Obviously the biggest domain story of 2011 is that ICANN has finally approved their new gTLD program.
Now it will be some time before any new tld hits the market, most likely 2014. The exception to this is .xxx which got approved on its own.
ICM registry, the .XXX registry, has announced the preliminary timeline for launch of .XXX.
The registration process will take place in 3 big steps:
Sunrise: as from September 2011
Sunrise A : – The members of the adult industry from within the sponsored community (holders of a pornographic website or people operating within the adult sector industry) and the registered trademarks holders or intellectual property rights owners.*
The members of the pornographic industry who don’t own a registered trademark but who already have an identical domain name under another extension. They will have to ask the equivalent of their domain name under .XXX.
Sunrise B: block of .XXX domain name by trademark owners from outside the sponsored community
Landrush : registration for all the members of the sponsored community. *
General Availability should begin in November.**
So there will be a flood of new tlds on the market, along with data that time spent on apps outpaced the web for the first time.
According to new statistics from analytics firm Flurry, the average mobile user now spends 9% more time using mobile apps than the Internet. That’s 81 minutes per day for mobile apps versus 74 minutes per day spent surfing the Web (both desktop and mobile).
So will the small domainer be overwhelmed with too many things going on at once ? I think they will be overwhelmed. Not enough money to keep up with every new tld, not enough time to read everything that comes out. In addition to reading you have to know the agenda of the writer. Someone like Michael Berkens, has great interest in the new gTLD program. He plans on providing a consulting service to them at www.rightofthedot.com. In no way should you not read his blog, but know he has a vested interest.
The .com will be a stronger king speech you will read and hear a lot too. IMO dilution is dilution.
For example: Let’s say you live in a town with 500 other residents. You own the only restaurant. Everyone believes you are a great cook and the service and staff is the best. You serve 500 dinners a night.
Now someone comes along and opens a taco stand, it is nowhere near your quality. But a few people decide to check it out one night and a few continue to try it each night. So now you are serving 490 dinners while the taco stand serves 10. You are still king of the town, but you have been diluted. Spin it anyway you like. But if you had all 500 dinners a night and now serve between 450 to 490 you are diluted.
The small domainer needs to focus now more than ever. Schilling, Berkens, Ham etc… can afford to take chances and lose money. The small domainer cannot. So start really looking at your portfolio get rid of the junk.
Best of luck to everyone.
Hybrid Domainer.
I’m glad that you are fore warning the small domainer. Too many people losing too much money while the big boys are talking up the traffic game and the notion of “domainer rights”. Too many Shahs – claiming to be shepherds – selling oil to people without cars.
RightOfTheDot is marketing b$.
Smart article,I already feel overwhelmed.
Do not be overwhelmed. No need to fear. If you need a clue, just look at Rightofthedot.com. It’s main focus is this new gtlds. But it ends in .com. So what is it telling us?
I’ve never been big on other than .com but I think most of the tlds apart from .com are going to start falling into the ‘not .com’ bucket once the new tlds come along. Would love to see some examples of the kind of junk you’re getting rid of.
“…just look at Rightofthedot.com. It’s main focus is this new gtlds. But it ends in .com. So what is it telling us? ”
Hey, be fair.
They can’t exactly use a new GTLD yet, can they.
@John, you are right that the other stuff will probably look dated and stale. I have dropped some .nets John that were not tier one names but I liked them, never owned many .biz maybe three, renewal coming again and figured why bother ?
The thing is, there are already lots of alternatives to .com but the dilution to .com demand and aftermarket prices has been little I would say. Most people want a .com as a first choice and are wiling to pay up for it. Good analogy, however, there is some truth in what you say.
One problem with your analogy though is that you use a town of 500 people – in the internet and domain world, that town is still growing as more and more people come online, and developing countries get internet access. A better analogy would be a town of 500 people that is growing by 25 people per month. That good restaurant will be getting a higher percentage of the food business from all the new people that are moving in.
We will only know a few years after these new gtld’s have launched if they have really changed anything.
But .biz, .org, .info, .me. .co, and .net still don’t command anywhere near the demand and prices as .com. People only use those because they can’t get the .com version of the word(s) they want.
Country codes are an exception, (.de .ca .co.uk) they are a good fit if you want that local identity.
Cointernet.com forwards to Cointernet.co. No matter how much marketing is done or how you dress it, or how many millions of domains you sell, serious brand protection involves using .com. Missing a .com is like wearing the wrong size of shoe in one foot. There will always be that nagging feeling in the back of your mind that you are missing something if you do not have a .com. Without a .com, the entire life cycle of your business or brand is spent on marketing.
I have a gTLD proposal for ICANN. How about .FAIL to accurately descibe what is about to happen to the new extensions in 2014.
Stay with .COM — it is the only one that has proven itself year after year after year.
After much thought and numerous rounds of mental chess with my Mensan friends, here’s my take…
In 2014 (or later!), the new gTLD’s will be rolled out.
They will be a huge failure — as were .Aero, .Travel, .Museum, .Jobs, .Mobi, .Biz and .Coop. Hey, did you know that the extension .CAT has been available since 2005? Who knew? Go ahead and Google it. I’ll wait. As such, can someone perhaps explain to me why it’s not popular with feline lovers? Knowing this, do you really believe that .DOG or .PET will do any better? Highly unlikely, my friends.
I truly believe that those who are foolish enough to invest in gTLD’s will lose their cybershirts.
As it becomes obvious that the gTLD concept is flawed, the laws of supply and demand will kick in and the value of a properly-spelled, generic .COM will absolutely need to skyrocket — even beyond what they are today. Mortgages on a premium piece of oceanfront domain will be common. Why would they not?
Just as landlords now rent out commercial bays in shopping plazas, so too shall domainers rent out their precious domain names to entities who want to monetize the traffic and benefit from the .COM prestige and credibility — something the in cohesive gTLDs will always lack.
There you have it, my predictions. Take ‘em or leave em, but it seems pretty obvious to me.
Allow me to succinctly summarize everything for you: keep renewing those .COM’s. If you let them drop, you probably won’t be able to afford to buy them back in a few years.