My Take on New gTLD Registration Numbers

Elliot Silver
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39

I’ve been following along on the reported numbers of registrations for new gTLD domain names. Earlier this morning, I shared my thoughts on what  sunrise registrations  might mean.  According to Domain Incite, as of March 5, there were just over 200,000 domain names registered in the new gTLD extensions (As Kevin comments below, this figure doesn’t include brands protected with Donuts’ DPML).

This is a lighter number than I anticipated would be registered by this time. My anticipation isn’t based on anything more than a gut feel I had along with an assumption that there would be more companies looking for “brand protection.” I don’t know for sure if this number is lower than the domain registries anticipated and projected, but I have a feeling the registration numbers aren’t as strong as many hoped.

Despite this, I don’t think these

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My Take on What Light Sunrise Numbers Mean

Elliot Silver
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1

A week ago,  Calzone shared some information about  the sunrise registration numbers for new gTLD registries. In the report, Calzone shared that “by any measure, the rolling average of 115 Sunrise domains per TLD falls far short of what many new Registries included in their revenue forecasts.”

Although it might be obvious to many people, I want to share why I believe this may make things more challenging for the new gTLD registries and how this may change things a bit. I certainly don’t believe these numbers are predictive of doom for the registries, but this adds a level of difficulty to break even and reach profitability.

I believe sunrise registrations serve two important purposes for the new gTLD registries.

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Michele Neylon Shares .HOST Marketing Tactic

Elliot Silver
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13

Dot Host

Yesterday morning, I shared some thoughts on new gTLD registries doing tradeshow marketing to let their targeted audience know about the new domain names that are (coming) on the market. I want to share how Radix did some great tradeshow marketing at the recent Parallels Summit in New Orleans.

According to Michele Neylon, founder and director of Blacknight Internet Solutions, an Ireland-based hosting company and domain registrar, Radix used an excellent marketing tactic to let hosting companies know about the upcoming launch of the company’s .HOST domain name registry. Here’s what

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Where is Rick Schwartz?

Elliot Silver
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31

I noticed that Rick Schwartz hasn’t posted an article on his blog in over a month. His last post was published on January 27, and it is pretty clear that the graphics he shared were related to domain investors having to make decisions about the new gTLD domain names. Since the article was published, it has become an active, ongoing discussion with over 125 comments to date.

Over the weekend, I reached out to Rick to check in and make sure he’s doing alright since I had not heard from him in a while. I thought perhaps he was on his annual cruise and had taken an extra long vacation. Turns out, he is not on an extended vacation, and all is well with him.

With his permission, here’s what Rick shared about why he hasn’t written anything on his blog for over a month:

“After spending a year and a half articulating all the pitfalls of the GTlds, I decided once they came out, to sit on the sidelines, not say anything so no one can blame me for anything that might happen,  as some already started to do.  The pitfalls, both known and unknown that they are and will be experiencing, will be even bigger and greater than anything I have said so far.  

I am on record and I won’t say another word. I’ll let the numbers and the events speak for themselves.”

New gTLD Registries Doing Tradeshow Marketing

Elliot Silver
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6

Shortly after starting my blog in June of 2007, I wrote about the idea of selling domain names at industry tradeshows, although I never even thought about new top level domain names when writing the article. At the time, I said this:

“Small business owners are accustomed to dealing face-to-face with account representatives from the companies with whom they do business. Much of their business is done with a handshake in person at a tradeshow – especially when opening a new account with a supplier. For the most part, this is impossible to do on the Internet. To many small businesses, learning how to successfully operate with the help of the Internet is a daunting challenge. Why not meet with these business owners in person, make them feel comfortable and win their business? All of this can be accomplished by attending industry specific tradeshows.”

Meeting with business owners at industry specific tradeshows could be a great way for domain sellers to connect with end user buyers. In most cases, this isn’t cost effective since most domain sellers don’t have enough inventory to justify the cost of attending and exhibiting at an industry specific tradeshow. New gTLD registries, on the other hand, have the inventory for targeted marketing efforts like this, and I believe they are beginning to do participate in these events.

Here are a few tweets I found from new gTLD registries that have been participating in tradeshow marketing:

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Share Your Recent New gTLD Purchases

Elliot Silver
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135

Yesterday, I shared some of my recent domain name acquisitions. All of my recent acquisitions have been .com domain names, which is in line with my investment strategy. I shared that I purchased four new gTLD domain names, which are:

  • Silver.Ventures
  • N.Ventures
  • N.Holdings
  • G.Holdings

I don’t have plans to do so yet, but I will most likely purchase a few or several more new gTLD domain names in the near future as interesting roll outs occur. The main issue for me is that I don’t see enough short term opportunity to make enough profit to make investing in the new TLDs worthwhile.

Frankly, I don’t believe that

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