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.

 

[sky]

I pay the basic fee (I think) ... $19.95. That allows me to run appraisals 500 at a time. There's no limit overall.

There is an overall daily limit of 500 lookups total reset around midnight every day. You can look up domains in bulk but once you hit that limit you have to wait until the next day. Not only is that their stated policy but I hit the limit evaluating a very large drop list once. If you need more lookups and services you have to go to a more expensive plan. For domainers more successful and experienced and dedicated than I am to it, the highest plan looks interesting, but I would probably just lose money on it

 

[forceoflight]

Sky you had good opinions. What would be the one that you would renew, if you would be in my situation? Is it household.pro, instrument.pro or perhaps chili.pro?

 

[sky]

Sky you had good opinions. What would be the one that you would renew, if you would be in my situation? Is it household.pro, instrument.pro or perhaps chili.pro?

No advice other than to learn about AdWords keyword tool and understand most of Estibot's metrics and use it to actually analyze the domain to determine it's value and not just say 'it's a dictionary word so it must be good'.

 

[Jawed]

Estibot provides some useful stats and that is the only merit it has.

Registering or renewing a domain based on the appraisal by Estibot is a very dangerous strategy in my opinion. A bot is a bot, a piece of software, only as good as an individual's input. There are many sites that will generate stories/articles for you. Do you think those mechanical stories are worth publishing and reading?

 

[Edward Smeu]

These appraisal bots are good only for names already sold with the price adjusted.

Just for the record, I had names appraised at over 15k on estibot which i had appraised here on forum at reg fee and barely sold for xx.

In rest, nice post.

 

[JoeBiz]

Estibot provides some useful stats and that is the only merit it has.

Registering or renewing a domain based on the appraisal by Estibot is a very dangerous strategy in my opinion. A bot is a bot, a piece of software, only as good as an individual's input. There are many sites that will generate stories/articles for you. Do you think those mechanical stories are worth publishing and reading?

Agree. Estibot gives you some good raw data to work with but YOU have to factor in the intangibles. I ran yours through estibot and although it was helpful, it by no means is going to make the decisions cut and dried.

One example ... if you were to run a word that has multiple definitions the Search numbers are going to be misleading. You might come up with 1,000,000 exact searches but if you google the word you might find that those searches are spread across ten differenct uses of the word.

I own ClassicCar.pro and ClassicCars.pro. The first is much more natural sounding and would seem to be the obvious choice yet it appraises at only $60 and receives less than 100,000 searches. ClassicCars.pro on the other hand doesn't sound very good but it appraises at $1000 (which is good for a Pro) and receives over 5,000,000 searches. If you were to poll this forum I doubt that there would be much agreement on which to keep.


8^X

 

[trainhappy]

I registered serverz.pro for my server selling brand.

 

[JoeBiz]

There is an overall daily limit of 500 lookups total reset around midnight every day. You can look up domains in bulk but once you hit that limit you have to wait until the next day. Not only is that their stated policy but I hit the limit evaluating a very large drop list once. If you need more lookups and services you have to go to a more expensive plan. For domainers more successful and experienced and dedicated than I am to it, the highest plan looks interesting, but I would probably just lose money on it

I have keyword lists of 64,000 and more and 500 a day wouldn't cut it. I don't know how the Plans are laid out but I've run many thousands in an hour or two ... 500 at a time. Cost $19.95. Francois will spell it out for anyone who wants to know.


8^X

 

[vadts]

sold iGuard.pro low-mid $xxx
received $1000 offer ( praca.pro ) on Sedo

what do you think about my new -> forklift.pro <- ?

thanks

 

[sky]

Estibot provides some useful stats and that is the only merit it has.

Registering or renewing a domain based on the appraisal by Estibot is a very dangerous strategy in my opinion. A bot is a bot, a piece of software, only as good as an individual's input. There are many sites that will generate stories/articles for you. Do you think those mechanical stories are worth publishing and reading?

I don't ever use Estibot as my sole determinant. I use it with my common sense and understanding of the metrics it uses, and try to understand exactly how I could profit from the domain first. Estibot does get it wrong sometimes. But if I look at the statistics Estibot cites and pair them up with what I think is the business model that seems appropriate for the given name I can get a pretty good idea of the domain's merits and weaknesses. Estibot's overall valuation is just sort of a starting place. IMO it's better to have Estibot's data than to guess about a domain without any metrics at all. A 'bot doesn't think like a human and misses some obvious things sometimes, but a bot can save a lot of time digging up raw data. Obviously there's no single formula that works all the time in domaining.

---------- Post added at 05:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:17 PM ----------

sold iGuard.pro low-mid $xxx
received $1000 offer ( praca.pro ) on Sedo

what do you think about my new -> forklift.pro <- ?

thanks

How long did you have the domain on Sedo before it sold?
How many bids did you get before you sold it?
Did you do anything to promote the domain or develop the site, besides listing it with Sedo? Did you just get lucky? Why do you think "iGuard" sold? It is an unusual name. it seems to be more of the brandable variety than a keyword domain.

---------- Post added at 05:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:19 PM ----------

I have keyword lists of 64,000 and more and 500 a day wouldn't cut it. I don't know how the Plans are laid out but I've run many thousands in an hour or two ... 500 at a time. Cost $19.95. Francois will spell it out for anyone who wants to know.

8^X

That's dated information. There is no $19.95 plan anymore. The cheapest is $29.95. You may have been grandfathered in because you never let an old subscription lapse. Still, if you're going to argue a point like this, or say someone is wrong, you should probably verify the current policies first:

Compare the current plans for yourself:
https://www.estibot.com/register.html

I recently started a new subscription under $49.00 plan and hit the 500 appraisal/day limit and got Estibot's err page and could not appraise anymore domains, until after midnight when the limit automatically resets. As I mentioned, Estibot documents the subscription policies and enforces them. I know Estibot has evolved over time because I started using it at the very beginning, when it was still a free service, and have subscribed briefly a few times throughout the years. But that was then, this is now.

 

[JoeBiz]

That's dated information. There is no $19.95 plan anymore. The cheapest is $29.95. You may have been grandfathered in because you never let an old subscription lapse. Still, if you're going to argue a point like this, or say someone is wrong, you should probably verify the current policies first.

Where did I say someone was wrong? Where did I argue? You read a lot into my "Statement" that's not there.

I clearly stated that "I don't know how the Plans are laid out" because I too began using estibot when it was free. And I continued to explain MY experience with Estibot. Then I went even further to say that you should check with Francois.

No one challenged you or said you were wrong.

 

[sky]

Where did I say someone was wrong? Where did I argue? You read a lot into my "Statement" that's not there.

Well, previously I'd mentioned that I have hit the 500/day limit and it's real, and then you came back said you've exceeded that limit and cited the price of a plan that no longer exists.

I clearly stated that "I don't know how the Plans are laid out"

Which is probably why you don't want to controvert another post about the number without checking.

No one challenged you or said you were wrong.

Not directly, and I'm not personally offended, I'm just saying you needlessly confused matters by moving the ball further from the truth rather than closer to it. No biggy. Just saying.

 

[webdomain]

I know there was some discussion earlier about the value of .pro domains like magenta.pro

I'm thinking that .pro would have plenty of application if there was say a business called magenta...whether that business was a hair salon, art studio or anything related to something professional or business.

I think we focus a lot of time on Keywords and google searches and ranking which would raise value for sure, but don't forget that .pro if heavily adopted could offer other opportunity as well.

 

[InvisionTech]

A lot of "IFs" there buddy.

If registry isn't serious about marketing this damn extension then our ifs and buts and thinkings can't do crap.

 

[IntrepidPoster]

I have never seen a .pro domain in all of my time surfing the Internet. it seems like a good TLD for professionals, but I doubt that it would have other uses.

 

[webdomain]

InvisionTech, I'm afraid your right. Great extension but still lack of promotion will drive even some of the biggest enthusiasts away from this extension.

 

[InvisionTech]

Yes which is the reason I'm going to drop some good names... if I am going to let my self be ripped off, I might as well minimize my losses.

 

[webdomain]

It's been a slow 6 months or more for sure in .pro's - Low news cycle just tears at weak hands...All of this could change quickly if .pro is picked up by goDaddy! or is it just a dangling carrot.

 

[InvisionTech]

When companies see a proposition, and its worth it, they go after it quickly. I don't see that happening with .pro and godaddy. I don't think godaddy wants to go through the verification process for each domain... so that restriction, at least, would have to go.

 

[webdomain]

Like to hear some of the old timers chime in on this. Terol, AK? Is .pro a go! or is it a bust? Personally, I think doing some weeding in the domain names people own is a must. Only suggestion would be if you are going to let something drop or considering throw it out to the board here to provide first dibs. Otherwise, we're just paying Encirca to buy each others domains.