DNPric.es Tracking New gTLD Sales

Elliot Silver
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Although I don’t think aftermarket sales prices is all that good of an indicator of how well a new gTLD extension is doing, I think the DNPric.es approach to tracking the new gTLD domain name aftermarket sales is pretty neat. DNPric.es has a page on its website tracking the aftermarket sales for new gTLD domain names in order of sales volume (by sale value).

When you visit the sale table, you can sort the results by value, volume, alphabetical order, or average price. You are also able to click on the TLD and drill down to see what sold and for what price. For instance, when you click on the .Club link, you can see the 11 domain names that were reported as sold in the aftermarket (all currently brokered by Sedo).

One issue with this table is that it does not

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New gTLD Marketing is What Interests Me Most

Elliot Silver
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I think I’ve made it pretty clear that for better or worse, I am primarily on the sidelines when it comes to the new gTLD domain names. I would rather pay more for good names in a year or two (or longer) than buy new domain names now because I can determine whether they have enough investment value for my company at a later date. At this point, I have no idea whether it will be feasible for a domain investor to make money from the new domain names, so I am not buying many.

To me, the most interesting aspect of the new gTLD domain names is the marketing that registries and registrars are doing to sell their domain names. My background is direct marketing (my education and career), and I find these marketing efforts to be interesting.

We’ve already seen some pretty unique marketing and advertising tactics undertaken by registries and registrars. One example is

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Who is Responsible for New gTLD Marketing?

Elliot Silver
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It is my opinion that in order for the new gTLD domain names to have investment value for domain investors, there need to be companies who use these domain names for their websites. In order for this to happen, end users need to know what the new domain extensions are and why they should choose them over existing TLDs. These end users also need to be convinced that their domain names will be recognized and trusted by their clients and prospective customers.  Educating these end user buyers will require significant marketing efforts.

This leads me to the question: who is responsible for new gTLD marketing?

On one hand, the domain registrars have direct contact with the prospective end user buyers, and they are responsible for suggesting specific new gTLD domain names to potential buyers. On the other hand, the domain registries operate individual gTLD extensions, and to a large extent, each TLD is its own brand that needs to be marketed to prospective buyers and end users.

I reached out to representatives from several domain registrars and new gTLD registries, and I asked them who they think is responsible for the marketing that needs to be done to make consumers aware of the new gTLD domain names. Below, you will find the responses from those who were kind enough to take the time to share their thoughts:

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Luke Webster’s Shaving.club Announced

Elliot Silver
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logoAs you probably know by now, .Club domain names will be available to hand register beginning today. There have been news releases from the .Club registry as well as emails from partner registrars announcing the availability of .Club domain names. I think one of the smarter marketing tactics they  have undertaken is working with Luke Webster on the launch of a new website, Shaving.club, which will go live at some time today.

Many gTLD domain registries have a program like a Founders Club or Pioneers Program  that puts “premium” domain names in the hands of developers at a minimal cost or for free. The registry ensures that one of their domain names is developed, and the registrant gets a domain name at a savings. I think .CO was bolstered by its Founders Program, especially when it came to premium names like T.CO and X.CO, which are widely used today. I think .Wiki will benefit if Wikipedia begins W.wiki, and I think we will see more of this in the coming months.

Luke Webster has found a profitable niche in the shaving business, and I encourage you to watch the informative interview he

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Promote Your New gTLD on a NC License Plate

Elliot Silver
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Companies have been spending quite a bit of money on promoting their domain registries. Frankly, with all of the domain names available and with the number of forthcoming extensions, they really need to spend marketing dollars to promote their extensions.

Abdu Tarabichi of Domainsville is offering new gTLD registry operators a unique way to let people know about their new domain name extensions. According to a tweet he just posted, he will offer up his North Carolina license plate as a medium to promote a gTLD registry. In the photo he shared on Twitter, the .co.com registry is being promoted as an example. The cost for this promotion is $399 a year, and interested companies can connect with him via Twitter.

This is certainly a unique way for a company to market its extension, although it would probably be confusing to others in the short term. Perhaps he can also offer a license plate frame as part of the deal, and that could be used to give more information or an illustration of what the extension means and how it can be used.

Google Treats New TLDs as gTLDs

Elliot Silver
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3

There is a thread in Google Product Forums’ Webmaster Central forum asking about TLDs being treated as generic. Although the question doesn’t specifically appear to be about ICANN’s new gTLD program, it garnered a response from a Google employee who mentioned the new domain extensions.

According to John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, “we currently treat the new TLDs as gTLDs, even if they sound like they may be region-specific (eg .berlin).” This is interesting to note, although I don’t believe it is unexpected. Mueller continued, “If, over time, our analysis shows that they’re clearly limited to only websites from those regions, that might be worth reconsidering. In the meantime, you should be able to set geotargeting manually for these TLDs.”

As you may already know, Google has a

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