tv!!!
And then of course there is the natural evolution of the internet towards media
But…too many times lately have I been reading the “[you’re / I’m] going to be a millionaire because [you/I] had the courage to reg that expensive .tv domain when everyone else was on the .com bandwagon” speech.
Guys, chill out. We are still very much in the virgin years of a highly speculative investment. Not much has changed. Yes, .tv has become more fashionable (see above). Yes, some people have regged some great names and are well placed, but the conservative in me (and there’s a lot of it), says take a deep breath, calm down and think of this like any other business investment. Realise that .tv is still at the unrealised idea stage.
So I have some words of pessimism for ya.
Investment Tip #1 – Don’t overextend yourself.
I see a lot of posts on here by people that have [insert random number] .tv domains. Now, I think that’s fantastic I really do but only if you can afford [insert random number] .tv domains. Otherwise, tomorrow you’re going to have [insert zero] domains. I’m not kidding. I see it every day.
Investment Tip #2 – Pick carefully
I think that I had registered about 40 .tv domains before I sat down and added up my reg fees and got a bit of a surprise. 40 non-premium .tv domains is $1200 - $1500 per annum of reg fees. Let’s say that you’re not a domain developer, but a domain on-seller. You are in .tv to buy some great names and sell them at a profit. Well good on you. Well here is the catch (and this isn’t rocket science). Out of that 40, the average .tv on-seller here is going to sell 4. Not “4 every year”. Just 4. This is where things get a bit tricky. If those 4 names net you, let’s say $5,000 (in aggregate), I think that we would all congratulate you on a game well played. But if you take 3 years to sell those names. Well, your profit is suddenly $500. And, if you funded those names through debt, you’ve probably lost money.
I acknowledge that everyone is different, but at this point in my .tv life (see above) I sat down and went “you know what [insert name], you’ve got some great .tv domains. (Equity would say they’re just “ok”, but you know that they’re great). You have also got some absolute dogs”.
I looked at my small parcel of great/good names and decided that I was going to look after those babies. That no matter what happened they were my poster boys and that I was going to make sure that they got all the attention they deserved. I also thought, “if I’m going to take a risk I’m going to have one or two premiums”. Which I did. This was to help make up the numbers of my 4.
So here I am now, still horribly overexposed to .tv but knowing that I have picked as well as I could for someone who found .tv in late 2005.
Investment Tip #3 – Create value
I am not a domain on-seller. At times, I caught the .t bug and just went reg crazy. I still have to stop myself every now and again…This was the closest I got to being a domain on-seller because I knew that I couldn’t develop them all.
But I have [for the most part] now stopped. Actually, that’s not true. I made myself a deal that if I wanted to reg another name I had to drop one. It really makes me pause before I hit the buy button.
I can probably afford a few more [hypothetically] so why aren’t I regging. Simple? I want to create value with the domains that I have. My “4” are going to be developed. The biggest impediment to development isn’t skill. It’s courage. Courage to get out that cheque book and develop your #1 name to its full potential. How do you kill courage? Kill your wallet. Reg those extra 40 [now getting pretty average] domains and spend that $1,000 that should have [at least partly] developed your new business.
Suddenly, you’ve held that premium domain (it is probably a premium domain) for 3 or 4 years. You’ve spent $[insert random number] holding that domain and you haven’t developed it. You’ve had a few tempting offers for it over the years but those offers are now looking smaller as you match them against your ever escalating reg fees, wondering how you’re going to recoup your investment.
Which leads me to Tip #4
Patience.
A wise .tv investor - unfortunately one that is no linger a namepros member -once told me that he had a 10 year plan for his .tv domains. And he had a lot of them, and they were all gold. I think he made a smart move. You need to give Bill Gates a chance to catch up. Patience isn’t any good unless you have complied with 1. and 2. above. Because, if you’re domain isn’t any good, it doesn’t matter how long you hold it. Pick carefully. And, you can have the best domain in the world but if you can’t afford to hold it (and to maximise its value) well, it just doesn’t matter.
Good luck with your investments. I wish your 4 the best of luck.
First of all, I wanted to say that, it hasn’t escaped my attention that the forum seems to have risen to new heights this year.
There are more registered users posting and, perhaps even more importantly, “guests” popping through .tv land for a looksee.
There have been notable sales and some notable new .tv websites.
Bud.tv is going to be great for .tv and whilst the jury is out on Demand Media, I think it’s fair to say that our good friends there have injected some new life into the TLD.
Jeff has threatened to reg a .tv!!!
And then of course there is the natural evolution of the internet towards media
But…too many times lately have I been reading the “[you’re / I’m] going to be a millionaire because [you/I] had the courage to reg that expensive .tv domain when everyone else was on the .com bandwagon” speech.
Guys, chill out. We are still very much in the virgin years of a highly speculative investment. Not much has changed. Yes, .tv has become more fashionable (see above). Yes, some people have regged some great names and are well placed, but the conservative in me (and there’s a lot of it), says take a deep breath, calm down and think of this like any other business investment. Realise that .tv is still at the unrealised idea stage.
So I have some words of pessimism for ya.
Investment Tip #1 – Don’t overextend yourself.
I see a lot of posts on here by people that have [insert random number] .tv domains. Now, I think that’s fantastic I really do but only if you can afford [insert random number] .tv domains. Otherwise, tomorrow you’re going to have [insert zero] domains. I’m not kidding. I see it every day.
Investment Tip #2 – Pick carefully
I think that I had registered about 40 .tv domains before I sat down and added up my reg fees and got a bit of a surprise. 40 non-premium .tv domains is $1200 - $1500 per annum of reg fees. Let’s say that you’re not a domain developer, but a domain on-seller. You are in .tv to buy some great names and sell them at a profit. Well good on you. Well here is the catch (and this isn’t rocket science). Out of that 40, the average .tv on-seller here is going to sell 4. Not “4 every year”. Just 4. This is where things get a bit tricky. If those 4 names net you, let’s say $5,000 (in aggregate), I think that we would all congratulate you on a game well played. But if you take 3 years to sell those names. Well, your profit is suddenly $500. And, if you funded those names through debt, you’ve probably lost money.
I acknowledge that everyone is different, but at this point in my .tv life (see above) I sat down and went “you know what [insert name], you’ve got some great .tv domains. (Equity would say they’re just “ok”, but you know that they’re great). You have also got some absolute dogs”.
I looked at my small parcel of great/good names and decided that I was going to look after those babies. That no matter what happened they were my poster boys and that I was going to make sure that they got all the attention they deserved. I also thought, “if I’m going to take a risk I’m going to have one or two premiums”. Which I did. This was to help make up the numbers of my 4.
So here I am now, still horribly overexposed to .tv but knowing that I have picked as well as I could for someone who found .tv in late 2005.
Investment Tip #3 – Create value
I am not a domain on-seller. At times, I caught the .t bug and just went reg crazy. I still have to stop myself every now and again…This was the closest I got to being a domain on-seller because I knew that I couldn’t develop them all.
But I have [for the most part] now stopped. Actually, that’s not true. I made myself a deal that if I wanted to reg another name I had to drop one. It really makes me pause before I hit the buy button.
I can probably afford a few more [hypothetically] so why aren’t I regging. Simple? I want to create value with the domains that I have. My “4” are going to be developed. The biggest impediment to development isn’t skill. It’s courage. Courage to get out that cheque book and develop your #1 name to its full potential. How do you kill courage? Kill your wallet. Reg those extra 40 [now getting pretty average] domains and spend that $1,000 that should have [at least partly] developed your new business.
Suddenly, you’ve held that premium domain (it is probably a premium domain) for 3 or 4 years. You’ve spent $[insert random number] holding that domain and you haven’t developed it. You’ve had a few tempting offers for it over the years but those offers are now looking smaller as you match them against your ever escalating reg fees, wondering how you’re going to recoup your investment.
Which leads me to Tip #4
Patience.
A wise .tv investor - unfortunately one that is no linger a namepros member -once told me that he had a 10 year plan for his .tv domains. And he had a lot of them, and they were all gold. I think he made a smart move. You need to give Bill Gates a chance to catch up. Patience isn’t any good unless you have complied with 1. and 2. above. Because, if you’re domain isn’t any good, it doesn’t matter how long you hold it. Pick carefully. And, you can have the best domain in the world but if you can’t afford to hold it (and to maximise its value) well, it just doesn’t matter.
Good luck with your investments. I wish your 4 the best of luck.
