The .PRO Discussion

[InvisionTech]

It seems .PRO is slowly coming out of the cage with cheaper reg prices than they were a year ago and major registrars like netsol taking notice of the extension and promoting it.

Here are some that I picked up in last couple of days:

Alexandria.pro

Anchorage.pro

Arlington.pro

Belfast.pro

Birmingham.pro

Budapest.pro

Durham.pro

Fairfax.pro

Italian.pro

Lisbon.pro

Fire away with your regs after the relaunch on September 8th, 2008.

 

[mwzd]

In December 2010 there were 97613 domains registered.
Today 111665.

I wouldn't call that impressive growth.

Total .pros registered, excluding Hostway zip .pros, rose by 5.3% in May 2012 to 111,171. The increase for the last 12 months is 68.7%.

I call 68.7% growth in one year pretty damn impressive.

At least from where I'm sitting.

We're still quite far away from two word .pros being commercially viable but they make for pretty interesting development material.

 

[JoeBiz]

if you think those are bad manners i'd like to be the first to welcome you to the online world, danielson..

Good manners are never a waste of time son. I know that in large part because I've been online since 1995 and have conducted business with well over 2000 people ... actually it was 1984 at Research Triangle Park.

Best of luck.


8^X

 

[Kate]

.pro is back to December 2010 level. How is that impressive ?

 

[JoeBiz]

.pro is back to December 2010 level. How is that impressive ?

Show me the data please.


8^X

 

[sky]

.pro is back to December 2010 level. How is that impressive ?

I don't understand what your criteria is for evaluating whether a domain has value. Are you wanting to see .pro have millions of regs, so the registry gets rich? Otherwise, why would it matter how many regs there are at all? TLD recognition? Re-sale value? We all know .PRO ain't in the same league as .COM in terms of real estate prices.

Maybe we'll see a small spike in in .pro regs in a couple of months when the sales numbers for Encirca's $3.49 reg special last month are released.

I picked up about 20 new.pro regs for $3.49, because they were so cheap, and picked up a few reasonably decent keywords. I bet a lot of other folks did too.

All .pro has going for it is that it sounds kind of cool. Nice for a new site, at least for my stuff, and sounds good on business cards.
I'll be the first to admit peddling .pro for resale is a drag. And if I had a bunch of spare money and could buy a nice juicy .COM I might.
But I don't. So I'm in a lower-rent TLD district. But hey, more than one Monopoly game has been won by getting monopolies and building up hotels on the cheap real estate.

What your point is by now, seriously? Do you keep pounding the point that pro is not .COM to hurt people's feelings? To gloat? To feel like you have something to say with impunity? Or maybe you're saying "Go West young man, there's gold in those .COMs! ?" Buying .com is probably comparable to buying gold in some ways. If you got in early, you made a lot of money, but now is probably not the time to bet the farm on .COM.

 

[mjnels]

Good manners are never a waste of time son. I know that in large part because I've been online since 1995 and have conducted business with well over 2000 people ... actually it was 1984 at Research Triangle Park.

Best of luck.


8^X

got me beat - ive only conducted business with 1,998 people, roughly.

 

[sky]

Good manners are never a waste of time son. I know that in large part because I've been online since 1995 and have conducted business with well over 2000 people ...

got me beat - ive only conducted business with 1,998 people, roughly.

Yes. Perhaps you should not be so rough with people. :cy:

 

[Kate]

Show me the data please.

Please see post 4093.

What your point is by now, seriously? Do you keep pounding the point that pro is not .COM to hurt people's feelings?

So nobody is interested in registration stats ?
How is that meaningful ?
Nearly all extensions experience growth. A pattern of stagnation is not the sign of a healthy TLD. That's the point and that's all I'm saying.

 

[sky]

Please see post 4093.


So nobody is interested in registration stats ?
How is that meaningful ?
Nearly all extensions experience growth. A pattern of stagnation is not the sign of a healthy TLD. That's the point and that's all I'm saying.

But what does a 'unhealthy' TLD mean in terms of its value to me as long as it doesn't disappear? Is it going to disappear? registry.pro will go away and no one will take it over? I mean we already know .PRO is not well known (although recently some mainstream registrars have signed up to sell it). So what do low reg stats tell us that we need to know?

 

[Kate]

So what do low reg stats tell us that we need to know?

It's not just that the stats are 'low', but stagnant.
That simply means there has not been an increase in demand or awareness.
You don't invest in a TLD without taking into consideration the prospects and overall trends right ?

As I said above, nearly all extensions experience some growth. But the growth in alt TLDs tends to be weaker than in more established extensions. They are not catching up and the gap increases over time.

I don't think .pro, .biz or .whatever are going to disappear, but one can't say they are becoming more credible as alternative extensions when their market share continues to erode.

 

[JoeBiz]

got me beat - ive only conducted business with 1,998 people, roughly.

Let's call it a tie. Have a good week. Good luck with sales.

Cheers !
Charles

 

[webdomain]

Lack of growth appears to be tied up in no real promotion or activity from Afilias. Not complaining, as I feel they are doing much in the background and making new registrar connections. Hopefully something will happen this quarter. We need GoDaddy to pick .pro! Something big like that would be awesome and you'd think that afilias will be the ticket to get us there.

 

[-EM-]

Godaddy promoted .pro once with their auction.

 

[webdomain]

Yes, we need them to pick .pro up for good. Of course, this is all speculation at this point. However, afilias owning .pro may be all the difference to remove any roadblocks that would have prohibited this from happening at all.

 

[-EM-]

I guess there is a reason they are not getting .pro
I guess they are not seeing the .pro value that is so much calmed in this thread. Also godaddy can "ruin" a TLD like they did with .info, so I don't see godaddy as a key of success.

 

[DEFLECTED]

This is the first time that I have ever ventured into the dot pro discussons as I am probably one of those that for no reason just have a negative attitude towards the extension because of all the bad press and jokes made about it.
However reading all these posts has educated me a lot about the dot pro extension.I had no idea that dot pro has more registrations now than a few years ago which is eye opening as I thought it was in decline.I totally agree with the comments that if owners stopped holding out for big money and sold the premiums to end users who want to develop them it would help the dot pro extension enormously and would bring further investment and public awareness.

But then again what do I know?

 

[Edward Smeu]

I guess there is a reason they are not getting .pro
I guess they are not seeing the .pro value that is so much calmed in this thread. Also godaddy can "ruin" a TLD like they did with .info, so I don't see godaddy as a key of success.

Too many guesses mate.

First of all, the fact that you see less posts here is not because the value of dot pro calmed in the thread, it's because fewer and fewer care to reply to the same old posts. GoDaddy can boost the extension but they cant do it alone.

As I see it, Americans don't like dot pro and dont see it as something to hold on to unlike Russians for example. It's all a matter of taste and education. Some people see it different than the others. When I see the word "PRO" i think of reputation, professionalism and whatever PRO stands for. It's all about putting that after the dot.

 

[webdomain]

That might explain why russian traffic has topped US traffic to my facts.pro site. If the US wants to be late to this thing as they were to text messaging than I'm fine with that.

Deflected, always good to see someone that has an open mind. I think that is the way you profit from here on out. Take risks and chances...of course .pro is going to be more difficult to get into as a late entry, but bet you can still find a few good ones.

Apparently I'm in the business of developing unused extensions. I'm building out a mobi site right now to see if I can prove that even a mobi can generate rank in Google! My belief is that search engines are placing more emphasis on site content than the extension and although .com's might rise quicker there is still hope for alternate extensions. For anyone that is interested you can follow my captains blog or read the deal I made for cruise.mobi here. .mobi domains *hit! (Maybe, I shouldn't have said top 10 on the very competitive keyword 'cruises'...well when going for the gold you don't shoot for second place!)

Anyway, the point here is that .pro's still a valuable extension and in spite of any negative publicity still continues to grow in the world.

 

[Kate]

I suppose many .pro are owned by French people because .pro is carried by at least two large French registrars: OVH & Gandi. As for Russia, it could be because Rucenter has .pro too.
You can see the list of .pro registrars here: http://registry.pro/professionals/find
Many of the registrars do nothing particular to push .pro.

For example, Name.com has .pro but you have to ask for it, it won't feature in domain suggestions

 

[JoeBiz]

What your point is by now, seriously? Do you keep pounding the point that pro is not .COM to hurt people's feelings? To gloat? To feel like you have something to say without impunity? Or maybe you're saying "Go West young man, there's gold in those .COMs! ?" Buying .com is probably comparable to buying gold in some ways. If you got in early, you made a lot of money, but now is probably not the time to bet the farm on .COM.

Good question. "What is your point ???"

"Do you keep pounding the point that pro is not .COM to hurt people's feelings? To gloat? To feel like you have something to say without impunity?"

I've asked the same question and the response(s) read like they were lifted from the Book of MicroGuy. I don't understand why they're here either. I was on the dot Me forum a long while back and got into heated discussions but that was a Me vs Pro discussion. On the other hand I have no financial or personal interest in Mobi, Me, Info, Biz, WS and a hundred others so I spend no time on those forums.

MG was a big TV guy, or so I was told, and he said he lost his butt. We definitely had some overheated discussions but I don't recall ever visiting the TV forum to point out everything they were doing wrong. Why would I? I could have taken some shots at MG, and maybe I did, I don't recall. But I didn't set up shop on the TV forum digging up stats and old posts. Why do you people do that? A shrink would say that you have a Sadistic Personality Disorder.

8^X

It's not just that the stats are 'low', but stagnant.
That simply means there has not been an increase in demand or awareness.
You don't invest in a TLD without taking into consideration the prospects and overall trends right ?

People buck trends and take risks every day. That's what makes the business world go round. When stock holders are going with a downward trend and selling off, who do you think is buying that stock? I bought gold when it was $430 an ounce. There were naysayers galore on the metal forums. They told us that hell would freeze over before gold crossed $500. Gold is $1764 as I write this and was $1775 earlier today. I bought silver at $7.00. Today it's hanging around $34. And I'd bet that the same naysayers are still on the metal forums screaming that gold will never see $2,000.

I'll never forget reading all of the bull that was written about gold and silver. And I'll never forget what you guys are saying about Pro. And I'm sure I won't be hearing from you if Pro becomes successful.

8^X

Godaddy promoted .pro once with their auction.

And a lot of money was made. Go.pro sold for $40,000. But that was more of a test than it was a promotion. To promote dot Pro they will first need to become a Pro registrar.

8^X

I guess they are not seeing the .pro value that is so much calmed in this thread.

Please show me where Pro value "is so much claimed in this thread." Obviously you mean multiple posts.

8^X

This is the first time that I have ever ventured into the dot pro discussons as I am probably one of those that for no reason just have a negative attitude towards the extension because of all the bad press and jokes made about it.
However reading all these posts has educated me a lot about the dot pro extension.I had no idea that dot pro has more registrations now than a few years ago which is eye opening as I thought it was in decline.I totally agree with the comments that if owners stopped holding out for big money and sold the premiums to end users who want to develop them it would help the dot pro extension enormously and would bring further investment and public awareness. But then again what do I know?

Now that's how to communicate with people. He said some things that we probably don't want to hear but he said them in such a way that makes it much more likely that people will be receptive to his ideas. Nice.

8^X

First of all, the fact that you see less posts here is not because the value of dot pro calmed in the thread, it's because fewer and fewer care to reply to the same old posts. GoDaddy can boost the extension but they cant do it alone.

I agree and would add that actually there are fewer and fewer posts because no two Pro domain holders can make a post without having it buried in BS. If I made a post directed at WebDomain, STP or Mr Wiz it would be drowned out by the roar from the naysayers. As a group you have made productive discussion nearly impossible and pointless. Some of us use the PM system because you have taken over the forum.

8^X

I suppose many .pro are owned by French people because .pro is carried by at least two large French registrars: OVH & Gandi. As for Russia, it could be because Rucenter has .pro too. You can see the list of .pro registrars here: http://registry.pro/professionals/f...amount. Not too damn shabby in my book. 8^X

 

[Edward Smeu]

BigJelly said it well, not much to add here.

I just wanna thank sdsinc for his post, that's the way to go.

Also, regarding MG, he's a very good domainer really pissed off at things sometimes (though I don't know him)

 

[JoeBiz]

Also, regarding MG, he's a very good domainer really pissed off at things sometimes (though I don't know him)

I like him. Wish he was here.

 

[sky]

Good question. "What is your point ???"

"Do you keep pounding the point that pro is not .COM to hurt people's feelings? To gloat? To feel like you have something to say without impunity?"

I've asked the same question and the response(s) read like they were lifted from the Book of MicroGuy. I don't understand why they're here either. I was on the dot Me forum a long while back and got into heated discussions but that was a Me vs Pro discussion. On the other hand I have no financial or personal interest in Mobi, Me, Info, Biz, WS and a hundred others so I spend no time on those forums.

Ugh... I meant to say "with impunity" not "without impunity". Oh well, that's what I get (or what you all get :cy: ), when I post from my iPhone with the "tapatalk" forum app (e.g. small data entry window), or when I'm tired.

But yeah - whatever. As long as the .PRO registry and the TLD's name-resolution doesn't evaporate, and Google ranks it according to keyword and content, AFAIK, there's no downside to owning .PRO at all. I believe .PRO has a stature unlike ccTLDs and many others. It ranks in some super-category along with .COM, .ORG, .NET, etc... I forgot what that's all about, but just that it is a 'serious contender' in some Internet-wonk esoterica sense.

The value of .PRO just depends on what you want to do, how much you have to gamble, and how long you're willing to wait. Maybe it will never grow, or maybe one owner of the registrar will go broke or bow out, and someone else will manage it better. If a registrant doesn't need to re-sell a .PRO quickly or for a high-price, and just wants to cultivate SEO for site development around a .PRO, no problem whatsover, because, if nothing else it has a nice aesthetic.

Also, Name.com and other registrars recently started selling .PRO, so that *has* to increase visibility at least somewhat and it will take time to reflect in the officially posted registration numbers. And some of the registrars who have recently taken on .PRO make it clearer than other registrars I'd seen previously, that it isn't difficult to get legit with .PRO. That should bypass some of the former confusion for the causal lurker who may have otherwise been reluctant to get on board. I mean what was required was confusing even to us domainers on WoPo. Now I'm confident that owning an LLC and registering under that state lic. # is satisfactory.

I can afford to wait at least a few more years with my best .PRO keyword regs, even if they never make any money. Otherwise, I could just sell them and bet on the money presidential election on In*Trade. On second thought I think hanging on to the domains is a better gamble; or at least more satisfying.

 

[Kate]

...
I bought gold when it was $430 an ounce. There were naysayers galore on the metal forums. They told us that hell would freeze over before gold crossed $500. Gold is $1764 as I write this and was $1775 earlier today. I bought silver at $7.00. Today it's hanging around $34. And I'd bet that the same naysayers are still on the metal forums screaming that gold will never see $2,000.

These are comparisons that don't make sense. Gold is a commodity with a market that is backed by global demand.
Can't say the same about domain names, especially in emerging extensions.
For the more established extensions there is a market for 1% of the supply perhaps, and the liquidity is low anyway.
Gold is always worth something, but prices can fluctuate. OTH there isn't a buyer for every .pro domain. In fact, even .com cannot be compared to gold.
Today's reality vs dreams.

I'll never forget reading all of the bull that was written about gold and silver. And I'll never forget what you guys are saying about Pro. And I'm sure I won't be hearing from you if Pro becomes successful.

And if .pro doesn't becomes successful shall we hear from you again ?

 

[Edward Smeu]

This got boring again. People see what they wanna see and nothing else. That comes both ways.

sdsinc, you shall hear from me anyway