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.

 

[Soofi]

DomainPeople on daaru :D

DomainPeople are Sharabi :D

 

[MasterGuru]

So we are saved some $$$ bucks, but get new problems :hehe:
Very interesting thing.

 

[cdboard]

the first week of March "Anniversary" passed quietly.

maybe it's time to develop some of those four-year-old domains.

 

[akcampbell]

Maybe it's time to;

1) Stop charging $30-$40 for something other gTLD registries charge less than $10 for. Price skimming 4 years after landrush for a product most domain users regard as inferior to .com is commercial suicide.

2) Stop restricting the use of .pro to a small group of licensed professionals. Most of them can't develop so you end up with very few developed sites.

3) Start selling .pro through more than a handful of registrars. Trying to develop a domain extension without Godaddy, Enom, or Tucows is like trying to grow traffic to you your website without Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

4) Sign up registrars who know what they are doing. As the posts on this thread
illustrate most .pro registrars are technically incompetent. This is completely unacceptable, especially since several of the problem registrars are owned by Hostway.

5) Promote .pro so that businesses know about it, accept it, and use it. Why should anybody develop a .pro when RegistryPro does virtually nothing to promote it?

Developing a .pro is a bit like building a house somewhere where there is no infrastructure but instead of being without electricity, roads, and water, .pro land is missing awareness, acceptance, and popularity.

Until RegistryPro change their pricing policy, get rid of restrictions, and sign up leading registrars, building in .com City is a safer bet.

 

[Jawed]

Until RegistryPro change their pricing policy, get rid of restrictions, and sign up leading registrars, building in .com City is a safer bet.

Eventually the prophet has repented himself. :D

 

[akcampbell]

I haven't changed my view on .pro, .com is a safer bet for development but as a domain investment .pro is still my favourite extension.

I bought Power.pro and London.pro in February, Atlas.pro and Yacht.pro in January, Surf.pro and Skate.pro in December, Studio.pro, Diamond.pro, Discount.pro, Holiday.pro, Boat.pro, France.pro, Spain.pro, Italy.pro, Gallery.pro, Hollywood.pro, and Lotto.pro amongst others in November.

 

[mwzd]

Andrew, whats with the identity crisis? :lol:

Please revert to akcampbell, would be nice to see an old nick back in these threads.

Just a suggestion for to help us old people keep track though, you're more than entitled to give vent to your creative nicks. :D

 

[MasterGuru]

Andrew, whats with the identity crisis? :lol:
Please revert to akcampbell, would be nice to see an old nick back in these threads.

Yes, I agree - akcampbell was much better

And btw, guys, how do you find domain "sandiegоconstructiоnaccidentattоrney.pro"? Someone was registered it few days ago with very long period till 2012. As for me - it's very diffucult to type it in browser

 

[mwzd]

From an seo perspective, its spot on.

If you are whats written in the domain and thats all you do, you can be #1 in SEs for a long time to come.

But it is really weird, since the .com/.net/.org etc are available, maybe he likes the extension better :D

 

[sky]

It seems like .pro still has a lot of potential to take off.
Apparently there is some percentage in them charging what they do, and the price has come way down. I bought a bunch (and got rid of some) at the $100 buy & renew price. (Painful, but I got some good ones in the late 'landrush').

Now for a $20 reg, $30/renew, it is bearable. $20 to reg. a .pro to try on for size at Encirca is getting down toward affordable.

HOWEVER, good names are about impossible to find. I'm glad I found a few
in the early days.

Since the registry revised their rules and Encirca has repeatedly come down in price, I have to hope that, having failed to lower the cost and restrictions enough for .pro take off, but having made some concessions already, if it means there's a good chance the registry will compromise further, and get rid of the ambiguous draconian restrictions, promote to more domain resellers and lower the price further.

What are the odds? Has anyone had any meaningful dialog with registry.pro?

I know these registries get involved with the public from time to time and discuss policy. Does anyone know what the philosophy of the Registry is, and what the hold off is?
Is there a committee where there is a contentious internal debate about the viability of the current restrictions? Is there a single holdout? Is the decision to keep things stagnant by maintaining the '.pro' image unanimous? Does anyone have any informed notion of what the future may hold (besides the naysayers who predict doom on general principles)?

 

[akcampbell]

I can see history repeating itself for .pro for the next 3-4 years. Residual restrictions, relatively high reg fees, and lack of registrars offering .pro will drag it down. The rising tide of website development and domain interest will help offset that.

The late 2008 landrush was unique in that people were paying a discount for keywords that had been sifted through, chewed up and spat out for 3 & 1/2 years. That doesn't bode well for renewals in Q4 2009 and Q1 2010. Up to 10,000 .pros could be dropped unless renewal fees fall to $15-$20.

 

[MasterGuru]

I got my two domains moved from Encirca to DomainPeople and the funny part is their expiration date..
address.pro Dec 31 1969
open.pro Dec 31 1969
:lol:

Any progress ? Did these guys solve your problem?

I think it's time to write joint complain to ICANN about domainpeople.com&hostway.com

What do you think?

 

[InvisionTech]

Any progress ? Did these guys solve your problem?

I think it's time to write joint complain to ICANN about domainpeople.com&hostway.com

What do you think?

Sure.

My DNS issue is still there as well with hostway, such incompetence.

 

[Soofi]

Any progress ? Did these guys solve your problem?

I think it's time to write joint complain to ICANN about domainpeople.com&hostway.com

What do you think?

shall check and get back on this..

 

[wlmdi]

what is the status of geo .pros?

are they rising in value yet?

I have several key ones and am just curious as I check in from time to time

 

[terol]

PRO is one of the best extensions. The only reason because there are not many sales is because majority of people don't know they exist! :gl:

 

[MicroGuy]

are they rising in value yet?

Yet? It's important to consider this may never happen.

 

[wlmdi]

Yet? It's important to consider this may never happen.

lol I know....

Is anyone buying?

Washingtondc.pro???

VirginiaBeach.pro???

MyrtleBeach.pro???

 

[steveteva]

Yet? It's important to consider this may never happen.

lol I know....

Is anyone buying?

Washingtondc.pro???

VirginiaBeach.pro???

MyrtleBeach.pro???

Are you selling these? I could be interested PM me.

 

[Jawed]

Are you selling these? I could be interested PM me.

I thought you had already quitted .pro for .tel. :D