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New gTLDs - Domain Investors Matter!
I don’t know about you but I’m getting really tired of some new gTLD registries treating domain investors as second-class citizens. So how are investors treated in this manner?
It starts with language. There will be statements from registries such as, “We want to see real usage of our extension.” This suggests that domain investors who park a domain or use it for some other purpose aren’t doing so for legitimate business reasons. This is the height of arrogance by the registries!
I want to put registries that speak in this manner on notice that domain monetisation in any form (traffic, selling domains etc.) IS a legitimate business model and to change their disparaging language. In fact, if it wasn’t for the domain investment community many of the registries would be drowning in a bath of red ink……so don’t bite the hand that’s feeding you!
I was recently speaking with a registry and they proudly espoused the fact they had such a large “actual” use of their extension compared to others. When you really think about it what they were saying was that domain investors don’t use their domains. This couldn’t be further from the truth!
Domain investors have the right use their domains in any manner they wish. Because a domain doesn’t have a fancy website doesn’t mean the domain isn’t important for the investor. It could be they are in the middle of a negotiation to sell the domain for a premium, monetising the domain traffic, using it for an email address or plan on building it into a profitable business. That’s the owners prerogative and their own business.
In a few minutes on ntldstats.com you can see just how many domains are parked for each extension. As an investment community we should be ranking each of the registries by their level of parking and say, “These are the registries that have business models that support the domain investment community. Avoid all of the others!”
In fact, there should be an award at NamesCon for the registry that domain investors feel are worthy of their hard-earned cash. The first award should go to .realty that has 99.06% of their domains parked…..by the way, XYZ is a distant 96th in the list. What this shows is that XYZ isn’t the domain investment darling that many people have thought it was. It may have the most domains parked but not as a proportion of the overall number of domains invested.
Let’s look at this in another manner, domain investors don’t need new registries….in fact, that’s the last thing they want as the greater supply puts a downward pressure on sales prices. On the other hand, registries want and need domain investors. They want their cash but there’s one other thing registries really need……domain investors traffic…..it’s through traffic that you can establish a global brand and generate more sales…..think on that for a bit.
New gTLD registries….domain investors are proud of the businesses they have created over the many years before you even existed. They were very happy with the COM, NET, ORG and ccTLD extensions…..so play nice and change your language!
Comments
Hi Michael. Good, thought-provoking post, as always. However, I don't necessarily agree that Registries should necessarily change their language. As a registry, we've always supported the domain investor community, and consider domain investors an essential part of our ecosystem and community. We even built a platform at http://www.Names.club with a program to support brokers and investors. That said, we also are very proud of .CLUB's real usage and definitely tout our actual usage numbers and frequently shine a light on various .CLUB live sites as examples. We also tout this usage to the domain investment community, not because we think they should do anything differently, but rather, we want them to know that there is real end-user demand for .CLUB, and thus there should be end-user demand for names they may invest in. Talking about our usage to domain investors lets them know they are investing into a market where real end-user buyers can be found (such as the $300k end-user buyer a domain investor recently found for "The.club" - which is now a live site being used). We firmly believe that usage is key to the overall success of a top-level domain, including the success of domain investors. We definitely agree with your headline - Domain Investors Matter!
Jeff, I would 100% agree with you.....that's why I said that some registries behave in the matter I outlined. .CLUB is one of those registries that has ALWAYS been very proud of both the usage of the extension by both the domain investor community AND wider businesses. I think this is one of the reasons why .CLUB is so successful and will continue to grow....the team has an all inclusive mindset that embraces all usages of the extension.
The names.club venture that was outlined at NamesCon is a fantastic innovation and clearly displays .CLUBs desire to support other registries and domain investors in a unique way. You should be congratulated for the effort.....watch this space for a blog post :-)
I have never heard before about: There will be statements from registries such as, “We want to see real usage of our extension.”
I suggest to stick with Donuts and Radix domains..
They have way to high renewal prices.