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.

 

[akcampbell]

Rugby.pro is on auction at Sedo with a bid of $3,750.

Auction Detail - Sedo.com

 

[akcampbell]

Total .pros registered increased by 2.5% in May to 46,381. Network Solutions has joined Encirca as the second registrar with over 10,000 .pros registered. In May 2007, there were 4,234 .pros so there has been a tenfold rise in 3 years.

 

[dotprofan]

Rugby.pro is on auction at Sedo with a bid of $3,750.

Auction Detail*-*Sedo.com

Nice to see!

 

[MicroGuy]

.pro is still a very marginal extension. The problem is not that it is perceived as an inferior extension, but that so few people even know it exists.

And there is no data suggesting that this vacuum of recognition will ever change. It's really amazing how many folks just keep renewing year after year.

 

[akcampbell]

It's really amazing how many folks just keep renewing year after year.

My sales over the last 12 months were 5 times my renewal fees. Based on my average sale price, I only need to sell 2 .pros every year to cover my renewals and I sold 9 last year. It amazes me that people keep renewing the 75m bad .coms registered. That's nearly $1bn per year wasted versus $800k of .pro renewals fees. It's not size of the pie that matters, it's the slice of the pie you own.

 

[webdomain]

Looks like the rugby.pro auction was cancelled by sedo. Anyone know why?

 

[webdomain]

fyi... banking auction encirca news

realtor.pro is an awesome one. I would think its worth certainly over 10k.

 

[MicroGuy]

fyi... banking auction encirca news

realtor.pro is an awesome one. I would think its worth certainly over 10k.

I believe that "Realtor" is a live TM of the National Association of Realtors.

---------- Post added at 08:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:36 PM ----------

My sales over the last 12 months were 5 times my renewal fees. Based on my average sale price, I only need to sell 2 .pros every year to cover my renewals and I sold 9 last year.

Have you factored in the acquisition costs? If you're up overall on your .PRO investment, I think it's VERY safe to say that you're in the minority. Maybe even "one of a kind".

 

[Fundraiser]

Have you factored in the acquisition costs? If you're up overall on your .PRO investment, I think it's VERY safe to say that you're in the minority. Maybe even "one of a kind".

He is not one of a kind at all - I have profited very well from .pro in sales and development. You often make good points but I thought I would weigh in on that one. Although maybe there are just two of us and then your point is still valid.

The success I have had is with top keywords that match the extension in areas I understand or have expertise. I believe that is key in any extension.

 

[Kuli]

Hi folks,

my domain MUTUALFUND.PRO came up for renewal, but I didn't renew it yet. I think it was a mistake to register it.

What do you think: Is it worth to pay $20 each year for this? Or shall I let it expire? Or is anybody interested to take it for free?

Greetings,
Kuli

 

[Dave]

Did anyone else backorder Scotland.pro?

 

[JoeBiz]

My domain MUTUALFUND.PRO came up for renewal, but I didn't renew it yet. I think it was a mistake to register it.

What do you think: Is it worth to pay $20 each year for this? Or shall I let it expire? Or is anybody interested to take it for free?

Kuli

Hi Kuli

I'm going to be giving most of mine another year. Based on the numbers I just got from estibot the dollar value has increased from next to nothing to good money in some cases. My first batch will be coming up for renewal soon. I think that I have about 40. In the end I'll probably keep 20.

As to how to decide which to keep, I'll be using the exact searches and the natural flow between the word and the extension. When it comes to .pros I'm wanting to see really, really high exact searches ... over one million ideally. I own swimwear(.)pro and I just ran it through estibot and found that this year it was actually given a good appraisal ... $3800. I've never had a pro appraise that high prior to this. The exact search number is over 1.8 million so it WILL be renewed.

That $3800 got me interested so I decided to run the rest of my Pros to see what I had. It looks like I'm going to have four or five over one million, so that ain't going to cut it. I'll have to lower my search threshold. It looks like if I lower my threshold to 100,000 that will leave me with 19 to renew.

Of course search numbers aren't going to be the only measure. Next I'll sort them by appraised value and see how that compares to the search value list. Then for the names still on the fence I'll probably take a good look at how the name fits the extension. Hopefully by then I will have culled out enough so that the number of renewals won't break the bank.

I feel sure that some of these guys with more experience would use different parameters to make their decision.

MutualFund.Pro gets over 90,000 searches per month and a good cpc of $4.54. Still hard to say not knowing how many Pros you own, your financial situation, what you have planned for the name.

If it is your "one and only" then I'd definitely be renewing it. I threw away so many good domains when I first starting domaining that I'm not going to let that happen with my Pros.

Good Luck with it! "Think Pro"
Charles

estibot results

Removed by Big Jelly

8^X

 

[siga]

Dave, i have it backordered aswell

 

[Kuli]

Hi Charles,

thank you for your kind answer! I totally agree with you, and if I had swimwear.pro, I wouldn't ask about it. It's definitely a good domain.

However, your answer is too late :hehe (or I asked too lately - it was already in expiry then), the domain already has been transferred to Encirca's expired domains account. It's a pity because someone asked for the domain, and I would have given it away gladly. Alas it's too late. My fault.

I have more than 200 .pro domains, nearly 300. If it was mutualfunds.pro, I would have kept it, but the singular form is decreasing the value IMHO. But I'm not a native English speaker, so I asked here.

So, after all, if someone is interested: The domain will be available in a few weeks.

Greetings,
Kuli

 

[EMM]

There is a huge drop auction currently on at Snapnames.

bank.pro $1,360.00
escrow.pro $210.00
insurance.pro $825.00
loan.pro $525.00
mortgage.pro $3,100.00
realestate.pro $3,100.00
With 2d 16h 22m left

Wonder whether these were dropped or reserved names being made available for auction.

 

[akcampbell]

My guess it the domains were dropped by a party connected to Encirca to generate interest in .pro. Another possibility is they had to drop them following some agreement with RegistryPro. Maybe it is a test to gauge how much 2 and 3 letter .pros would fetch if they went to auction at Snapnames.

 

[Kuli]

My guess it the domains were dropped by a party connected to Encirca to generate interest in .pro.

I don't think so. Do you really believe .pro gets more interest when such top domains expire? No, people might think that it's not even worth to keep such names.

Maybe it's just a very simple reason; the previous owner might be dead or seriously ill.

And it's not the first drop of top domains. Germany.pro dropped a few months ago. Who lets such a domain expire??? Alas I missed the auction. It went for only 500 $, it's a joke for such a domain!

-Kuli

 

[mwzd]

It is extremely surprising to see these quality of drops, in any extension.

All of these were owned by one owner, dunno if they're letting it drop or as Kuli says.

These domains are too good to see in any drop auction for sure, probably will end up selling way under priced too.

 

[siga]

I don't think so. Do you really believe .pro gets more interest when such top domains expire? No, people might think that it's not even worth to keep such names.

If interest is generated in .pro it wont be from the fact it drops, but from the sale prices these dropped domains finally go for.

Samit would you mind pming me who was the previous owner please.

 

[Sparhawke]

Do you still have to be a "professional" in order to register .pro names, because I fail to see how anyone can be a professional at free games and suchlike...with accreditation from a real licensing body?