The .TEL Discussion Thread

[brendan52190]

Hi

For this, let's assume that .tel will not be a total flop.

What type of keywords will be most valuable for this extension? Will it be geographical keywords, like newyork.tel, losangeles.tel, etc, or what else?

 

[hakita]

If I had john.tel I would be very happy to sell it to you as I think first names are a waste of money unless a celebrity comes forward and buy it from you. Otherwise how can you commercialize John.tel? by creating a directory of all people whose first name is John?

Imagine you need to buy a pant. Is it important to monetize it ?
Will you spend a bit more to get a nice looking one ?

I need a .tel to keep in touch using a single entry point.
I would have agree to spend a bit more to get a nice looking .tel than second choice .tel, that's a fact. :bingo:

It must be clear by now that unless there is commercial value to a domain, that domain is useless and has minimal or zero resell value.

I received more buy request on my names.tel that my services.tel domains

In this sense the current perspective of the tel domain market is based on anticipation rather than actual facts.

+1 i agree for services.tel
About names.tel people just use it for what it has been design for.

Thinking of a tel as com may be an option since you can just change name servers and redirect your tels to some real web site. The problem is though that you will not get much traffic from it.

I am almost sure you can not do that. Only certified registrar can change dns for .tels

Real problem with tels is that Telnic has really no vision , no imagination about their product and even worse they listen to all that crap advise on how to make tel directories.

Tel directories are non sens to me. i agree.
2 days ago, i talked with telnic Co-founder and i would NOT say they have no vision, this is just a work in progress.
One of the main waited feature will appear with .tel, geo located dns resolution (calling pizza.tel from ny will not display same resultat as pizza.tel from paris...), that kind of features are in stage (according to telnic staff).

 

[youdiezst]

Tel directories are non sens to me. i agree.
2 days ago, i talked with telnic Co-founder and i would NOT say they have no vision, this is just a work in progress.
One of the main waited feature will appear with .tel, geo located dns resolution (calling pizza.tel from ny will not display same resultat as pizza.tel from paris...), that kind of features are in stage (according to telnic staff).

Hakita, how do you access the telnic co-founder? I would love to hear more

 

[valou]

Imagine you need to buy a pant. Is it important to monetize it ?

I am almost sure you can not do that. Only certified registrar can change dns for .tels
.

I checked this out and yes you are right about it

 

[MattheP]

do you think I must keep these

bays.tel
cods.tel
each.tel
loaf.tel
tray.tel
rifle.tel
friction.tel

I would drop them.

 

[recluse99]

Hi all Dot Tel owners out there...

I noticed at NAME.com that to reg a dot tel is 9.99
to renew a dot tel is 12.99
but for all who have their dot tel somewhere besides name.com ,
transfers to name.com are 8.99

mine are at name.com...bums me out to see the price difference...

 

[ecigs.net]

Internet.bs is offering $9.99 TEL transfers.

---------- Post added at 11:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 AM ----------

Hey guys
I registered about 40 premium dot tels last year hoping what I hoped. Anyway, they are really cool domains, the ones which may get sold in big cash if they were dot coms. Now all of them are about to expire during next month and I'm short in cash, but things can be managed if I persist to keep them.

The thing is I started to wonder if this whole .tel invention would ever turn into something in future, or even worth its registration and renewal fees. However, I'm horrified from the idea of dropping them now then watching them after maybe several years go for big money

Which of these 2 ideas is closer to reality?
Should I wait until Adsense is integrated?
Does any .tel get decent traffic at the first place?
Do search engines like dot tels?

.

I really need a genuine advice from a domainig expert; it's a very confusing situation.

The domains are:

define.tel
standards.tel
decoder.tel
businessmen.tel
still.tel
proof.tel
marketers.tel
advertisers.tel
pioneers.tel
innovators.tel
creators.tel
fixer.tel
analyzer.tel
jobsassistant.tel
psychoanalyst.tel
immigrants.tel
foodstore.tel
foodstores.tel
financialgroup.tel
donator.tel
loader.tel
careercoach.tel
fabricate.tel
fabricator.tel
fabricators.tel
middleschool.tel
feminist.tel
ethnicity.tel
faithful.tel
geneticist.tel
thoughtful.tel
minority.tel
efron.tel
sergeant.tel
lieutenant.tel
corporal.tel
midshipman.tel
drawer.tel
wrestlers.tel
multimillionaire.tel

You haven't been very diligent with these names. I visited several of them and I noticed that on most of them you didn't bother to add any real data. On one, the only data was the default setting with a link back to Name.com.

So the question that first must be answered is: why bother registering a domain, in any TLD, that you have no intention of working on? Tel requires that you devote the time needed to make it successful? If you are going to dedicate the same amount of time over the next 365 days as you did during the last 365 days, then drop all of these names immediately and buy some stock instead.

Domaining is an investment, to be sure, but an investment that depends on the domain owner to reach full fruition.

You wrote: The thing is I started to wonder if this whole .tel invention would ever turn into something in future, or even worth its registration and renewal fees.

The TEL invention will not produce outstanding sites that are valuable on its own. TEL is not COM. If you are not going to be able to add significant amount of time to your TEL properties, then drop them and buy stock or aftermarket COMs.

That said, I do think that you have at least one jewel here. If I was going to buy one of these domains, I would buy: immigrants.tel.

It has potential. Immigrants are looking for lawyers. Lawyers have advertising budgets, understand tax write-offs and do not mind spending money if the expenditures bring results.

With immigrants, you could link to government documents that an immigrant needs to fill-out, add listings of consulates and embassies with street directions, hours of operation and telephone numbers. In a separate section you could add listings of lawyers that study immigrant law.

It is a great term and it fits nicely with TEL, IMO.

My advice: Look at each name. If you can think of a plan to make it useful, keep it. If you can't, drop it and move on.

 

[Kate]

The sad thing is that many if not most of the domains registered during a TLD landrush would not even sell in .com.

 

[ecigs.net]

I'm not sure about the word "most" in your comment, SDSinc, that's a little broadly stated. I would agree that some names don't fit the TLD well. TEL has its purpose, but it isn't the same is COM that's for sure. If the names in ghoneim's list were in COM, there wouldn't be any question about renewing them. I don't see any reason to register a TEL without a plan of some kind. If a person does that and loses money, it isn't the TLD that has failed. It is the failure of the domain owner. The first step to success is doing something, IMO. Nobody became rich by waiting for the riches to fall from the sky.

 

[Ms Domainer]

The sad thing is that many if not most of the domains registered during a TLD landrush would not even sell in .com.

*

For example?


*

 

[lexisdomains]

Well, I am only keeping 1 out of 10 .TELs for renewal. And that is -

VEH.tel - short acronym for vehicle.

 

[WordWalker]

If I had john.tel I would be very happy to sell it to you as I think first names are a waste of money unless a celebrity comes forward and buy it from you. Otherwise how can you commercialize John.tel? by creating a directory of all people whose first name is John?

In my opinion, John.tel is a premium name because everybody named John is a prospective buyer of the name. How cool would it be to own the only "John" domain for an entire extension? Plus, unlike a "John" website published to another extension, .Tel is made to be a direct point of contact and connection. While this functionality can be coded into other sites, it's not going to have the look or feel of a .Tel page.

If monetizing a first name is the objective, John.tel could become an avatar, virtual assistant or guide using SitePal.com or similar functionality and a linked website. This combination creates many possibilities for website sales, service, and marketing models.

Observation:

Extensions like .mobi, .tv and .biz get slammed left and right until there is an offering for single character domains or super premium keywords. Then they seem to fly of the shelf for thousands of dollars each. On this same basis, there should be a limited number of .Tel domains that will hold value and/or increase in value despite the negative perceived value of the extension by some domainers. IMHO, John.tel would definitely fall into that category.

 

[PMDN]

I have a number of TEL domains; all will be coming up for renewal shortly. Only one is developed to any extent. Of this list of domains, which would you keep for future development/sale? I appreciate your input.

albanyrealestate.tel
annapolisrealestate.tel
angry.tel
ansi.tel
auh.tel
batir.tel
boiserealestate.tel
cecily.tel
darien.tel
dhahran.tel
doverrealestate.tel
etre.tel
fairfieldcounty.tel
furnish.te
genericmeds.tel
gesina.tel
gratitude.tel
jeffersoncityrealestate.tel
lco.te
lincolnrealestate.tel
malware.tel
menorah.tel
milkchocolate.tel
mill.tel
mlo.tel
mnl.tel
oklahomacityrealestate.tel
poughkeepsie.te
ptsd.tel
salemrealestate.tel
sobriety.tel
strut.te
sunnah.tel
thermos.tel
tnm.tel
topekarealestate.tel
usual.tel
yonkersrealestate.tel
whiteplains.tel


chamac

 

[Kate]

I would agree that some names don't fit the TLD well.

Agree, that's the crux of the matter. Not every keyword will fit the TLD.

For example?

Examples ? Plenty. Just visit the .tel/.mobi/.asia showcase threads :zzz:
No need to point fingers at anybody.
IMO the ones that make sense should fall in either of these categories

• personal names (business cards)
• professions (plumber doctor etc)
• generic/consumer products/geosensitive domains ie hotel pizza restaurant cybercafe fillingstation
• possibly geo names

All others: I would think not twice but thrice about registering :imho:

To be clear the names like babysittingforum.tel have no future :sold:

 

[DubDubDubDot]

Domaining is an investment, to be sure, but an investment that depends on the domain owner to reach full fruition.

You can't turn water.tel into wine.tel.

If you are not going to be able to add significant amount of time to your TEL properties, then drop them

Beyond five minutes of data entry, what else is there to spend a significant amount of time on?

 

[ecigs.net]

*

For example?


*

If you mean -- an example of what doesn't work well with TEL -- I think an example of words or concepts that would not work well in TEL would be past tense verbs like:

bounced.tel, jumped.tel, hemorrhaged.tel, completed.tel, observed.tel.

Of the five randomly picked past tense verbs, four are not registered. The one that is registered only has the default settings provided by Name.com, so the owner obviously doesn't think it worth the time to work on it at all. Why bother registering it in the first place?

I have a number of TEL domains; all will be coming up for renewal shortly. Only one is developed to any extent. Of this list of domains, which would you keep for future development/sale? I appreciate your input.

albanyrealestate.tel
annapolisrealestate.tel
angry.tel
ansi.tel
auh.tel
batir.tel
boiserealestate.tel
cecily.tel
darien.tel
dhahran.tel
doverrealestate.tel
etre.tel
fairfieldcounty.tel
furnish.te
genericmeds.tel
gesina.tel
gratitude.tel
jeffersoncityrealestate.tel
lco.te
lincolnrealestate.tel
malware.tel
menorah.tel
milkchocolate.tel
mill.tel
mlo.tel
mnl.tel
oklahomacityrealestate.tel
poughkeepsie.te
ptsd.tel
salemrealestate.tel
sobriety.tel
strut.te
sunnah.tel
thermos.tel
tnm.tel
topekarealestate.tel
usual.tel
yonkersrealestate.tel
whiteplains.tel


chamac

White Plains is my favorite from your list. Why?

White Plains, Georgia
White Plains, Kentucky
White Plains, Maryland
White Plains, New York
White Plains, North Carolina
White Plains, South Carolina
White Plains, Virginia

 

[Ms Domainer]

Agree, that's the crux of the matter. Not every keyword will fit the TLD.

Examples ? Plenty. Just visit the .tel/.mobi/.asia showcase threads :zzz:
No need to point fingers at anybody.
IMO the ones that make sense should fall in either of these categories

• personal names (business cards)
• professions (plumber doctor etc)
• generic/consumer products/geosensitive domains ie hotel pizza restaurant cybercafe fillingstation
• possibly geo names

All others: I would think not twice but thrice about registering :imho:

To be clear the names like babysittingforum.tel have no future :sold:

*

Fair enough.

You're right--it's better not to single anyone out.



I pretty much agree with you on categories, but I would also add premium LLL domains, preferably ones that spell out words or common acronyms--anything easy to remember.

*

 

[ecigs.net]

You can't turn water.tel into wine.tel.

Beyond five minutes of data entry, what else is there to spend a significant amount of time on?

You are seriously joking, right?

Let's take the White Plains (whiteplains.tel) example from above.

1) First, divide the domain into seven subdomains based on each of the cities/towns.

2) Then add to each of these sections business categories like lawyers, dentists, doctors, accountants, real estate agents, music instructors, gyms, etc.. and public works like schools, utilities, hospitals, fire + police departments, libraries, parks.

3) Then fill out all of the information in the public works sections get as much information as possible to give the site some validity: hours of operation, holidays, address, staff email addresses if public, phone numbers, fax numbers and street maps.

4) Then start cold calling businesses in the area and offering them a free three month trial to the new mobile directory whiteplains.tel. After three months, call them back and ask them if they are satisfied with the service. If yes, they can continue to keep it for $5 a month payable through automated Paypal payments. No payment information is collected and they can cancel at any time via their Paypal account.

I am not sure about the other White Plains, but New York is great. From Wikipedia: White Plains, New York is one of the edge cities that have developed outside of New York City. According to the city government, the daytime weekday population is estimated at 250,000.

If there are 250,000 daytime residents, that means 4/5 of the population is there to work. That means lots of businesses and lots of money for advertising.

This is what I mean when I talk about working on TEL. I definitely do not mean 5 minutes of data entry. That's how a person fails. Five minutes won't help anything.

I mean work, Dub, not games.

 

[mjbenterprises]

Great advice on what needs to be done for a GEO .tel.. I have a few myself, I will reference this post when I develop mine...

You are seriously joking, right?

Let's take the White Plains (whiteplains.tel) example from above.

1) First, divide the domain into seven subdomains based on each of the cities/towns.

2) Then add to each of these sections business categories like lawyers, dentists, doctors, accountants, real estate agents, music instructors, gyms, etc.. and public works like schools, utilities, hospitals, fire + police departments, libraries, parks.

3) Then fill out all of the information in the public works sections get as much information as possible to give the site some validity: hours of operation, holidays, address, staff email addresses if public, phone numbers, fax numbers and street maps.

4) Then start cold calling businesses in the area and offering them a free three month trial to the new mobile directory whiteplains.tel. After three months, call them back and ask them if they are satisfied with the service. If yes, they can continue to keep it for $5 a month payable through automated Paypal payments. No payment information is collected and they can cancel at any time via their Paypal account.

I am not sure about the other White Plains, but New York is great. From Wikipedia: White Plains, New York is one of the edge cities that have developed outside of New York City. According to the city government, the daytime weekday population is estimated at 250,000.

If there are 250,000 daytime residents, that means 4/5 of the population is there to work. That means lots of businesses and lots of money for advertising.

This is what I mean when I talk about working on TEL. I definitely do not mean 5 minutes of data entry. That's how a person fails. Five minutes won't help anything.

I mean work, Dub, not games.

 

[Kate]

...
1) First, divide the domain into seven subdomains based on each of the cities/towns.

2) Then add to each of these sections business categories like lawyers, dentists, doctors, accountants, real estate agents, music instructors, gyms, etc.. and public works like schools, utilities, hospitals, fire + police departments, libraries, parks.

The way I see it, it's not very flexible from a visitor POV. Correct me if I'm wrong but there is no search feature available, so the visitor must drill down through categories/subdomains until he/she gets to the desired subsection, no shortcuts. Logical: yes - user-friendly: hardly.

Even the yellow pages can accommodate custom layouts and logos nowadays.
All you have to offer is a dull design over which you have very little control. All in one this is an inferior solution.
I think .tel does the job as long as you stick to the business card concept. When you want to add web-like functionality like directories the limitations are just too obvious.
The fact is not new and in my view it is clear that there are not a ton of possibilities in that straitjacket concept, because it is only good for one thing, that is storing information. But the information is only good when it can be retrieved and distributed efficiently.

 

[ecigs.net]

If you are a small business and the TEL is for you alone; then yes, keep the business card format. Simple is best. You are right on. However, TEL can be used as a directory too. Its use is equal in value, but different in function.

For the GEOs, the more directory categories that you have, the better chance you have to increase your revenue.

Also please don't forget the search perspective here. When I search for some business in some city, the link I get from Google is not going to be the main TEL site that I have to dig through to find my information, but rather a direct link to what I want. From the user pov, it is one click and I'm there. That's better than the yellow pages. One click = data!

You are looking at TEL from the way the data is filled out, not the way the data is presented to the user. The way we populate our TELs is not how people access the data they contain. Don't get confused here.

For example, it is Saturday night, I'm doing a search at Google for Vegas Gold, a club I heard about on Oxford Street. So I search for vegas gold oxford street. The results that I get have two TEL links in the top ten: vegas-gold.entertainment.oxfordstreet.tel & entertainment.oxfordstreet.tel. If I click on either, I go straight to the data I need. I don't get sent to oxfordstreet.tel and get stuck hunting for the data myself. It's one click and I'm there. This is not a fantasy search. It is real and it is obvious.

Furthermore, subdomains are domains in their own right. I am getting two backlinks to my information, not one. This is great for SEO uses.

The pros of TEL are obvious. Direct links from the subdomain to your business COM, with easy set-up and extremely low cost. A person could renew their TEL for 10 years for the price of a basic six month period of advertising with a yellow pages site.

TEL is great for small business (if used correctly).

---------- Post added at 06:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:55 PM ----------

Great advice on what needs to be done for a GEO .tel.. I have a few myself, I will reference this post when I develop mine...

Thanks, mjbenterprises. I appreciate it.