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.

 

[4pm]

Read carefully: www.namepros.com/522420-the-pro-discussion-158.html#post4356287
You can buy even 1-word .PROs for $49 on snapnames (EnCirca's expired .PROs).
Nothing new for me.

oh, really?! whata surprise!

..one can easily buy .pro 1-worders at snap or just take a drop.
but those names 1) are not premium keywords at all with rare exceptions and/or 2) dont fit the extension which is killing them

am i supposed to say "nothing new for me either" at this point?..

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Just an example of "$49"-.PROs: dekor
Bonus:

Dekor net $7,000 Mar 07 Sedo
Dekor com $12,000 Mar 07 Sedo

 

[4pm]

Just an example of "$49"-.Pros: dekor

read carefully - "not premium"

probably if no one needs it @49 "dekor" is not a premium word? think about it
"decor" wouldnt go for this price no?

only 14,800 global searches, 880 US - maybe it's premium in Ukraine i'm not sure..

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

deCor bought for $49 on snap also.
2 domains (german/russian/etc. + english/etc.) = 1 owner at now.

Don't waste my time.
Thanks.

 

[4pm]

Don't waste my time.

if your time is that precious i'd suggest to not read and post here - that could save you some time i believe

..and you can also try to dislike all my posts in other threads too if you want

congrats on decor anyway..

 

[DD.pro]

congrats on decor anyway..

decor+dekor are my domains

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

@Directi

$2.99 http://www.resellerclub.com/pricing
$3.49 www.bigrock.com/domain-registration/domain-registration-price.php

 

[JoeBiz]

Why are you guys talking about what's happening with Pro NOW? Everyone knows that in most cases you can't give them away. No one is doing or saying anything productive. If you don't like Pros, go away.

I saw a mention of Afilias and one of GoDaddy in the posts above. Most of us think we know what Afilias has planned but I've seen their plans change a couple of times this year.

So we need Afilias to follow through with their original plans. Does anyone know how we might help move them along?

And GoDaddy ... who are the contacts? Does anyone know someone who might have some contacts within GoDaddy.

Whatever we do, we need ideas and we need to get on with it. If we don't we might as well drop this thread. 90% of it is no more than bickering and pissin' and moaning.


8^X

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

GoDaddy CEO Steps Down, Scott Wagner Named Interim CEO

http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/30/godaddy-ceo-steps-down-scott-wagner-named-interim-ceo/

 

[webdomain]

I think we're waiting on Afilias. For some reason, I anticipated that after their acquisition of the .pro registry we'd be in a lull. I'm convinced we are now sitting in it.

 

[mwzd]

Well, there is always a lull before the storm.

With ResellerClub picking up this extension, a whole mass of resellers will now start offering this extension, which means a whole lot of eyeballs on .pro - worldwide.

Am not sure but the number of resellers in RC would be almost as much as those in WildWest, if not more and RC is #9 registrar globally, not exactly chopped liver.

And while you can still pick up single word domains and two word terms in .pro easily on drops, the good ones aren't cheap, even on snapnames.

Interesting times!

 

[webdomain]

i have no idea how reseller club is offering 2.99 .pro domains. I realize you pay a fee to be a reseller, but the story I was given that .pro registry fees went up across the board driven by the registry and raised costs. Seems unfair that many of the regular registrars are priced highly. What's up with that??

Wish GoDaddy would sign .pro up. It looks like most every other registrar on the chart carries .pro at this point but them...of course they account for over 30% of the market which is highly important.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

NOT fee!
It's a completely usable deposit of $99.

Also you can buy via bigrock.com (Directi for customers) for $3.49 without any deposits.

Maybe Afilias provides discounted pricing for any new registrar for a limited time.

 

[webdomain]

Jurgen..Does that apply to renewals or transfers.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

No, reg only.

$9 Transfer is here: www.namepros.com/4358488-post3946.html

 

[sky]

Its a serious issue. For instance... .Pro has been around 4 or 5 years now.... how many legit Fortune 500 companies operate primarily out of a .pro? Probably none.

Yeah, but F500 co's can easily afford to buy even an over-priced .COM if it is perfect for their business. And as cool as .pro is, in most cases it can't trump .com in terms of recognition and stature (yet). If those start-ups turn into big companies, they'll either buy the .com or the give the world a chance to see .pro as legit.

I wonder whether the flood of gTLDs will have the effect of watering down the sacredness of .com or if it will make .coms that much sought after. It seems to me that the key lies in start-ups buying non .coms, growing, and keeping their alternatively extension'd domain name as their primary Internet address.

---------- Post added at 02:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 PM ----------

I have about 7 .pro's left in my portfolio that I've hung on to.
Over the years I've let some good one's go due to the burden
of renewal fees.

While I really appreciate .pro, it's just a hassle to get legit for it,
and if companies want it, they have to jump through hoops,
and wade through a bunch of crap to understand it. That's
a liability against the extension, and one thing that probably
makes it a choice of last resort for many buyers, cool as the
name .pro sounds, and more fitting as it is as an extension
for certain names.

I just find the rules for .pro are snooty and senseless.

I still can't over the fact that, a SW engineer with decades
of corporate experience in a senior position can't get
recognized as a professional, for the purposes of being
legit with .pro, but for the relative ease and dormancy of
becoming a licensed notary, or doing some much less demanding
or lower-profile role someone can be legit with .pro.

And then there's the matter of abstract names with the .pro
extension. What is a 'goober.pro' or a 'fibbergibbet.pro'?
Why can't just anyone have a name like that? Once someone
is recognized as a professional in any field they can legitimately
register second level .pro names like that, which are just absurd
and have nothing to do with the sense of professionalism.

It just seems that the .pro registry is benefitting financially from
their weird ambiguities and letting people register crap like that,
but then screwing over most of the people that do, and merely
paying lip-service to the 'ideal' of professional stature to those
who might be image conscious.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

www.namepros.com/4302309-post3743.html

 

[Kate]

Yeah, but F500 co's can easily afford to buy even an over-priced .COM if it is perfect for their business.

Just because they can, doesn't mean they will, would or even should. If more end users realized the value of domain names we would be rich

And as cool as .pro is, in most cases it can't trump .com in terms of recognition and stature (yet). If those start-ups turn into big companies, they'll either buy the .com or the give the world a chance to see .pro as legit.

The ext has been doomed from inception for a very simple reason: .pro, like .biz is in direct competition with .com. Redundant.
Isn't .com professional enough ?
It's good enough for F500.
No need to reinforce the fact you're a professional, or just legit...
With equal promotion I bet even .inc or .ltd would do better.

 

[sky]

The ext has been doomed from inception for a very simple reason: .pro, like .biz is in direct competition with .com. Redundant.
Isn't .com professional enough ?
It's good enough for F500.
No need to reinforce the fact you're a professional, or just legit...
With equal promotion I bet even .inc or .ltd would do better.

What's wrong with being in competition with the saturated and increasingly unavailable and unaffordable.COM extension?
I thought competition is a good thing. Why be anti-competitive and pro-monopoly?

.PRO is good. So is .LLC, .INC or .LTD. I think your definition of what makes an extension interesting or potentially valuable is way too subjective and narrow and doesn't reflect how other people think or use domain names. I don't think that pro is 'doomed' for the reasons you say it is. People have been saying that since its inception, yet, it lives, and people have sold .PRO's at considerable profit, and some good websites are perfectly happy using it.

The word "pro" has always been associated with coolness, the elite, or consummate experience and skill, in popular culture. To call someone a pro is a high compliment, when it fits. And for those reasons is great extension given the right use, or 2nd level name in front of it.

There are at least several reasons one might gravitate to the .pro extension. Sounded like one of your arguments is that using .pro is just self-aggrandizing P.R. and thus cheesy. As if that's a bad thing. Have you ever heard the term "There's no such thing as bad publicity"? It's a valid way to play the game, especially if it works. Sometimes one really is a professional, and the .pro extension can help emphasize the distinction, when it's a useful distinction to make. Some of the best .COMs work merely because they sound catchy or cool.

Here's an example: photography.pro sounds neat and would be more appropriate than photography.com in certain cases. photography.pro sounds like a service with the emphasis on skill and caliber of the person/people providing the service, whereas photography.com sounds like where I might go to buy a new macro lens. If I saw each name side-by-side on a SERP, which one I clicked on would depend on the nature of what I was looking for.

The problems with .pro have more to do with the current trends, public awareness, weird rules/marketing/attitude of the .pro registry, and recognition of .com as king. There is nothing written that says it has to stay that way, particularly to the point of keeping upstart businesses from getting into the game. At some point there's going to have to be a viable way around that roadblock.

 

[MicroGuy]

I think your definition of what makes an extension interesting or potentially valuable is way too subjective and narrow and doesn't reflect how other people think or use domain names.

I think it is important to study the economic principle of supply and demand. In addition, a sustainable business model must have ongoing revenue generation.

If the model is based on an industry that has expanding supply AND contracting demand, and if you couple that with a zero revenue model, and work this model trading in a niche extension that no one in the public has ever heard of, you wind up with a either an expensive hobby or a negative revenue business destined to die.