The problem with .hm and .tk is they don't mean anything or add anything to the keyword so whether you price them low or high they still won't work. .tv means something, it's probably the most valuable and brandable 2 letter ccTLD, it was priced at $25-$35 rather than $99, it was offered prominently by virtually every registrar, and more recently has the marketing clout of Verisign behind it. I think .tv would be more developed by business if it wasn't for the premium pricing and relatively high reg fee. Maybe, .fm would have more developed radio stations if it didn't cost $200 to register. Perhaps, certain radio related sites might make $300 of advertising revenue per year so $200 is an issue because it's eating up 2/3 of your revenue.
I think there are many different factors that contribute to an alternative extension succeeding or failing;
1) Reg fees
2) Restrictions
3) Number and quality of registrars that sell the extension
4) Prominence of extension on registrar web sites
5) Marketing budget and quality of marketing
6) Brandability and meaning of extension
7) Breadth of appeal
If had to score .pro on the above before the 8 September relaunch it would be
1) 1/10
2) 1/10
3) 1/10
4) 1/10
5) 0/10
6) 9/10
7) 8/10
It was kept alive by Encirca's ProForwarding service and the scores for 6) and 7). After 8 September relaunch, the profile looked something like this
1) 3/10
2) 3/10
3) 3/10
4) 3/10
5) 1/10
6) 9/10
7/ 8/10
6) and 7) are fixed, 5) is now a 1 because of the .pro coummunity on NP, RegistryPro is still doing nothing to market .pro, 4) is up to 3 because of the promotion on Network Solutions, 3) is up to 3 because of being offered by Network Solutions, 2) is up to 3 because all licensed professionals can offer it, and 1) is up to 3 because of the temporary cut in reg fees from $99 to $15 at the most popular .pro registrar Encirca. I haven't put it up any higher because the impact of lower reg fees is being hit by .pro only being offered by a single registrar and the price being a temporary promotion for new registrations.
If I apply the above scoring system to .tk I would get
1) 9/10
2) 10/10
3) 3/10
4) 3/10
5) 3/10
6) 1/10
7) 1/10
With .tk, reducing fees further will make no difference, 6) and 7) kill it and there is no way back from that. .hm is similar to the above apart from it has a 3/10 for 1) Reg fees. Reducing reg fees won't do much to help because 6) and 7) are flat.
With .tv
1) 5/10
2) 10/10
3) 9/10
4) 7/10
5) 8/10
6) 9/10
7) 7/10
.tv is nearly as strong as .pro on 6) and 7) but far stronger on everything else. I still think high reg fees and the muddle of the premium keyword reg fees hold it back. If I was the .tv registry, I would auction off all the premium keywords retained and cut reg fees because that's the weakest string to the .tv bow.
With RegistryPro, spending on marketing probably isn't an option so that rules out 5), they won't get .pro on more registrar panels until they sort out 2) restrictions so 3) and 4) registrar quality, quantity and prominence are not options, 6) and 7) are fixed, so 1) is the only button the registry can press in the short term to drive growth. Because 6) and 7) are high reductions in reg fees result in disproportionately more speculation and that boosts 5) by growing registry income and awareness among domainers.
The 8 September relaunched resulted in total .pros regged tripling in the first month because 1) through to 4) were had been holding .pro back for years. Things have only been improved slightly though and RegistryPro need to sort out 2), 3) and 4) in the medium terms which leaves 1) Reg fees as the only thing they can tweak to maintain the momentum of .pro's resurgence in the short term.
At at certain price point between $15-$30 I would agree that reducing reg fees further won't help .pro because residual restrictions and lack of registrar outlets will snuff out the benefit. However, if RegistryPro doesn't lower renewal fees in 2009, all of the good work in Q4 08 may be undone, the gap between $15 reg fees in the first year with speculative hope and $60 in the second year with dashed hopes is huge.
MasterGuru said:
Just added:
SOUND.PRO
SOFT.PRO
TEST.PRO
TALKS.PRO
AROUND.PRO
What's your opinion about this names?
Thanks
I think Test.pro is the strongest. I had software, website and psychometric testing in mind when I bid for it. Vincent held some very nice 4 letter .pros, I bought Pool.pro, Tool.pro and Safe.pro. I thought Pool.pro was great because you have the swimming pool angle and the game of pool and both fit the extension well. Vincent's main auction and the follup up flipping auctions were a fantastic .pro buying opportunity.
