Comparing Johnny Football to the New gTLDs

On the drive down to New York City for a daddy / daughter weekend, I listened to Boston sports radio. During one segment, the radio hosts were talking about Johnny Manziel (aka Johnny Football) since the Red Sox recently played in Cleveland, and he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns.

Apparently, Johnny Football has been a main topic of discussion for the Cleveland sports writers since being drafted. The Browns and their fans are hoping he becomes a top tier player, but for now, he’s a rookie, and he is the second QB on the depth chart. Generally speaking, a non-starting player isn’t usually such a big story, but Johnny Football has become a huge storyline because of his background and potential.

During the drive, I thought about a comparison between Johnny Football and the new gTLD domain names.

If you look at Domaining.com, chances are good that a large percentage of the articles will be about the new gTLDs. I enjoy writing about them because there is ample information that allows me to write something unique that others haven’t covered, and I especially enjoy reading and writing about marketing. When I post an article about the new domain names, there are usually more readers who visit than when I post something else, and traffic is obviously the most important thing for a website that relies on advertising. Oftentimes, these articles generate a healthy debate and discussion, and that is always interesting for me.

The new gTLD domain names aren’t close to surpassing .com in registrations or usage. They may or may not ever surpass .com (my bet is they won’t of course). Similarly, Johnny Football isn’t ready to become the starting quarterback for the Browns yet either, and he may or may not become a star player. Some people think he is destined to be a superstar and others believe he doesn’t have what it takes to become a star player.

Only time will tell when it comes to Johnny Manziel’s career and the new gTLD program. For the time being, there is a lot of interest in discussing both because the potential impact is so big.

As an aside, I understand that Manziel had an exceptional college career and that is why he is projected to be an impact player, and the new gTLD program doesn’t really have a track record. I still think it’s an interesting comparison because both are heavily discussed, both have potential to become popular, and both are polarizing topics.

As I mentioned, I am in NYC with my daughter this weekend, so comments may not get approved immediately as usual, and I might not be able to quickly respond to comments.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

24 COMMENTS

  1. I remember a story about a star football player that could throw 70 yard bombs while sitting on one knee. 3rd overall pick. Sure Superstar.

    Who was it? Heath Shuler.

    Bust.

    Don’t believe the hype.

  2. I have seen a lot of ball players that are great in college, even win the heisman. Playing in the pro’s is a totally different game and a lot don’t make it.
    Same for the new extensions

    • I was just looking back on some comments on Johnny Manziel.[AKA]Johnny Football.

      Here we are over a year later and this guy has proven himself as a total loser.
      This guy is a joke.

  3. Among the relatively few already in operation I think .club has potential to be one of the winners. Originally I wasn’t so optimistic about it.

  4. Well, i just saw Johnny Manziel on the news and IMO, he looks a little short to be a QB in the NFL.
    But it has been done, Fran Tarkenton comes to mind.
    Fran Tarkenton, he knew how to get to the outside to get the ball over the front line, he was a scrabbler.
    Now Pat Haden was another story, he was a pocket passer, he was great at USC, but never made it in the pro’s.
    I think of Kurt Warner who was sitting on the bench when Trent Green the starting QB for the rams got hurt on the 1st or 2nd play of the game on opening day, in comes Kurt Warner and the rams never looked back.
    I guess my point is, you never know what could happen, if your willing to take the gamble.
    Same as these DOMAINZZ…

  5. I think there is a lot of skeptics about the new extensions, but one thing is certain… over-time people will become used to the change and feel more comfortable as new websites start to establish with new extensions.

    The marketing companies are going to love it and over the years, we may see a decrease in .com popularity.

    On a side note, Google made changes to exact name domains so perhaps that’s one in the coffin in that regard, but still the new extensions have stirred the domain pot! 🙂 Very exciting for small business and a little scary for the big guys, but it’s a good change in any case.

    Take a look at http://father.support, I saw this site pop up out of nowhere and it’s a good name considering what they stand for and in almost an instant have become a direct threat to the much longer .coms. Who would you visit, the catchy shorter name or the longer older names? No-brainer. 🙂 Happy times ahead fellas!

    • I see your point,and it looks like a good site, but when i type it in on google search, it comes up fathersupportcenter.org, so as of now IMO, it doesn’t recognize the .support unless your aware of the site.

    • Of course, but these extensions are still new. My point is, give it a few years when the extensions become recognized etc… Perhaps even a year.. I have found a lot of the extensions to be indexed so a lot of them are already able to be indexed.

      One problem I noticed already is Bing Ads, you are unable to create an ad as it says invalid URL. So that’s a clear sign that systems all over have to adjust, but once that has happened you’ll see these extensions starting to emerge in traffic results.

      As for father.support perhaps it’s not first place, but I’m watching sites like this and they are climbing. I think after some time they’ll hit number one. Provided they have genuine and relevant conent.

    • The problem is, most of these domainer’s don’t have that long to wait for the business community to accept the new extensions, with the high reg free’s and renewal rates, they need a quick flip or they loose money.
      After paying a few renewals, or on some just one renewal, it take all your profit margin out of the sale.
      If your not one of these corporate domainers that can afford to hold on to these new extensions for a few years until they catch on, then your fucked.
      The thing is you know that these domainers are not just buying one domain name in the new extensions, they are buying a few in each new string. I think at this point, they are hoping that they can flip it to another domainer if they can’t, most of them will have to let them expire.
      Just to let you know, i have not registered one new extension, it’s hard enough to sell the ones that i own.
      The new gTLDs are to high stakes poker for me, i can’t sit at the same table as these corporate domainers, it nice to hear the big sales they make for $200k and then turn down a deal for$100k, but then i have to come back down to earth..

    • I’m inclined to agree with you.

      The high fees are a downside, sadly Donuts TLD’s are rediculous they seem to be milking it something chronic. I would wait until other providers come with cheaper extensions. Just take a look at what Donuts has done with their “premium” names.

      Almost any name with search value is premium, which rubbish names are normal prices. So you’re pretty much better off getting a .com. But that’s Donuts for you. 🙂

      You’re right, domainers can’t wait forever. With the large amount of new ones coming out, perhaps we get some well priced ones.

      🙂

    • “The high fees are a downside”

      That’s one of the reasons why .club appears to be a likely winner. Aside from being a just plain good extension by itself, the fees are close to what you already pay for a .com. That’s called smart marketing by them in my opinion, and I suspect likely to result in both survival and success.

    • And make no mistake, if the fees were ridiculous like some, it would be an epic fail and I wouldn’t even give it a second look. Something tells me they know all about this phenomenon and were wise to go about this as they did with respect to pricing.

    • I fully mate…

      I spent a lot of time looking through premium versus standard names and pretty much every standard name you can find has zero value in terms of search / market. The extension owners seem to be a bit too greedy and blocking, reserving and premium statuses… it’s probably the one thing that will destroy the domain dominance of a particular extension.

      The last thing you want is to be the 1 out of a few hundred owners in a particular extension… even if you have a good name… that extension will have such a small effect compared to the mighty .com’s etc.

  6. Speaking more of soccer… I think the Italy vs England game just aroud the corner is probably going to be the most exciting thing of all lol. My bet is on Italia I love that team.

  7. I won’t be surprised to see Google’s new gTLD (whatever it may be) racking up the largest number of registrations within a few years if it decides to repeat the Gmail story and offers free domain names complete with easy-to-use website template, email addresses etc. Having said that, I still believe .com will remain the most expensive extension.

    • I hope so, the problem still, is finding a end user that see’s the value in a domain name and the business it can bring to there company.
      Keep in mind that 95% of domains that are sold are to other investor’s.
      So we are all looking for that end user in that 5% category that see’s the value in a great domain and is willing to spend a buck or two.
      [This is all just my opinion]
      I don’t consider myself as a domainer, just a fool that buys domains….i hold a trademark on worthlessdomains.com…lol

    • Omg, I can see this around the corner…

      Those who invested a few hundred bucks will hate the idea.. lol. Imagine paying $150 for a .travel and google comes an doffers a free name for .travels. LMAO!

  8. As a (forever down & out sports fan) Clevelander & professional spectator of domai trends – I concur completely. Great analogy. The one thing worth adding: with proper nurturing and management – either have SUPERSTAR potential. With little or no management (as both seem to currently have at the moment) – like all trends, the only legacy they’ll leave behind is burn of their pricetags.

    • I agree, CreativeJurist, the long term key will be The Management of the cashflows of these DUM. Many a good player makes a rubbish manager and visa versa !

      ps Elliot – are you coming to ICANN London.If so, can you make our launch party of Dot Advice Registrars.

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