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I can’t stop thinking about the new gTLD’s, I suppose most domain investors are these days, so I am going to ramble on about them. I read Shane’s post about investing in the .cc extension, he said “I see it increasing in value with the introduction of the generic tlds”.
I have picked up some .me and .tv domains kind of thinking the same thing. It’s an interesting theory, if people get familiar with .whatever then maybe non .com extensions that have been around for awhile will gain more notice, acceptance, and value, it’s a gamble.
I was also thinking if .web gets popular then .net should get some residual benefit, it’s already got some name recognition and history, maybe not the most successful history and it definitely has an identity crisis but I still like .net. Actually .web has some history too:
I have already lost money on .web, in 2000 Image Online Design put in an application for .web and sold pre registrations, I paid for about a dozen huge word.web domains, lots of people did, it was a first come first serve system and if I remember correctly they were at least $35, I know lots of people did because most of the words I would check were already paid for or going quick, they sold lots of pre registrations. Unfortunately the application was not approved in that round and there was no .web and no .refunds, there is a .web coming now though, I wish my pre registration backorders were still good.
IMO if .web is successful then .com seems guaranteed to be king for a long time, I am sure in the next generation or two there will be a shift in mindset and domain hacks will be used everywhere, they will be a norm, new TLD’s will emerge, Jewelry.Shop, Rental.Cars, Mens.Clothing, Body.Art, but .web does not make many good hacks, maybe Spider.Web and WorldWide.Web lol, it is more like .com and .net than .cars, .art and .clothing, but because it is not as specific it is more versatile than these others. Like I have posted before I can barely give away airfares.tv but airfares.com would be millions, airfares.web makes more sense than airfares.tv, and airfares.clothing makes no sense at all.
I bring all this up because of this pitch I read at ArtSiteNames.com regarding the new .art TLD. The argument is that .com is meaningless and the new TLD’s mean something, but that argument doesn’t really hold water with .web like it does with .art or .plumbing, sure web has a meaning, we are on the web right now, also known as the NET, what we are not on is the com, but that hasn’t mattered, meaning has not made .net more successful than .com, not even close. I agree meaning means something, but so far it has not been the determining factor in an extensions success or failure (.mobi, .asia, .biz, .name, .info), and so far none have had much of an impact on the value or prestige of a .com as far as I can see. Anyway here is the new TLD pitch from ArtSiteNames.com:
Why Is The .Art gTLD a Good Thing?
For the last few years, there has been a shortage of good domain names. This is not because the internet is full of amazing websites. Many opportunists purchased the best domain names, and left them parked, or created spammy websites in the hope of selling them later for a huge sum. As a result, many businesses and organizations were left with little chance of obtaining a good domain name, unless they were willing to shell out thousands.
The release of the new top level domains will turn all this on its head. Businesses and organizations will have an excellent choice of domain names. If they operate on a local level, they will be able to choose a geo domain, and if they sell to people around the world they can have a domain name related to their type of business or cause.
Isn’t It Important to Have a .COM?
The only reason .COM is so popular is because it has been around for so long. And when you compare it to the new domains, it is meaningless. The new domains will enable more competition, and the internet will start to lose parked and spam based sites, as those holding on to .COM domains realize that businesses no longer need to pay a fortune for them.
This is an amazing opportunity for businesses and the internet as a whole. Potential customers searching the Internet will be able to identify what you offer, just by looking at your domain name. And if you operate an area specific business and you choose a geo domain name, searchers will immediately recognise your domain name as local. As time goes by and people begin to identify with the new domains, having a .COM will not be important at all.
It’s like a specificity vs versatility thing? It’s an interesting contemplation right? I mean it seems the more specific a .com is the better, so we strive for specificity, but the .com part is a given, it does not have to mean anything specific, it is versatile, .tv, .art, .xxx are not, so the left of the dot has to fit with the right of the dot with these and many others, which is why airfares.tv is not wanted, the left doesn’t fit with the right.
So the theory here is that in the future successful domains will need to have more meaning than .com provides, they will need specific meaningful left right combinations, based on this it will be interesting to see how .web does, because it is predicted to have as much success as any other new TLD because of it’s non specific versatility, and I like it too, which is why I already lost money on it, lol…
.web(broad) will have more registrations than .art(limited) but is it going to have more widespread recognition?
It will make more money but will people confuse it with .net?
Good article Mark, and yes I agree about the older alt extensions getting some pick up, not for bad or even average names, but for excellent keywords. If people who are pro new gtld like .art and .web then that brings .tv,.me,.co,.pro and .info into the conversation. They all have meaning so if a small business is getting pitched on a new gtld maybe they could be interested in one of those established extensions.
Sorry but I don’t agree, I look at the new gTLD’s from an seo point of view because I work in SEO and so that’s the way my brain looks at domains and so on…
Now from an seo point of view most people believe that .com is the best and some times only option for a domain you want to push and brand for a few reasons:
1. Its – as mentioned in the article – known by everyone
2. Its the first extension everyone enters at the end of a domain when trying to get to a site directly via the url bar or by searching for one by google.
3. You average store owner or small business owner will likely not know about gTLD’s let alone all the other extensions as your average person only knows about .com and a few other top levels at best (as your non-domain friends and family…)
That’s just a few basic points I’m sure most people will know off and I’m sure I could give more, but I don’t want to put too big a downer on things 😉
I’m not a hater of these new domains or anything, I just wouldn’t hold my breath (or spend my cash) on anything too early because IMHO I don’t see them being very successful – which is a shame, but that’s just life so we will have to wait and see, and I do hope some do work out and become successful like .shop and so on which could be very good IMO…
It’s the stupidity for anyone to say there is a shortage of domains such as the art post.
However, there is no shortage of cheapskates and anti-capitalists who use words like “speculator” instead of “investor”, as that post shows. It shows how they feel about investors and what they think of investors, which is that they are scum of the earth.
If you want to open up a ice cream shop you can pay a few thousand to get a prime leased spot (and you will have to pay real money)just like you do in .com.
Conversely, you can open up a ice cream shop at the edge of a National Forest with no houses or traffic in sight and advertise the hell out of it and cross your fingers (think .info, .biz, etc…. and the new TLDs). If you did this because you said the city’s rent or building purchase price is outrageous, then you are simply an idiot in most cases like this.
The new TLDs are for crybabies or cheapskates or both, and for registries to make money at the expense of the public idiots, in most cases.
You can buy Manhattan real estate in .com now at reasonable prices and watch it’s value go to the moon in the next 20 years or you can buy land in the desert in Utah with no minerals that will be worth relatively the same in 20 years.
Your choice.
there’s long way to go before the value of .com drops. In my country in India even if i advertise my business as “something.in” , people go for “something.com” .
Why? because some people who doesn’t know about internet domains knows only one extension . i.e “.com” .
I don’t agree regarding the .com loosing value. Behold .co which makes much more sense to companies cz its been used to reference company decades before there was even internet, and yet still companies capitalize on the .com version. I think you’re over optimistic about people’s nature and memory-span. Humans are behavioral by default mode, they still fight religious wars even now this late in history and the old always wins over the new…
Think the whole intro of these new gTLD’s is a giant mess… that being said – the only one i think has a shot is .web and the reason i say that is b/c it’s the only one that actually makes sense to me for a few different reasons.
One of those reasons is b/c it is logical to my brain and if i saw a URL served in Google that said Keyword dot web i might be inclined to click… it is also short… and similar to .com/.net in the # of letters. Mobile is now… and .online, .travel, .luxury etc. etc.. just feel way too long and therefore clumsy and ugly to me.
I won’t be speculating too much until i know the pricing of .web, but i might grab a few .web b/c i think it will have a lil traction… and might wind up being comparable to a .net in value down the road a bit?
So far .net is assumed as a .com replacement probably and that’s why sales of tld are low last years.
But with new tlds and especially .web that is similar probably .net will get an identity finally, in other words and independence.
In my opinion .net is kinda more generic and catchy than .web
Time will show of course
for people who only want a domain name to put on a business card or stationary then dot anything will do. why would a local icream shop need a killer domain or tld to sell its products to a captured audience, in this case it is real life location that matters.
for people who need to be recognized online like real estate agents then dot com is essential.
even if they release dot real estate or dot realty or whatever there will still be a primary need for dot com for this type of business.
can you imagine a scenario where there is dot(real estate,realty,realtor,homes,mls, etc, etc)how would anyone know where to look for anyone.
from my perspective the only thing all these new tld’s will create is confusion for the masses and dollars for the few the registrars.
proceed with caution
I think that the new gtld’s are incredibly dumb and will surely fail. Stay with .com. That’s all I have to say.
May I also add that I like the headline. Unfortunately, a lot more money will soon be lost, but thanks to posts like this, these folks cannot say they have not been warned of the foolishness associated with gtld investment and registration.