What is your forecast for the next couple of years when it comes to domaining.

[oldtimer]

What is your forecast for the next couple of years for domaining and what are you doing to adjust to the new landscape of the domain Industry.

It used to be that first tire .com domains were fetching six or even seven figure prices on a regular basis, even second and third tier domains in .com were selling for a hefty sum up to just a couple of years ago. But now it seems like the million dollar sales are all but gone and the average selling price for .coms has fallen to the low to medium four figures.

In my opinion .com is always going to remain popular and most people are probably going to prefer it over all the other alternatives, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the average price for keyword .com domains dropping down to the three figure range in the near future especially if some of the big companies start giving away free domains (in their New gTLDs) to their customers and clients as a means of attracting and keeping more visitors.

Even the .com traffic domains that have enjoyed a steady level of traffic in the past might lose some of their value as people start typing in New gTLD combinations out of curiosity instead of the many popular keywords in .com that they have been used to typing before.

At this time I have come to believe that one of the domaining categories that has the best chances going forward even in the new landscape of the domain Industry is Brandable domains especially those that are suitable for broad use and that can be sold in the low to medium four figures.

IMO

What is you forecast for the next couple of years.

 

[mjnels]

It'll probably be about the same.

New gTLDs will be a lot of failure.

No real market for them, is the short answer why they will fail.

Since there will be so many of them, you can expect low reg numbers. Won't be a lot of development, meaning most normal people will never know they even exist. Will be a lot of confusion. It's easier to get people to remember one thing, what comes before the .com, then 2 things, what comes before and after the .

All you have to do is look at the reg numbers for .co and .me, knowing they had the spotlight all to themselves. So I expect the reg numbers for these new ones to be less than that, with the exception of maybe a mainstream one like .web.

All stuff already gone thru is previous threads, which have more info, links, reasons why it will fail. No real market.

how is .web mainstream? i dont get it.. domainers keep saying stuff like this and i think its hilarious.

someone explain please

 

[JB Lions]

how is .web mainstream? i dont get it.. domainers keep saying stuff like this and i think its hilarious.

someone explain please

Meaning generally available, and people call it the net/internet or web. I think it has the best chance from what's coming down the line. It's versatile, can be used for anything unlike say a .books. They're still mostly crap, and this might be King Crap, so still not good.

 

[mjnels]

ok but how are people going to know about it? it faces the same problem as .ninja

isnt information "mainstream" ? and look at .info

 

[JB Lions]

"ok but how are people going to know about it?"

That's what I've been asking you, everytime this subject comes up, you post like you actually think they have a chance.

I'm just saying it has a better chance than most of them. .ninja, you really can't do much with. .web, .net, can be used for anything. Would have more development opportunity.

"and look at .info"

Yes, as I said. You really can't see how .web, .net, .info can be used for just about anything vs. a .ninja or a .books? General extensions are more versatile. But even with that, since I don't see a real market for it, I don't expect big reg numbers, development etc. And when you don't have that, you don't really have much market penetration. Which, yet again, means most people will never know they even exist.

 

[bmugford]

ok but how are people going to know about it? it faces the same problem as .ninja

The same can be said about virtually every new gTLD. How are people going to know about them?

It is going to take some massive marketing to generate any awareness. This is with many competing extensions on the market at the same time.

As far as .WEB goes it is leading the way in all pre-orders, so far more people are aware of that than most of the others.
Still it is basically a much lamer version of .NET. Not sure why there is much excitement about that extension.

Brad

 

[mjnels]

The same can be said about virtually every new gTLD. How are people going to know about them?

yeah thats what im saying..

It is going to take some massive marketing to generate any awareness. This is with many competing extensions on the market at the same time.

As far as .WEB goes it is leading the way in all pre-orders, so far more people are aware of that than most of the others.
Still it is basically a much lamer version of .NET. Not sure why there is much excitement about that extension.

i bet the preorders are all from domainers. probably cause they hear each other say ".web might be a good one but thats it"

---------- Post added at 01:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 PM ----------

"ok but how are people going to know about it?"

That's what I've been asking you, everytime this subject comes up, you post like you actually think they have a chance.

no im being realistic. im not rooting for anything or taking a side. it just seems like that because people are so defensive and like using domainer sound bites like "LOL when is .shit coming out LOLLOLOLOL"

im not saying they will be profitable for domainers but acting like more than a thousand TLD's is the same thing as a handful is nuts and not being realistic. there is no reference point for this and domainers desperately want to be sure of themselves by talking about a very small number of previous TLD releases..

I'm just saying it has a better chance than most of them. .ninja, you really can't do much with. .web, .net, can be used for anything. Would have more development opportunity.

"and look at .info"

Yes, as I said. You really can't see how .web, .net, .info can be used for just about anything vs. a .ninja or a .books? General extensions are more versatile. But even with that, since I don't see a real market for it, I don't expect big reg numbers, development etc. And when you don't have that, you don't really have much market penetration. Which, yet again, means most people will never know they even exist.

no i can see .web and .info is more universal but people still wont know they exist.

 

[oldtimer]

How did google promote google plus or the chrome, they can promote their gTLDs the same way (maybe not all of them, but perhaps a select few), how do other big companies promote their products and services, they can surely promote their .CompanyName the same way, and the City gTLDs are probably going to be promoted to their residence by putting them on all their buses and a few billboards around the town.

IMO

 

[mjnels]

yep and one of the main reasons a lot of people dont use alternate TLD's right now is because they are doing what the big boys have done. up until now most things are .COM so thats where all this talk of trustworthy and credible come into play..

but you guys are aware some "big boys" are going to be running some of these TLD's... if/when they start using them the stigma of "oh so you couldnt get the .COM eh" completely vanishes.

thats possible. saying its not and referring to .mobi and .biz isnt realistic.

 

[Weber]

I don’t think anyone is intentionally trying to bad mouth the domain market, but to downplay the importance of all the changes that are happening around us is only going to serve those who want to unload their domains on other domainers and leave them holding the bag. .....

IMO

You misunderstand my post. I wrote nothing about, bad mouthing the domain market. My point is that some businesses that serve as a place where your dot coms are listed for sale (and hope to get a good price for) in exchange for a commision of up to 20%, are actively and intentionally predicting the demise of the dot com extention, specifically.

Call it propaganda, smart advertising or whatever you want, they are intentionally trying to diminish the importance of the dot com extention.

 

[DEFLECTED]

You have to look at it from the perspective of the average person and not from a domainers point of view.Even though the new Tlds will be marketed heavily that marketing will likely never reach and wont interest average people.But when the day comes when they want to create a startup what will they do? Naturally they will think dot com first and if that is available for the sweet spot price of around $2,000 they might buy it.Cool short brandables and high quality generics will always be popular in dot com for the right price.

The new Tlds will bring cheaper opportunities for startups like .music but what if your startup is not about music, maybe .app or dot .web but I can guarantee if the price is right people will always stick with the gold standard of dot com.But as for the .nets and .infos I think its the end of the road.unless you are willing to sell them at cheap prices because end users will soon have better options.

 

[biggie]

How did google promote google plus or the chrome, they can promote their gTLDs the same way (maybe not all of them, but perhaps a select few), how do other big companies promote their products and services, they can surely promote their .CompanyName the same way, and the City gTLDs are probably going to be promoted to their residence by putting them on all their buses and a few billboards around the town.

IMO

:talk:

google plus and chrome are services or upgrades to existing.
all you have to do is download and they are free

gtlds are not services, they have a cost and currently they are just vacant lots growing dust



the two are not in same category.


still, if you look at the past, it's a good predictor of the future.


it took years for .tv and .us to start being used in commercial advertising


as now I see more .tv on tv and print than .us


on some buses in Chicago, you might on rare occasion see a .us a .info or even a .me.
but .com is king, then comes .net and .org on just about every vehicle of transport that promotes a website

a .web would seem redundant to what the www stands for


imo....

 

[tonyk2000]

Thinking about the future, I tried to think more globally

For example - according to one of the world wide web’s inventors, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the two forward slashes that form part of every web address are entirely useless. "In an interview about the future of the web, Sir Tim was asked what, if anything, he would change about his invention.

‘There are some simple things,' he says.

'When I designed the URL, this thing which starts http://, the slash, slash was to indicate that we are actually starting at the top, not starting down at the next slash.'

But, as Sir Tim explains, the address could have worked perfectly well without the two extra unnecessary keystrokes... And he bemoans the amount of wasted time, printing and paper that have been wasted since the birth of the web because of his small oversight."

(quote end).

Now, thinking about somewhat too-o-o remote future, one may guess that not only two slashes, but gtld domain extensions itself (as we know them) will not last forever. Indeed, even todays technologies can support something like xttp://SERVER pointing to local www resource. No TLD at all.
So, someday this should become global. In todays terms, registering an own TLD will be as easy and cheap as registering available .com (sub)domain. Indeed, why not? It is not even a technological issue as the current technology can already support this. It is an issue of how non-profit ICANN is trying to make more $$$ by auctioning new tlds, even though they already have enough money so they managed to lost some part of their cash portfolio investements in 2008 crisis, something that one should not expect from non-profit origanization acting in public interest

 

[oldtimer]

You misunderstand my post. I wrote nothing about, bad mouthing the domain market. My point is that some businesses that serve as a place where your dot coms are listed for sale (and hope to get a good price for) in exchange for a commision of up to 20%, are actively and intentionally predicting the demise of the dot com extention, specifically.

Call it propaganda, smart advertising or whatever you want, they are intentionally trying to diminish the importance of the dot com extention.

It seems like a lot of people in the domain Industry try to shape the public perception in a way that serves their own interest (whether pro or against the New gTLDs), although there are some that say it as they see it regardless of their own personal or business interest, but unfortunately it’s difficult to know everyone’s true intensions and agendas.

IMO

 

[lothos]

I predict Moniker will be a repeat of RegisterFly.

I agree with that, and I'm relieved to no longer have domains at Moniker

 

[Kate]

Google has invested lot of money on the new tlds, and - to me - Google is a major player on if the new tlds will succeed or not.

I have a sobering thought for you.
Do you remember that promising TLD that was backed by Google, and industry heavyweights such as Microsoft, Nokia etc :hi:
I heard things didn't pan out well... so I was told.

What about .tel funded to the tune of $45 million if memory serves me well.
How much did .co benefit from the traction of Overstock ?

You see, it's really hard to push things that are useless.
The whole domain industry thrives on wishful thinking, and the registries are guilty as well.

 

[Jasonn]

Thinking about the future, I tried to think more globally

For example - according to one of the world wide web’s inventors, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the two forward slashes that form part of every web address are entirely useless. "In an interview about the future of the web, Sir Tim was asked what, if anything, he would change about his invention.

‘There are some simple things,' he says.

'When I designed the URL, this thing which starts http://, the slash, slash was to indicate that we are actually starting at the top, not starting down at the next slash.'

But, as Sir Tim explains, the address could have worked perfectly well without the two extra unnecessary keystrokes... And he bemoans the amount of wasted time, printing and paper that have been wasted since the birth of the web because of his small oversight."

(quote end).

Now, thinking about somewhat too-o-o remote future, one may guess that not only two slashes, but gtld domain extensions itself (as we know them) will not last forever. Indeed, even todays technologies can support something like xttp://SERVER pointing to local www resource. No TLD at all.
So, someday this should become global. In todays terms, registering an own TLD will be as easy and cheap as registering available .com (sub)domain. Indeed, why not? It is not even a technological issue as the current technology can already support this. It is an issue of how non-profit ICANN is trying to make more $$$ by auctioning new tlds, even though they already have enough money so they managed to lost some part of their cash portfolio investements in 2008 crisis, something that one should not expect from non-profit origanization acting in public interest

doing with dotless tld's would be a step backwards though. the argument being we need new tld's because .com net etc are all full up so here come the new gtlds..imagine if there were no tld's as you say and just words...it would be .com all over again with nowhere else to go. what about cctld's? do they go too? you would essentially have the whole world on one tld.

 

[JB Lions]

Thinking about the future, I tried to think more globally

For example - according to one of the world wide web’s inventors, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the two forward slashes that form part of every web address are entirely useless. "In an interview about the future of the web, Sir Tim was asked what, if anything, he would change about his invention.

‘There are some simple things,' he says.

'When I designed the URL, this thing which starts http://, the slash, slash was to indicate that we are actually starting at the top, not starting down at the next slash.'

But, as Sir Tim explains, the address could have worked perfectly well without the two extra unnecessary keystrokes... And he bemoans the amount of wasted time, printing and paper that have been wasted since the birth of the web because of his small oversight."

(quote end).

Now, thinking about somewhat too-o-o remote future, one may guess that not only two slashes, but gtld domain extensions itself (as we know them) will not last forever. Indeed, even todays technologies can support something like xttp://SERVER pointing to local www resource. No TLD at all.
So, someday this should become global. In todays terms, registering an own TLD will be as easy and cheap as registering available .com (sub)domain. Indeed, why not? It is not even a technological issue as the current technology can already support this. It is an issue of how non-profit ICANN is trying to make more $$$ by auctioning new tlds, even though they already have enough money so they managed to lost some part of their cash portfolio investements in 2008 crisis, something that one should not expect from non-profit origanization acting in public interest

That's quite a leap. We still have area codes, country codes for phones for a reason.

 

[urlurl]

I don't think the multitude of new extensions will destroy the .com - on the contrary I think it will strengthen the value of the .com as it becomes the standard. It still will negatively effect the value of the other existing gtld (net, co, info, org, tv, etc) as 1,000's more flood the market. if you ask the general public to name 5 extensions now they will always mention the .com and struggle to know 5 others (it just did and they only could name 4, lol) - add 1,000's more and you have mass confusion... but the .com will be there and people will trust it. The scammers and spammers will pick up all these new extensions and as a result the general public will be suspicious and the search engines will rank the extensions low (just look how well .info does).

This is my prediction

 

[tonyk2000]

A very useful discussion indeed

The time will tell, maybe all we are speaking about will become irrelevant because of some new technologies we cannot even imagine... In any case, I feel that _for now_ it is somewhat safe to continue with full-time domaining which happens to be a business for most if not all members here. Of course, there may be changes forcing us to go out of business. Like in any business. For example, I would not invest in opening offline bookstore selling paper books because of e-books and electronic readers becoming more and more popular, saying nothing about amazon.com selling books cheaper. It does not mean that each and every existing bookstore should now close its doors though. Returning to domains, I would however think twice before making any long-time investment, like acquiring a domain for parking paying 10x current annual parking revenue... this might be acceptable in 2001, but now it is too risky. Some domainers would likely disagree with this position, in particular those who outbid endusers in current godaddy expired auctions... but it is another story for another forum thread

 

[alien51]

A very useful discussion indeed

Actually, everything being posted here are almost identical to the ones everyone else has already posted in the previous i think 8 threads talking about the same thing.... the effect of the new TLDs. it's a very old topic.

 

[DnEbook]

Actually, everything being posted here are almost identical to the ones everyone else has already posted in the previous i think 8 threads talking about the same thing.... the effect of the new TLDs. it's a very old topic.

it's only just begun, wait until they come out

:cy:

 

[mjnels]

there will be a new wave of domainers most likely.. i wonder how many though.

 

[kosvam]

I have a sobering thought for you.
Do you remember that promising TLD that was backed by Google, and industry heavyweights such as Microsoft, Nokia etc :hi:
I heard things didn't pan out well... so I was told.

What about .tel funded to the tune of $45 million if memory serves me well.
How much did .co benefit from the traction of Overstock ?

You see, it's really hard to push things that are useless.
The whole domain industry thrives on wishful thinking, and the registries are guilty as well.

Google has failed many times, on many of their projects; but you can't underestimate Google's power on the web.

 

[urlurl]

that's true, you never know if google decides to rank their gtld better than others - making them more desirable to end users.

lets go back to the gtld - let's say you are a start-up and you want to call you company "bigboys" (just an example) the .com, net, org are taken...what do you pick? .web, .me, .co, .travel, .la, .jobs, .sex. etc. do you pick one or do you register all 1,000 @ an average price of $20 so that's $20,000 a year just to protect your brand (but you still wont have the .com). and if you don't reg all of them you will have to advertise like mad so end-users go to your extension and not all the other 1,000 possibilities.

allowing 1,000's of more new extension serves no purpose except for those who created it.

it is only is going to confuse end-users and cost companies that don't even want or need the new gtld's.

 

[Name Trader]

I'd choose .web from that list, unless it was a travel company, then I'd use .travel