.us .us market -- What can we do to stimulate it?

[fonzie_007]

The .us market has a lot of potential. Arguably, the .us market is a sleeping giant. Small to mid sized businesses are slowly starting to move into the .us space as .coms become more expensive. I'd like to brainstorm what we can do as domainers to help foster the .us market with end users.

Here are a couple of ideas (that could use refinement):
1) Sell .us domains to end users even if they aren't willing to pay what we expect for end user pricing. (e.g. I had a guy starting a business that wanted one of my .us domains and was only willing to pay slightly more than reseller rates. I declined, but in refusing to sell to him, the prospective buyer may have then moved on to develop a non-.us extension)
2) Start developing .us domains
3) Start using .us domains for our personal email
4) Educate our friends and family about .us domains

 

[airwav]

From my understanding, according to this thread http://www.usforum.us/showthread.php?t=1302&page=1&pp=10
tomorrow Neustar will be releasing PR about the zipcode search .US.

I have been waiting on this for months. I think this will help with the recognition of the .US extention. To particiapate in the worlds largest "local" search engine, one must own a .US to be listed.

I also understand that the zip search will be compatabile with mobile devices, although from searching the pages on my mobile phone it does not seem too compataible at this time.

It seems to me that it is just a matter of time till the .US explosion occurs :talk:

 

[fonzie_007]

My zipcode page is up and running, although there isn't a whole lot on it other than the weather, local demographic information, and an ad for Neustar.

 

[airwav]

My zipcode page is up and running, although there isn't a whole lot on it other than the weather, local demographic information, and an ad for Neustar.

I have submitted a lot of .US sites for inclusion in the directory, but have yet to hear from them. The thing that I think is strange is that the landing page states that one has to have a .US to advertise on their pages and yet all the ads are .com's

 

[DropLister]

develop, develop, develop.

 

[oldtimer]

I have seen a lot of ads on TV for governmental institutions that have websites with dot com extension such as the Post Office or the Marines, perhaps some of you with good public relations skills could persuade them to start using dot US, after all dot US would be the perfect fit for any patriotic institution.

 

[jeter4982]

develop, develop, develop.

And then develop some more! Seriously though, I think all of your points are good, with the exception of the first point. While this may help booster the market for one or two businesses I think it is just going to cause us to lose money that could have been earned.

Tom

 

[duceman]

I'm kind of enjoying the lull in the .us market. Focusing in on one sector so I'll have better pricing power. I'm also extending my reg periods to 2-3 years instead of one. It hurts when I have ### expiring in a single month. But I believe it will make me more patient when I receive low ball offers from end users.

 

[moondog]

2) Start developing .us domains
3) Start using .us domains for our personal email
4) Educate our friends and family about .us domains

I plan to start developing this year.

I also like the idea of using .US for personal email . . . Good way to promote the .US ext!

-Bob

 

[snoop]

Do nothing. Either .us will do well from enduser usage or it won't. Domainers telling their friends about it, developing for no real purpose other than to get the extension known, or using .us domains for their own email won't make a scrap of difference in the long run.

 

[DropLister]

Im not talking about developing just to get it known, but it will be a byproduct. Im talking about becoming the end user. Like www.got.us

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Hold on to your hats. I think I may have a .us sale to prime the pumps with at least a week worth of excitement.

 

[DropLister]

I await more information of your sale

fish.us?

 

[Fundraiser]

Hold on to your hats. I think I may have a .us sale to prime the pumps with at least a week worth of excitement.

Saw that... and it would certainly be worth a little buzz. Best wishes on getting the deal completed.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Saw that... and it would certainly be worth a little buzz. Best wishes on getting the deal completed.

Thanks.

From the .us in your sig, I would say you will definitely live up to your username.

 

[oldtimer]

We can all use some good news by about now to boost the Dot US market after a slow season for high dollar sales.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

I await more information of your sale

fish.us?

No, word got out quickly already, so its video.us

 

[Fundraiser]

Thanks.

From the .us in your sig, I would say you will definitely live up to your username.

Your good news made me pull out a dot US signature.

 

[DropLister]

hehe, I might give a kidney for business.us invcase you ever need one.

 

[moondog]

Your good news made me pull out a dot US signature.

Hmmm, I have been inspired too.

-Bob