.info Why did .info fail?

[TWM]

Why did the .info TLD just fail? Its being offered for pocket change now. What went wrong? Is it even worth having .info if it can be registered for a buck or so?

What smart person came out with the .info TLD?

 

[JMJ]

Could it be they would like to see their registration numbers increase?

Verisign droped the price of .net does that mean it failed? Could it be they would like to see their registration numbers increase aswell?

Just like the registrars themselves the more registrations you have, the more money you make and the higher you climb up the ladder of competition. In that years time they figure alot will build something on the sites. Which is exactly what I did with almost half of mine. I then sold the names/sites to a buyer who plans to keep them for years to come. Seems to have worked with me.

 

[RJ]

Ok, so cheap reg fees, full price renewals... But still, if they are SOOO popular, why dont they put the reg fees higher... normal.

Purely a business decision. Think about it.

Cheap registration price = More registrations = More renewals
or
Cheap registration price = More registrations = More webmasters choosing .INFO = Long term success

The registration rate is not any indication of the success or failure of this product. It was purely a marketing decision on behalf of Afilias. A smart one, imho.

 

[quality]

Oooh dear my attack on .info didn't go down well but sometimes the
statistics speak louder than words....as I say champagne.info
with 9 hits a month!! My insurance.web.com doing very well with 67
uniques in first month parked and with excellent click through rate on a high
yielding ppc term! And doing much better than most .infos....

Anyhow opinions differ and some .infos are good but in general there are much
better names in .com to reg as an investment strategy...... if we all have
to keep everyone else happy by saying nice things about the extensions they invest in then it would not be a very productive forum..... But when people claim that people reg 500 .info's making $100 each for a few months then we have to try and bring some perspective...!

 

[barefoottech]

Renewals are full price.

Mine have all ways been at same Price as Registrations and Transfers .
This is quite normal here in Australia. Must be Different In USA


Champagne.info with 9 Uniques
I have .info's With better than that per DAY
But have .com's with less per year
Nothing to do with the .TLD
other factors like Listing on Search engines and Keyword Usage
Affect success on SEDO and other Park programs
And for the Price of ONE Web.com
I can buy a Lot more .info's with a Total Traffic far in excess of 67 Hits
and Income.

The point is and always will be .info 's are a success
Ask yourself would you consider your web.com's a failure if they only cost $3 or less

 

[-db-]

Champagne.info 9 visits a month!!

Yes, but you are only telling part of the story from the sedo page. The rest of the story.....

Visitors to this Sedo Listing: 318
Previous Offers for this Domain: 28

The name has 28 previous offers, and the listing has 318 visitors.

Nobody said Champagne.info was going to get huge amounts of type-in traffic as an undeveloped name, but obviously it has value and interest, or it wouldn't have received 28 offers to purchase.

It's easy to find something to pick on by leaving out certain important facts, and not telling the whole story.

 

[equity78]

Great Point DB I will take 28 offers you can have your 67 type ins which is nothing anyway.

 

[tolkein]

For a real indication of it's value, I guess we'll have to see if the free .info from last year are re-registered or dropped.

 

[harkster]

Failure? Maybe not a big cash cow but failure, I think not.
http://www.alberteinstein.info/
http://www.safrica.info/
http://www.travel.info/
http://www.branson.info

When used properly the .info is a diamond in the rough one of my developments http://www.rosevillepottery.info, A quickie http://www.tecopottery.info and another http://www.denverwhite.info . Are they works of art and moneymakers? Honestly no but the information made available is hard to come by.

Making me rich -- not in $$ but other ways!! I like that they are reasonable priced -- I can develop as information desimination vehicles.

 

[worldstar]

Failure?

Best.info - $20,880
Musical.info - $13,936
Maschinenbau.info - $7,772
Broker.info - $5,000

Thanks DNJournal.

Only a short list people could have this failure! :bah:

 

[EbookLover]

WHAT IS NORMAL? we don't all pay the same price for anything here. I can get .nets at Fabulous for $4.75 is that normal?

Normal meaning you average discount registrar's retail pricing. Sure, some people pay a little more, some pay a little less. But all in all, we pay "around' the sme prices.

Buying domains for "wholesale" at a place like fabulous is not "normal" because not everyone can get those wholesale prices from them. There is a requirement.

Take your top, widely used/known discount domain registrars (GD, NC, RF, etc). They all charge "around" the same retail prices for their domains.

That's what he means by "normal prices". Not too hard to understand but much easier to over-intellectualize.

 

[Grrilla]

For a real indication of it's value, I guess we'll have to see if the free .info from last year are re-registered or dropped.

If there are a large number of names that drop, (which I think will be the case), I think the total number of .info registrations in Jan 2006 will be significantly higher than they were at the beginning of Sept, 2004, which is what, I'm sure, Afilias is also aware of, and counting on.

The group of .info names that will have the largest number of drops will be, of course, the names that are simply, just poor names- the one's that people rushed to reg, w/o giving much thought to what they were regging, and just wanted to get something in, to take advantage of the free offers. As most of you will recall, a little more than year ago, there was quite a carnival atmosphere, and many of us, including myself, were getting out there w/ some of our picks and regging a fair number of novelty names, that were cool, and a kick to put on the, "my info regs" show and tell threads, but are we really going to pay to hold onto some of these for another year when they come due?

It is easy, for anyone running mass searches, to see, that there is an inordinant amount of names that are registered only in the .com and .info tld's. These are the names that will take the second biggest hit in .info drops. Names that were good enough to draw interest, but not quite strong enough to warrant paying for them back than, and in many, (but not all), instances, are not strong enough terms for the other tlds to have been regged during the course of the past year.

There are also many cases in which a name was already regged in one or more of the other tld's, because the name fit particularly well, themeatically, w/ the other exts, and the .info domain was the latecomer which is showing the most recent creation date. This group, will have the strongest hold for the .infos that were new regs over the past year.

The bottom line, IMHO, is that Afilias infused life into .info, increased the number of total registrations in a massive way, and gave it a powerful kickstart, which will result in speeding up the tld's growth and enhance it's continued success. When, (relative to the norm), .info names appear to start dropping en masse, there will be cries of "Look what's happenning to . info! It's falling apart! I told everyone that .info sucks!"

But when the dust settles, after the good names that have dropped are picked up and again active, sitting in the smart domainer's porfolios, the nubers will show that the total number of .info registrations dwarf those of last year. Than, after a brief adjustment period, the value of .info domains will begin to climb and climb and climb. (IMHO)

 

[CrazyTech]

My earlier posts were simply to show that someone felt the .info extension was worth $20k which is by no means a small chunk of change.

The .info registration was a great strategic move IMHO and I think that this will show in the future. Com has already been crowned king, so to speak, and it has established itself as the supremely desired ext. for most websites. Obviously, it's going to be difficult to dethrone the legend by trying to do the same thing. That's only if .info is trying to compete with .com as well head on. Otherwise you're looking for viable market strategies that will get .info on fire.

Offering the free and then cheap promotion is their shot at the market. This made the .info much more desirable to everyone (afterall who wouldn't want to save $5-$8 a domain?) and the domain ext. reacts the same way in search engines. More people will register the name. The byproduct is a lot of people will pick up their name .info (like me) or some cool phrase at the same time and then never touch it again. From this some domains will be developed (and pretty good ones). The other names will be kept for better days while the crap ones will drop. It's a lot easier to press that renewal button IMHO if you have developed a site or know you have a good name.

This is when the value of .info will rise. It's far too early to declare .info a failure by any means.

 

[equity78]

Normal meaning you average discount registrar's retail pricing. Sure, some people pay a little more, some pay a little less. But all in all, we pay "around' the sme prices.

Buying domains for "wholesale" at a place like fabulous is not "normal" because not everyone can get those wholesale prices from them. There is a requirement.

Take your top, widely used/known discount domain registrars (GD, NC, RF, etc). They all charge "around" the same retail prices for their domains.

That's what he means by "normal prices". Not too hard to understand but much easier to over-intellectualize.

No he was referring why aren't they normal priced and that makes no sense many exts sell at different prices but GO reg a web.com they are for sure a winner if only .info can be like web.com

and at least the idiot .info regs were free same can't be said for the idiot .com or web.com regs

 

[Binfus]

For me the .info journey has been long, interesting, at times disappointing and of late quite rewarding. When I first heard of Icann approving this extension I truly got sold on it, simply because I felt it's the most encompasing tld there could be. I began playing .info months before it was first launched in 9/01, starting with paid pre-regs via multiple registrars, living thru the sunrise fiasco and reluntantly participating in the second "landrush" of 7/02. There were plenty of moments when I seriously questioned my sanity but somehow kept up with it all. Just a couple of months after acquiring some pretty decent names in 9/01, I began experimenting with development and ended up spending pretty penny and (hopefully) learning a few valuable lessons in this area as well. Over the last couple of years, I've sold around two dozen names, 90% in the four figures, with an average sale price of around $3400/name. Almost all of these names were sold to end-users, and many have been already developed by the buyers; examples:
http://www.lowermanhattan.info/
http://www.screening.info
http://www.compra.info
http://www.riodejaneiro.info/ , etc.

I have myself developed quite a few, one was noted by Hark in his post above (www.Branson.info); others include
www.NewOrleans.info
www.Pregnancy.info
www.Tucson.info
www.Retreats.info
www.Tires.info
www.CriminalDefense.info
www.VacationRentals.info
www.Portland.info
www.Delaware.info , and many others...all of these developed sites are earning decent income via adsense paying not only for themselves but also hundreds of their undeveloped peers....Over the last few months, there's been a steady stream of serious inquiries and just in last 2 weeks I've declined offers in mid-to-high four figures for some of my domains. So, all in all, I feel pretty okay about my .info venture, and wish success to all those who believe in its potential.

.info a failure.....not where I sit.... Cheers.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Well, by saying failed, I was refering to the low reg fees. To me, I dont see how they make money!

Okay, .info went from $6.95 to $1.95 or a few for free. that's a drop of $7.00. Dot-com used to be $50 a year, and you can now get them for $6 at times, for a price drop of $43. Would you say .com is a failure? Dot-net will probably have a price drop once the new contract kicks in. I don't think anyone would say that's a failure either. It's just optimizing a free market. Since .com is still preferred, there is no reason new registrations in other domains should have to be the same price.

As RJ said, renewals are not free or as cheap as the promos. If only 25% are renewed, it's a boom to the market over not ever being taken in the first place. Also, when the anniversary arrives, there will be some huge drops. The garbage will go where it should, but some of them are actually good, but dropped by the greedy who asked too much. I forsee the auction houses having a run on some of the better drops in September/October giving more PR to the .info TLD since that type stuff makes the news.

Even though I shouldn't afford it, I'll probably be shopping the .info drop lists...again.

 

[Namedelivery.com]

If there are a large number of names that drop, (which I think will be the case), I think the total number of .info registrations in Jan 2006 will be significantly higher than they were at the beginning of Sept, 2004, which is what, I'm sure, Afilias is also aware of, and counting on.

The group of .info names that will have the largest number of drops will be, of course, the names that are simply, just poor names- the one's that people rushed to reg, w/o giving much thought to what they were regging, and just wanted to get something in, to take advantage of the free offers. As most of you will recall, a little more than year ago, there was quite a carnival atmosphere, and many of us, including myself, were getting out there w/ some of our picks and regging a fair number of novelty names, that were cool, and a kick to put on the, "my info regs" show and tell threads, but are we really going to pay to hold onto some of these for another year when they come due?

It is easy, for anyone running mass searches, to see, that there is an inordinant amount of names that are registered only in the .com and .info tld's. These are the names that will take the second biggest hit in .info drops. Names that were good enough to draw interest, but not quite strong enough to warrant paying for them back than, and in many, (but not all), instances, are not strong enough terms for the other tlds to have been regged during the course of the past year.

There are also many cases in which a name was already regged in one or more of the other tld's, because the name fit particularly well, themeatically, w/ the other exts, and the .info domain was the latecomer which is showing the most recent creation date. This group, will have the strongest hold for the .infos that were new regs over the past year.

The bottom line, IMHO, is that Afilias infused life into .info, increased the number of total registrations in a massive way, and gave it a powerful kickstart, which will result in speeding up the tld's growth and enhance it's continued success. When, (relative to the norm), .info names appear to start dropping en masse, there will be cries of "Look what's happenning to . info! It's falling apart! I told everyone that .info sucks!"

But when the dust settles, after the good names that have dropped are picked up and again active, sitting in the smart domainer's porfolios, the nubers will show that the total number of .info registrations dwarf those of last year. Than, after a brief adjustment period, the value of .info domains will begin to climb and climb and climb. (IMHO)

Agreed many of the dropping names will be crap. Also a very large chunk will be those .info names registered on our behalf by Dotster etc.
If someone didnt make an effort to pick up the .info before it was reg'd for them and it was available when the free offer came about then they will probably let most of these names drop.
There are going to be some long lists of .info names to sort through next January/February!

In terms of "failure"? It is way too premature to say IMO. .Info still has not come into its own but with the increasing .com costs to end users and the huge number of companies getting online something has to give. If I am not able to shell out the dough for a decent .com there are only a few choices and if Im going for branding Im not going to put my hard work into a .cc or .ws. If Im in the USA then maybe .US but anywhere else its either their CCtld or .net, .biz or .info.

Just my $.02

 

[harkster]

Binfus,
My hat is off to you. That is when info shines.

 

[Binfus]

Binfus,
My hat is off to you. That is when info shines.

Thanks hark...appreciate the encouraging words.

 

[barefoottech]

But when the dust settles, after the good names that have dropped are picked up and again active, sitting in the smart domainer's porfolios, the nubers will show that the total number of .info registrations dwarf those of last year. Than, after a brief adjustment period, the value of .info domains will begin to climb and climb and climb. (IMHO)

I am buying .info's With Pr2 Ranking and Incoming links for 15NP$
I am not waiting for them to Drop , I am grabbing them now.
But I have budgeted to buy at least a thousand of them by end of year
Some of the Names are Crap ,but some are not too bad at all
and better than some of those 3 Letter .coms being sold for stupid prices
Who really thinks Qxz.com is Worth Anything other than a small Amount

 

[zaros64]

DUDE -.. I own officialhost.info officialphoto.info and I have dealed with about 10 .info domains... they ain't failing

 

[Joe123]

I want to thank idevisedesign for starting a great discussion!

Personally, I have over 140 .info domains. In the next few months I will be torn over how many I should drop and how many I will keep. I would like to get rid of most of them but something tells me I should carefully study each domain and spend more money than I would like in renewal fees

 

[Zeeble]

Once they offered them for free the value went down. I don't even look into the thread if somebody post a .info for sale.

Well, thats just stupid!

.Info is a HUGE extension in Europe, and is rising rapidly in popularity.

 

[Mark]

So - I didn't know they failed .... :o Seriously - as many have mentioned already .... it was purely a business decision to Offer them at a Free/Discounted price , A few of my best parked domains are .Info's as far as traffic goes

 

[RJ]

Once they offered them for free the value went down. I don't even look into the thread if somebody post a .info for sale.

Well, thats just stupid!

There is some truth in sean's statement. When .INFO's went to free registratons the overall average quality of .INFO domains posted for sale and appraisal took a severe drop. Its not as bad now, but with the free promotion it seemed like many were using that opportunity to register a lot of junk to try to pawn off cheaply. So the value of the average info domain is down I would say.

That said, I don't believe this has effected the usefulness of INFO's or the value of quality INFO's. We're just seeing a lot more bad/ugly INFO domains in the mix than we would see if the registration cost was higher.

My bottom line, INFO is still an excellent TLD with long-term potential.

 

[ExpertDomino]

This thread has been very informial indeed! Thanks for your guys insight.