ccTLD The Official .WS Discussion

[memorablename]

The Official .ws thread

.WS can stand for WEBSITE.

It has pros and cons as a domain. This thread is for people who wish to suggest ideas to build up and help promote the .ws domain as well as to give and receive help and advice on .ws domains in general. Some useful info contributed through this thread below. Views and comments anyone...

http://website.ws/faq/index.dhtml

The registry is now allowing .WS domain names to be transferred from registrar to registrar. It seems that most registrars just haven't updated their websites to allow this yet.

This is good news for the .ws market as this was a major factor in holding .ws back. Time for .ws to take off? Can we publicize this to help boost the market?

Wrote about this a while back -
http://www.mwzd.com/2008/01/23/the-significance-of-ws/

So why buy .ws?
1. Excellent keywords can still be regged.
2. You can buy premium keywords for $20-$50.
3. Excellent development potential, luckily goog doesn’t really care about which extension the site is on but how much content s there and how often it is updated.
4. Godaddy markets .ws - little but its a big brand
5. The ‘website’ christening seems to have more and more acceptance.
6. Its easy to get traffic and thus revenue for better keywords in .ws than a ‘bad’ keyword in .com

Some .WS sales over $200 listed below. Please post any .WS sales you know of over $200 to this thread

folder.ws$250 2008-03-05SEDO.com
reisebuero.ws$750 2008-02-23SEDO.com
cast.ws$200 2008-02-13SEDO.com
notebooks.ws$370 2008-01-07TDNAM.com
yukle.ws$62 2008-01-06SEDO.com
moshax.ws$350 2007-12-25TDNAM.com
flirt.ws$286 2007-12-24SEDO.com
washingtonstate.ws$500 2007-12-16SEDO.com
fulltilt.ws$310 2007-12-15SEDO.com
sms.ws$2,000 2007-12-08SEDO.com
liondog.ws$770 2007-12-05TDNAM.com
clipart.ws$850 2007-11-15SEDO.com
beaches.ws$250 2007-11-14SEDO.com
airport.ws$366 2007-11-05TDNAM.com
tomfelton.ws$335 2007-04-26TDNAM
london.ws $1,825 Sedo


Also from: 2004 to 2006

blogs.ws $1,600
save.ws $417
green.ws $227
Avatars.ws $400
VOIP.ws $2,000 Sedo
Game.ws $1,000 Namepros
VacationRentals.ws $800 Private
VoiceOverIP.ws $600 Sedo
PersonalInjury.ws $600 Private
NikeSports.ws ($480)
UsedBooks.ws ($240)

 

[Timewarp]

I have several other hoodie domains and I am looking for an affiliate program.
That should provide more money than parking.

Thanks for the response.

Morg

Try Zazzle.com for hoodies and t-shirts ect. for any topic under the sun. They have an in-house affiliate program or you can join through the Google Affiliate Network. I know the in-house program has some affiliate tools available.

 

[.NEET]

Regged TV-Sho(.)ws and TVSho(.)ws a couple weeks ago.

 

[wussadotcom]

[/COLOR]Updates:
Current Top 6 Website for .ws
1) avaxhome.ws
2) cbox.ws
3) serials.ws
4) raidrush.ws
5) website.ws
6) zerosec.ws

My site sbox dropped to number 200+ Lol..

 

[DnEbook]

grabbed my 2nd .ws yesterday , solarsystems and i also have the hack worldne/ws

the hacks above are good

 

[DNBro]

recently i have registered candle/./ws

 

[shursight]

why are .ws domains not worth anything?

Can anyone explain to me why .ws domains are not worth anything? do search engines not pick them up? or is there other reasons? thanks

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

Because they are not direct-navigation domains. In other words, users are unlikely to type in .ws site into the url box, even with a premium keyword

Developed .ws can do surprisingly well, however, with the right keyword(s).

But parked? Forget it.

*

 

[Kate]

The local market is very limited. That's why it's branded as a vanity TLD.
Same with other TLDs such as .cc or .gs. The islands are almost uninhabited, so the possible demand is extremely tiny

 

[the_poet]

.tk is another notable example.

 

[mitok]

I dont agree that .ws are not worth anything. I would say that they are not worth much, but definately have some value. I had a few $xxx sales of .ws domains, with not some top keywords, but yes, they were some good one word domains.
And i had a lot of mid $xx sales with .ws domains.

 

[pwr1009]

Can you tell me where have you sold them?

thanks=]

I dont agree that .ws are not worth anything. I would say that they are not worth much, but definately have some value. I had a few $xxx sales of .ws domains, with not some top keywords, but yes, they were some good one word domains.
And i had a lot of mid $xx sales with .ws domains.

 

[mitok]

Can you tell me where have you sold them?

thanks=]

Some at this, and some on other forums. Not at first, but at some point you should receive some offer if you have a good name.

But if you manage to find a buyer who is not from some forum, i belive that you can get for some good one word domain in .ws even $xxx offer, if not more.

 

[Tippy]

I used to sell many years ago but these days the sales have slowed down, mind you I dont own many great names like I have in the past like Game.ws Reviews.ws Links.ws and Images.ws etc...

I blame the registry for messing things up for .ws

My second highest traffic receiving name parked at sedo is a .ws mind you, so cant say that all .ws names arnt ok for parking or perhaps it was a popular site in the past, I have 229 names parked at sedo...

 

[mwzd]

My highest ever parked click was to a loan related .ws

I've sold more than a few in the $xx-$xxx range, on NP and Sedo, have one up for auction too.

Developed, a good keyword can take the mickey out of a $xx,xxx seo spend on a lesser .com, imho.

 

[SiberForum]

Some people promote them as WEb SIte domain name. Not sure if all of them are worthless but I believe there are some really good ones

 

[Gerrit]

The local market is very limited. That's why it's branded as a vanity TLD.
Same with other TLDs such as .cc or .gs. The islands are almost uninhabited, so the possible demand is extremely tiny

Of all obscure extentions, Western Samoa is relatively well populated compared to Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, and especially compared to virtually uninhabted ones like South Georgia, Kerguelen, etc. So no local market?? I´d say that´s a tiny bit exagerated.

Also, .ws can be worth something when branded well, look at .tv for example: Tuvalu has less than 20000 citizens and hardly any tourism ongoing and still .tv is amongst the most famous ccTLDs because it´s branded well. .ws could be doing the same, but the registry is not doing such a good job in advertising it.

In my opinion, the reason for .ws not being that popular is that the abbreviation for WebSite sounds a bit forced. .tv for Television makes sense, .cd for music related websites makes perfect sense, .fm for an online radio station makes sense, ... WS for WebSite would require you to always explains what it means, so for mouth-to-mouth advertising it ain´t such a great deal because the abbreviation is a bit forced, it´s not common in daily communication. Nonetheless, a good keyword will sell regardless how obscure the extention.

 

[Gradimir]

Maybe because it's hard to type all the names

 

[daj]

A high searched for keyword in the .ws extension can fetch Mid $xx- Low $xxxx(depending on if it's an end user or not). Bido.com seems to be a decent marketplace for selling them. I've had no real luck selling them on forums.

I personally prefer .cc amongst all the vanity extension (I even prefer it over .us/.me and other cctlds), because it's easier to type and it looks better in a logo.

 

[hambling]

Last month I sold pain.ws on Bido for $517.00 so some keywoeds so have value

 

[thomassius]

I'm a little skeptical about .ws domains, since I see some of them available as backorders that in many other extensions would have a really interesting value. I agree no one thinks on .ws when trying to remember a web name.

Anyway, if I had to choose between developing a .ws keyword domain or an uglier and longer .com domain (i.e. flights.ws or flightstowhereveryouwant.com), I would choose the .ws one.

It also could be more brandable, in some cases (sports.ws is an example.)

IMO

 

[dotker]

Ive got 6 sales since i began domaining & four of them are .ws lol

although im not really a fan and stop regging them. there are loads of high keywords on .ws

But they look like a scam company global domains international runs the show which also does those networking scam on .ws which really really turned me off.

http://website.ws

P.S. atleast their landing page looks less scammy than before

 

[mwzd]

If sports.ws is a brandable, pray do tell whats a generic?

And the beauty of it is, you don't need to buy .ws domains from w/in the mlm structure.

W/o that structure, they're pretty much the same as any other extension, with the inherent seo advantage of age.

 

[thomassius]

From my oppinion, sports.ws would be more brandable than some other domains which in my mind become more similar between themselves, such as e-sports.com (with and without dash), isports.com, sportsonline.com, sportsworld.com ... From a branding point of view, I'd rather choose sports.ws than those. I think it would stick easierly into peoples mind.

That's what I was trying to say.
:imho:

 

[mwzd]

In domaining terms - sports.ws is a generic, others you've mentioned are the brandables.

A generic is always superior to a brandable for a site w/ a small advertising budget.

Seo is easier on a generic too.

 

[shursight]

Why are .ws domains not as valuable as .com domains?

Can anyone explain to me why .ws domain names do not have any value. I have been told they are very similar to .coms. do search engines not pick them up? can they not be developed as easy? thanks