discuss Why some extensions die and other thrive

[Landov]

I'm talking about the situation before the China buyout from September 2015, which gave chance to all extensions to become popular.

Why .eu.com and .us.com died? Why .io is doing better than .co? Why .org is doing better than .info?

They all seems to raise after becoming available, some small and medium companies who couldn't afford .com use them, and, at some point, some begin to decline, and companies abandon them gradually.

What happens at that turning point? It's only about the issuer advertising budget?

 

[garptrader]

Some TLDs like .Info (before the launch of new TLDs) become popular among domainers because they have low registration fees and greater keyword availability than .COM. At one point .Info had some 8 million registrations but has been on a continuous decline over the last few years (now under 5.5 million regs). End users are not buying many .Infos - just look at the weekly DNJ Sales report.

Likewise some of the more popular new TLDs such as .XYZ have cheap promo registrations and at least initially greater keyword availability than one would find with .COM which is now approaching 125 million registrations. .XYZ just surpassed 2 million registrations so one of the key selling point of this TLD to domain investors at launch is now no longer the case. The best one-word domains even in .XYZ have now been picked over and ask yourself how many aftermarket .XYZ sales (not registry sales) do you see on the weekly DNJ Sales report?

Since the registries are in business to make money, they quite often have held back the best keywords or have priced them with premium prices and/or renewals. That tends to cut out domainers from acquiring them. Most new TLD sales appearing on the DNJ sales reports are not aftermarket sales but registry sales.

In the end don't worry about why one extension is more popular among investors. Just look at what domains end users are buying.

Perhaps better discussed on another thread but I have seen the comment that numeric prices among investors are now at or even above end user prices. That to me sounds like a bubble ready to pop. When real estate speculators back in 2007 pushed pre-construction condo prices into the stratosphere, the real estate bubble popped and many investors were hurt. What will happen when those thousands of NNN and LLL alt or new TLD registrations come up for renewal next year and the next?

 

[Landov]

In the end don't worry about why one extension is more popular among investors. Just look at what domains end users are buying.

A good idea for Chinese domain investors.

 

[Kate]

Why .eu.com and .us.com died?

These are not real extensions but private subdomains. Why they died ? Well who wants them and why ?

Why .io is doing better than .co?

What do you mean ? .io is still a very small and niche TLD. Used by some startups but it's novelty. .co has more volume, thus is more 'mainstream' in comparison.

Why .org is doing better than .info?

.org is long established.

Generally speaking, the newer extensions haven't done well. While .biz/.info are considered the most successful, they are still failures and not considered adequate for serious, large-scale projects.

There are many reasons for that state of affairs, but one factor that is too often overlooked is simply the fact that we have too many extensions.
Another factor is the lack of relevance, or the perceived lack of credibility of new extensions.

 

[DNScholar]

Its same as business identities....we like some and we hate some

 

[Omar Negron]

They die because they aren't promoted to end users. There are not enough marketing dollars being pumped into the extension. .COM has the advantage because it was around the earliest but most importantly, companies advertise their websites offline/online and usually .COM is the extension that's in their advertising. So everyone sees ".COM".

These other extensions are not in front of people eyes enough for anyone else to take notice. If you mention anything other than .com .net .org to most people, they will look at you sideways.

-Omar

 

[amaz_bab]

They die because they aren't promoted to end users

that's a great pity. I suggested the new extensions to some people where the extension really suits to their business and EVERYONE was like "yes, let's get one" (or even more).

 

[Landov]

They die because they aren't promoted to end users.

For example: all companies now advertise in media their .com domain, not only that is trusted by consumers, but also to keep the com's they paid for at a high price.

I estimate that after 5 years, when new gtlds will have enough popularity, companies will advertise these extensions in media too. This will increase their price even more, good for the businesses which paid for them.

 

[Recons.Com]

Companies that can afford to shell out top dollars have complex decision processes. It is not like one person goes and buys and throws money at promoting it or has some warm feelings toward gtld to put extra mile for it.

Imagine a marketing guy coming to the board with proposal to change their .com to .otherstuff

The reaction would be "what???!!!!" and then "if we are not aware of it and it is confusing for us, why it would be different for our clients, partners etc.? Why don't you focus on the content, message, platform, soft etc. instead of showing off your crazy-ass-creativity?!"

 

[Landov]

35% of the US banks have registered their .bank extension and they'll use them along with com's. Why? Because city.bank is more beautiful than city.com But city.com is the most trusted.

As a domainer, I would have both com's and new gtlds in my portfolio.

 

[JB Lions]

35% of the US banks have registered their .bank extension and they'll use them along with com's. Why? Because city.bank is more beautiful than city.com But city.com is the most trusted.

As a domainer, I would have both com's and new gtlds in my portfolio.

There is a difference between registering and actually using, development. They buy them, same reason they buy their name in other extensions. Don't see much chance with these new ones just looking at stats. .xyz yesterday, less than 1% of the regs were from the U.S., 92% China.

"Why .io is doing better than .co?"
Remove Flippa, and there isn't much to .io. That's pretty much the main place sales are happening.

"Why .org is doing better than .info?"
What's posted above, development. If I turn on the TV, it's pretty much .com or .org. That's how the public sees these.

These don't really seem to be happening in the U.S. I looked at .club

https://namestat.org/club

13.4% U.S.
62.1% China

The rest of the top ones, dominant China.

Rest of the world doesn't seem to care. That's not a good sign. Think development.

Just saw this:

"The new gTLDs have been performing poorly so far with a combined market share below 0.5% in Q1 till Q3."

Have hundreds of new gtlds to choose from, can't even get 1% market share.

http://dngeek.com/2016/02/most-popular-domain-extensions-for-startups-in-q4-2015/

 

[Recons.Com]

Yes, never got the thing between Flippa and .io
They will ignore high quality english dictionary word in favor of an .io and feature it often...

 

[Landov]

Every domainer will decide for himself.

 

[Kate]

35% of the US banks have registered their .bank extension and they'll use them along with com's.

You sure about that ? It's another bunch defensive registrations, at best they will be redirected to the .com.
The existing banks are already branded on .com. They don't need another domain.
It could be an option for a new bank starting from scratch, but they aren't hundreds of new banks set up every day, and how many will choose .bank as their primary extension.

It's nothing new, Boeing, Airbus have registered their .aero domains long ago. Do they use them ? They don't.