Type-in traffic
Hey guys,
Thought I'd chime in for the first time. I just left a response on ChefPatrick's blog and a modified version on DNW. It seems like people might want to take a crack at this:
I believe there is potential for type-in traffic to develop on premium terms (albeit not at the levels of .com), as individual users spread the word about their personal .tel domains. For instance, take JohnnySmith.tel (random example -- it might be unregistered). If Johnny Smith begins to tell his friends about his .tel, his friends (even a small portion of them) are bound to wonder what's on Cars.tel, for example, next time they're looking to buy/rent/sell a car. The same could be said for other TLDs; however, the difference is that .tel provides a really easy process by which one can input their contact info. Sure, one could buy the same term/name (JohnnySmith) in a different TLD and put up a site, but most people don't know how to do that and the "figuring-it-out" prohibits them from ever attempting. .tel gets around this by making it simple to use your "page." Because of this, of the .tel domains that are registered, I think we'll see a much larger proportion of them are actually used (contact info entered) than registered .mobi and .me domains, which require pages to be set-up. I don't think this should be overlooked. With more of them being used and marketed person-to-person (Johnny Smith's friends using JohnnySmith.tel to get in contact with him), I think we'll see some type-in traffic develop on premium terms.