Feature Article
.US TLD Stronger Than the Rest?
By Bill Cox, Domain Broker
With over 69 million .COM registrations, some domainers may wonder if the industry will plateau as all of the valuable domains have been registered. While all the sought after .COM domains seem to be registered, it does not mean that buying and selling is or will be on the decline any time soon.
As seen in the graph below, the .COM leads the rest of the top level domains (TLDs) in registrations. A look at the 2nd place TLD, the .DE, provides us with some insight on where the market has been and where it is heading in the future.
It may come as a surprise that a country code top level domain (ccTLD) is the second most registered extension, even above .NET.
At this point, no get rich quick scheme exists for the domain industry. You will not be able to find a "Dummies' Guide" to domaining, however, if the book existed it may say to invest in ccTLDs. .DE is the world's most registered ccTLD, with over 11 million registered domains. The .DE is not only the largest ccTLD, but also the second most registered TLD next to .COM, with .NET following closely behind. While the German market seems to be taking full advantage of the .DE, there is a great possibility to become a part of what may be the next online trend.
The .CO.UK is the second largest ccTLD, with over six million domains registered. In order to meet the growing demand for these ccTLDs, Sedo GmbH will be hosting its first .CO.UK auction in September of 2007. Many domain owners in the United Kingdom as well as the United States have come to realize the great earnings potential of the .CO.UK in both monetization and sales. Some of the largest .CO.UK domain sales include connected.co.uk at 80,000 GBP and hero.co.uk for 20,000 GBP.
As the industry develops on the other side of the pond, a domainer may ask, "what is going on with the .US market?". Perhaps that domainer may simply assume that .COM equals US and thus the only TLD that can be used to represent a company within the USA. Although the .US TLD is not represented on the graph above, the TLD is seeing a very large increase in the number of registrations since its inception. There exists great potential in ccTLDs and many companies are beginning to realize this.
While the .US has been used well by foreign companies such as Volvo, Hitachi, BenQ, etc., there has been a notable increase in .US registrations (as seen in the chart below, provided by Neustar, the .US registry).
Even in a two-week period, registrations of .US domains have grown by over 10,000, showing that more and more businesses are utilizing the ccTLD to reach their American markets.
The choice to go abroad and invest in the .US came naturally for the aforementioned foreign-based companies. Pioneering the market seemed simple as it is the way it is done "back home" (i.e. Volvo.se and Hitachi.co.jp). Some companies such as Audi use the .COM as a main landing page and then direct visitors to the an alternative site after selecting location or language. The more prominent auto manufactures also own the relative ccTLD associated with the country they are targeting.
When the .US TLD was originally released to the industry in 1997, a full page advertisement in PCWorld magazine marked the birth of some of the today's more well-known domainers such as Ron Jackson of DNJournal.com (who is one of the largest holders of the .US TLD). Neustar has been the registry of the.US and since the advertisement in the 1997 magazine, no real attempt to increase the TLDs visibility has been made. In spite of this, many companies see the advantage of having their website reachable through a .US domain. While the current registry has not commented on the TLD, there have been recent discussions that the US Department of Commerce may be attempting to acquire the rights to the TLD, which could mark a major change in the TLD's reputation and visibility.
The rise in .US registrations is just one metric to mark the increased demand for the TLD, however consulting Sedos past sales of the .US TLD will offer some reassurance that the extension has seen increased demand over the past years and even months. Truck.us sold this month at Sedo for more than $4,000, multiple three letter .US domains were sold from $2,200-4,000, and video.us was sold in April, 2007 for $75,000, marking one of the highest published .US sales to date.
As sales prices increase, owners of .COMs begin listing their domains with slightly unrealistic expectations. While domains are an investment, many start up companies do not have the capital to offer a figure to satisfy the owner's expectations. The .US TLD has great potential for investment as companies will continue to turn to the ccTLD to target the region that is searching for their product. With a new registry for the .US TLD we can expect to see increased advertisement of all the benefits that a ccTLD can offer.
.US TLD Stronger Than the Rest?
By Bill Cox, Domain Broker
With over 69 million .COM registrations, some domainers may wonder if the industry will plateau as all of the valuable domains have been registered. While all the sought after .COM domains seem to be registered, it does not mean that buying and selling is or will be on the decline any time soon.
As seen in the graph below, the .COM leads the rest of the top level domains (TLDs) in registrations. A look at the 2nd place TLD, the .DE, provides us with some insight on where the market has been and where it is heading in the future.
It may come as a surprise that a country code top level domain (ccTLD) is the second most registered extension, even above .NET.
At this point, no get rich quick scheme exists for the domain industry. You will not be able to find a "Dummies' Guide" to domaining, however, if the book existed it may say to invest in ccTLDs. .DE is the world's most registered ccTLD, with over 11 million registered domains. The .DE is not only the largest ccTLD, but also the second most registered TLD next to .COM, with .NET following closely behind. While the German market seems to be taking full advantage of the .DE, there is a great possibility to become a part of what may be the next online trend.
The .CO.UK is the second largest ccTLD, with over six million domains registered. In order to meet the growing demand for these ccTLDs, Sedo GmbH will be hosting its first .CO.UK auction in September of 2007. Many domain owners in the United Kingdom as well as the United States have come to realize the great earnings potential of the .CO.UK in both monetization and sales. Some of the largest .CO.UK domain sales include connected.co.uk at 80,000 GBP and hero.co.uk for 20,000 GBP.
As the industry develops on the other side of the pond, a domainer may ask, "what is going on with the .US market?". Perhaps that domainer may simply assume that .COM equals US and thus the only TLD that can be used to represent a company within the USA. Although the .US TLD is not represented on the graph above, the TLD is seeing a very large increase in the number of registrations since its inception. There exists great potential in ccTLDs and many companies are beginning to realize this.
While the .US has been used well by foreign companies such as Volvo, Hitachi, BenQ, etc., there has been a notable increase in .US registrations (as seen in the chart below, provided by Neustar, the .US registry).
Even in a two-week period, registrations of .US domains have grown by over 10,000, showing that more and more businesses are utilizing the ccTLD to reach their American markets.
The choice to go abroad and invest in the .US came naturally for the aforementioned foreign-based companies. Pioneering the market seemed simple as it is the way it is done "back home" (i.e. Volvo.se and Hitachi.co.jp). Some companies such as Audi use the .COM as a main landing page and then direct visitors to the an alternative site after selecting location or language. The more prominent auto manufactures also own the relative ccTLD associated with the country they are targeting.
When the .US TLD was originally released to the industry in 1997, a full page advertisement in PCWorld magazine marked the birth of some of the today's more well-known domainers such as Ron Jackson of DNJournal.com (who is one of the largest holders of the .US TLD). Neustar has been the registry of the.US and since the advertisement in the 1997 magazine, no real attempt to increase the TLDs visibility has been made. In spite of this, many companies see the advantage of having their website reachable through a .US domain. While the current registry has not commented on the TLD, there have been recent discussions that the US Department of Commerce may be attempting to acquire the rights to the TLD, which could mark a major change in the TLD's reputation and visibility.
The rise in .US registrations is just one metric to mark the increased demand for the TLD, however consulting Sedos past sales of the .US TLD will offer some reassurance that the extension has seen increased demand over the past years and even months. Truck.us sold this month at Sedo for more than $4,000, multiple three letter .US domains were sold from $2,200-4,000, and video.us was sold in April, 2007 for $75,000, marking one of the highest published .US sales to date.
As sales prices increase, owners of .COMs begin listing their domains with slightly unrealistic expectations. While domains are an investment, many start up companies do not have the capital to offer a figure to satisfy the owner's expectations. The .US TLD has great potential for investment as companies will continue to turn to the ccTLD to target the region that is searching for their product. With a new registry for the .US TLD we can expect to see increased advertisement of all the benefits that a ccTLD can offer.
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