It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you, but I don’t have a great deal of experience with ccTLD domain names, aside from seeing them in my travels. I know that Ron Jackson breaks out the ccTLD sales from other domain names in his sales reports, and there are frequently solid sales reported (ie $40,000 last week for SC.TV).
If you are interested in ccTLD domain names, you will want to read an article on The Moz Blog that was published this morning. Eli Schwartz, Online Marketing Manager for SurveyMonkey, published this: “International SEO Study: How Searchers Perceive Country Code Top-Level Domains“.
In the article, Schwartz discusses some research conducted to get user data regarding ccTLDs. The results weren’t all that surprising to me, but it’s always good to see your thoughts validated.
If your domain investment portfolio contains ccTLDs, it is important to read articles like this to stay informed of research pertaining to this class of domain names. In a sales negotiation (or on a domain name for sale landing page), you may even have the opportunity to cite the research shared in this report to help close a deal or justify your price.
Every week, I see solid ccTLD sales reported, and I know that there is a strong aftermarket for quite a few extensions. I might not be able to offer personal feedback on ccTLD investments because I lack them in my own portfolio, but so long as users trust and understand the ccTLD extension, websites may benefit from using them.
Check out the Moz blog to read more about Schwartz’s research and findings. I’d also be interested in hearing about your anecdotal information about the ccTLD aftermarket and how you think ccTLD domain names might be impacted by the new gTLDs. My opinion is that the more that people focus on the extension, the better for ccTLD domain name investors.