If there’s one thing in life I know. Just when you think you understand how things work, they don’t. And just after you start making good cash, things change. Every day I read do this, do that. This is the safe play, this is going to be junk. The only thing I do know is some will be right and some will be wrong, but nobody really knows what they Internet is gong to look like in 10 years but to not explore a major change like these new gTLDS would be a mistake.
There are those that think the new tlds are going to be chaos and the opposite side that thinks avoid and stick with dot com. I actually agree with the two domain investment approaches somewhat. Frank Schilling is putting his money in the expansion (because he’s got plenty of money tied up in dot coms) and Rick Schwartz is most likely correct in his “if you have to pick one, pick dot com”. But guess what? You don’t have to pick one. Both have made already made their millions so their approach has no direct correlation to my domain wealth building strategies. I am a decade and millions of dollars behind. I am going to explore all options and make my decisions as they come. But it does remind me of a different time in technology.
When TV added tens and then hundreds of channels back in the day, the buzz sounded the same as it does now. All these new choices of channels with most of them junk. Many says it was ruining television. Others loved the choices. As time passed channels came and went. Many channels had terrible programming but as it’s played out most have found their niche and built some kind of audience. Those that didn’t aren’t on the air anymore. . The result was was viewers wanted. More choices. The world was no longer forced to watch just ABC, NBC, CBS.
Marketers played different sides as well. There were those that told me that I should stick with the major nationals because that’s what people knew before and they would have the most people. There were others that you get an incredible deal on the new cable channels for the price. You can target much better because they are geared toward a specific niche. “You sell gardening stuff, you need to be on HGTV”. My first thought was, “Will anyone be able to find me if I’m on that little cable channel?”.
It all sounds so familiar doesn’t it? Even after all these years, if you want to reach the most people you stick to the big three, now four with FOX. I’m guessing the same will be with the big three of domains. People have accepted all the cable channels and some have become major players in the entertainment industry. Even without having the audience of the big boys. They are still very profitable. The new gTlds are the cable channels. There will be popular gTlds and there will be failures. Much will depend on the marketing and acceptance that is achieved in time. There is one thing for sure, people are going to start buying them and using them. Who knows, if the teens start thinking that dot ninja is cool they could sell millions. We just don’t know. Beanie babies were stupid and had no real value but they sold tens of millions. Marketing and luck was all it took.
People will eventually learn how to read a sign that has these new gtlds and know exactly what it means and how to get there on the internet. Much like I can figure out how to go to A & E even though the channel on my TV may not be the same as yours. Internet users will find out how to get places they want to go. Shane.xyz/godaddycodes will make sense to everyone that sees it in due time. Yes, it will be a bit of confusion in the beginning but you are being naive to think that the world won’t eventually figure it out. It’s not that difficult. If millions of people can figure out how to install wordpress I’m pretty sure the masses can figure out gtld jargon.
Good parallel, Shane. I think the domain world is more uncertain, all because there was a lack of active marketing by the registries of the big three (.com, .net, and .org) up to now. From now on, the 4P marketing pillars will come into play. While .com may remain king, I’m not so sure about .net and other minor players. Nevertheless, I agree with you on domain extensions for niches. BTW, I like your part in DomainSherpa too. Keep it up!
http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/half-innovative-companies-also-invested-new-gtlds-0640782
Don’t think it’s a good parallel.
With 3 channels, you had 3 choices.
With .com, you have millions of possibilities with what goes before the .com
Public television is limited in what they could show, laws, advertisers etc. Cable you have more freedom and there was a demand for it. And you can make a very good case that some cable shows are better than network television.
That’s not going to happen with these new TLDs. Not going to supplant .com
These new TLDs are more like school plays, community theater, than new cable channels.
There is no real end user market for these.
Johnnie,
And you think the new gTLDs aren’t going to give you more freedom? Nobody is saying it is going to supplant dot com. The world is growing fast. There will certainly be a user market. I guarantee the people buying the new TLDs are bright people/companies. Google, Amazon.Mr. Frank. I do appreciate your comment and yes I am probably off in my comparison but to dismiss these as not needed or wanted is just as off.
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It works Johnnie
Just going to copy and paste to save some time:
3 channels – 3 choices.
.com, millions of possibilities with what goes before the .com
And there was a demand for cable since public/network television is limited because of law/advertisers. Cable, you can do a lot more. And you can make a great case that some shows on Cable are better than network. You’ll never be able to make that case for new extensions being better than .com. So these new extensions, more like school plays or community theater.
I’m also curious how people think there is going to be enough quality development, where the general public actually gets exposed to these extensions, when most of these will fall in domainer’s hands, so there won’t even be a chance for that development. I don’t expect domainer behavior to change. You’ll have the same issues you do with .com but on a greater scale.
I don’t think they’re that bright. Bright people think long term.
If we’re talking .com. You can get creative and pay reg fee for a domain. Or find a decent one for low x,xxx.
Long term, it’ll cost more getting people to remember 2 sides of the . instead of 1. Add on confusion.
If you’re talking great keywords. You can already get those in the already existing alternative extensions on the cheap. Just check out GoDaddy Auctions any typical day.
I don’t see any benefit to rolling with one of these new extensions, when you can just get a .com. Current businesses already have their .com and it works just fine.
So this would be geared more to new businesses. Again, if they can even get it out of a domainer’s hand in the first place.
Shane,
I totally agree with you. People will figure it out eventually. People are so smart that it took them 3 or 4 years to get them used to phone and, now who I USED TO hate browsing on phone, PREFER, to use phone to browse net most of the time than my laptop.
Now I use phone to do things 90 percent of time, only use laptop when i am writing emailing or doing research for college or so.
You are right, people will change, in few years, it will be a different game.
Thanks for the great article.
Shane I think this is a great comparison. There is really no other media expansion in history that compares to this. I think it’s interesting that even a pro like you can see both sides of the argument. Once you figure out which side is correct let us all know so we can move forward 🙂
I like the comparison and your comments. I’m following gTLD news and there are variety of opinions. But, one thing for sure like TV channels some will gain their market place and some will logout and disappear.
It’s also important to note that only one third of the world is online and when it grows new extensions may play an important role.
Further, if people and search engines start preferring a good left of the dot then right of the dot may not matter much.