I have changed my mind on the new tlds over the last few months. I originally thought there were just too many and I wouldn’t be a part in any way other than effecting my domain buying and selling strategy. But as a businessman I think they are fantastic. Fantastic because they represent a business challenge that will play out right in front of our eyes. A good businessman loves the challenge of building a business as much as the rewards. Whether it be getting bought out in the initial phase, getting paid out in the auction phase, or once approved, building the brand, this is going to be a fun “game”. People have different opinions on whether the new tlds are good or bad but one sure thing will be happening over the next few years. There is going to be a ton of marketing, brand building, and boatloads of cash being spent.
These new tlds represent a chance to watch brand building at its finest. Once approved there is going to be a massive push to get the brand in front of the prospective users. They are going to have to answer the giant question. Why should I use this extension versus another? There are a lot of ways to answer this question and undoubtedly money will be spent to answer it. We’ve witnessed huge marketing campaigns in the past, the most recent being dot co but the new tlds are going to be completely different.
There are way too many new tlds for the domain investor market to have much effect. Dot co was all over us. Advertising on almost every domain blog. They became the alternative to dot com. But now there are tons of alternatives. That marketing strategy is gone. I still believe many of the new tlds will be, and already are, advertising on our sites (maybe not mine but DNW, The Domains, and Elliot) because some will still target our community trying to build a resale market. And most likely a few will develop. Which ones are completely anyone’s guess. But the real money will be spent on the target market.
If I ran a popular gay blog I would be ecstatic about dot gay. Political sites will love dot republican and democrat. Auto sites, dot car. You get the point. Those communities are the perfect target market for their new product. Any community that can make their product cool and popular is going to be targeted. Facebook and Twitter won’t be it. Reddit and Techcrunch will. There is going to be millions of dollars up for grabs for these sites and if I ran one I would already be reaching out. Vice versa for the new tlds owners.
While I’m a domain investor I really am just a businessman. And this businessman is excited about watching the strategies and implementation of all these marketing plans. There is going to be a lot to learn from both the positive and negative results. And of course I’ll be pointing them out.
Nice post Shane. I am tuned in also, it will be interesting to watch it all play out imo…
“Dot co was all over us. Advertising on almost every domain blog. They became the alternative to dot com.”
Shane you made quite an impressive turn around.
This is what you wrote in back May 10, 2012
“If you buy a dot co you are settling because you couldn’t get, afford, or want to pay for the dot com. Nothing wrong with this, but to say anything different would be naive or biased.”
I’m pleased to see that you have different thoughts on this .co extension
or DO U ?
Rich,
I completely agree with the statement from back then. Completely. Dot co has made itself an alternative. Something dot cc and dot cm couldn’t do. Due to a lot of marketing they have filled the gap of domains needed to fill all the new people coming online. But there will plenty of choices soon. I would not want to have a large dot co portfolio going into the new tlds. But that is my opinion. I feel the same way about dot net. I am still buying quite a bit of dot coms
“If I ran a popular gay blog I would be ecstatic about dot gay”
if ?
Adam,
Busted
Not to mention any of them is going to have the slightest chance of even approaching the top spot in GoDaddy’s list of available extensions.
I agree that dot CO, or other prior extensions differ from the coming deluge of extensions, in the sense that the past events were in singularity, and this time, well, it’s insane; but that is exactly what is going to make it worse. Dot CO, DOT Mobi, etc all had the stage to themselves. There is a reason why sand is cheaper than gold. The latter is rarer. To the average person, ICANN is about to throw a bucket, no scratch that, a truck load of sand in their face! I don’t know what type of domainer will venture to buy any of these new gTLDs as an investment. Not even a noob would make such a mistake. These things would have novelty, and perhaps, security value, protective ones even, but as an investment? I don’t know…
It is going to be funny watching domainers that normally buy names due to age, extension (.COM), and sundry, embrace these things. As a matter of fact, these inchoate names would be direct opposite of their usual recommendations.
Now, let’s examine them with variables in mind. Many new gTLD hawkers, peddlers, and costermongers, will want us to be compelled by the unknowns. However, in most equations, they can still be resolved correctly without the unknown variables. We all do it mentally on a daily basis as we go about tackling the rigors of life.
For example:
8x = 64
Sure x is an unknown. But we can solve this simply by looking at a multiplication table, a cheat sheet of sorts. Or simply determining which number you multiply by 8 to get 64. Or:
8x = 64
8.x = 64
64 ÷ 8 = x
x = 8
There, we now know the variable is 8. The same thing is applicable to determining what will happen when a bunch of extensions are thrown out there by ICANN. We know what will happen. We don’t have to wait for it to unfold before our eyes. That is where I disagree with Cultra. Besides, it’s happened many times before. The latest being with .CO
This time it is going to be .CO multiplied by .Mobi multiplied by .travel multiplied by .aero multiplied by .job recurring. This time it is going to be more complicated, true. There would be some inverse operation, which is an operation that reverses the effect of another operation. But we still know the variables, i.e the unknowns, since addition and subtraction are inverses of each other, just like division and multiplication are inverses.
I’m with you Shane. .co’s success rests upon their excellent marketing drive and extensive retail outlets. The product itself is always my concern (i.e. sovereign risk). If a new gTLD makes sense with its extension(like .me), has a competitive price, extensive retail outlets, and active promotion, it may succeed too. So, .co may face very strong competition. My 2c.