Will You Invest in gTLDs?

When new gTLDs become publicly available (probably in 2013 from what I’ve heard and read), there are going to be many changes in the domain space. I really don’t know ultimately what’s going to happen to the aftermarket, but I’ve always sought to be flexible with my business, buying when I sense opportunity.

Out of curiosity, right now, do you anticipate that you will invest in gTLD domain names? I’m not referring to buying or investing in a registry, but rather, purchasing domain names in the new extensions? I know that many readers don’t care about gTLD domain names, but I am wondering if that means you won’t invest given the opportunity.

I invite you to discuss in the comment section.

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

27 COMMENTS

  1. Just a few years ago there was a person who made over a million dollars in one year selling land in a virtual world. Soon after everyone was a virtual land baron. Then the virtual world hosting company threw up a few more servers and the market tanked. The new gTLDs feel like deja vu all over again.

  2. If .xxx couldn’t / wouldn,t / didn’t take off as it’s looks like kind of a failure thesedays what are the chances any other new tld will?
    So looks like investing in any of those won’t make much sens

  3. Not likely. It’s too much really. I’d rather get in late on a new extension than try to guess right to get in early. Just too many tlds to “invest” when there are other proven investments out there without the guesswork. I think most registries will be successful because endusers will buy one-offs enough to make a profit. I don’t think it’s a great place for domainers to drop cash, unless they have some special knowledge. Really how do you choose. Lots of domains will sound great but that’s just not going to be special anymore unless a tld becomes special like .com.

  4. As in the past, I predict the heavy hitters will make a clean sweep of all the keywords and leave a few crumbs for the little guys to pick up afterwards. I think it’s about relevance and how a particular extension is used, so yes they’re will still be opportunities for the little guy’s. I think certain categories of extensions will be successful, but will take a long time for the general public to adopt. Some like .Cloud, .App, .Game, and .GmbH will be successful from the outset. So to answer your question, yes I plan on investing in some new gTLD’s, but very selectively.

  5. “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” 😉

    Stick to dot com the other extension are usless… As, i had invested in .mobi,.co, tv. The only roi is from .com

  6. Aah…the numbers tell the whole story. At the dawn of the internet and .com, the brave few would have experienced the same skepticism.

    No one will ever be sure but what we can all count on is a brand new day for the world of domaining when the new gTLDs are released.

  7. In addendum to my comments above and something that everyone should be considering as part of their long term investment strategy: I would drop any domains other than premiums in the lesser extensions. Such as .Co, .Biz, .US, etc,. Once the flood of new domain extensions is released, anything but premium domains in these extensions will depreciate in value rapidly..

  8. I just don’t see the new gTLDs thriving (especially near-term)

    .Net has been around since 1985 and majority of businesses and individuals view it as a ‘backup’ to the .com when looking for a domain.

    To the majority of interest users the .com is the default in their minds — why would anyone serious about building anything online want to risk all their time and $$ using a new gTLD that nobody has ever heard of?

    The only winners will be the registrars getting $$ from all the speculators.

  9. The big money is going to be made by the registries.
    There will also be huge money lost as well.

    As an investor I will pass. Right now extensions like .INFO (8M) and .CO (2M+) have a lot of registrations and virtually no secondary market. There is limited awareness, credibility, and usage in these extensions.

    I will be mainly sticking to the Big 3 + ccTLD.

    Brad

  10. I would imagine “if you build it, they will come.”—meaning, design a site that is worthwhile with any extension and the generic one might become valuable, otherwise the new extensions will be valueless.

  11. The question is flawed.

    You mean Will you speculate in gTLDs?

    Registering a gTLD is a highly speculative gamble, not an investment.

    Like saying will you invest in the number 15 at the Roulette table?

    Odds are a long shot that you will win.

  12. @ Elliot

    If you end up owning a few of the top keywords as the second level domains in a certain gTLD and that certain gTLD becomes hot then you are all set. So now all you have to do is to guess as to what gTLDs might become popular and what second level domains within those gTLDs might become the most desirable. The only problem is that this guessing game is going to become very difficult when you consider the sheer number of New gTLDs that are going to come out soon. This whole New gTLD program was designed to give people and businesses more choices, unfortunately domain investing depends on the potential buyer having less choices when it comes to popular and practical domains and thus having to buy a certain domain that you might hold. (just my opinion)

    If I were to invest in New gTLDs I would probably consider getting some of the popular and high paying keywords within the top City TLDs like:

    homes.chicago

    mortgage.losangeles

    lawyer.boston

    loans.nyc

  13. Plenty of good keywords will be reserved for future auction. And rest of the good domains will be sold to some big time domainer right before the release.

    Registrars and those who run the premium domain auction will make the money.

    I’ll stick with investing in .com/.net/.org and .ca.

  14. I think the .whatever extension will not be worth much, unless you get a category killer, like country.music or something. But I think these domains will already be gone by the time the public gets a crack at it.

  15. I don’t see the point in speculating on the new extensions when there is still a lot of opportunities in the .com arena. I’d rather focus my efforts and understand one market.

    That was a long way of saying, ‘no’ I won’t be investing in the new gtld’s.

  16. I emphatically propose to you that the gtld’s will die a horrible, painful, and ugly death. No different from .biz, .aero, .travel, .museaum, .cat, .mobi, .info, .name, .tel, .pro, .jobs,. and probabaly some others too. Oh, wait, there is a difference, those all failed while being officially promoted tlds. Just wait til a private company like donuts or uniregistry takes a shot at overcoming the .COM tidal wave. Ain’t gonna happen.

    gtld = total waste of time, effort and money.

    Move on folks, nothing to see here. Keep renewing those .com’s.

  17. Although the domain name isn’t the be all and end all it is still considered relevant for SEO.

    Although there have been TLD’s on the market for a long time with limited success what is going to change is the sheer volume available.

    The market has never been exposed like this before and the fact that there are soo many more options with great .names I think we will see a mind shift. .mobi, .info, .pro are (to the average punter) here nor there but some of these new ones actually may connect with users better.

    Its like firing a shot gun down a hall way…some of the pellets are going to hit 🙂

    Endless choice will water down the importance of .com as apposed to limited choice. Limited choice makes .com stand out.

    As such yeah I am planning on investing but I plan to find my niche away from the hype, away from the lime light and work my business plan..

    You need to think outside the square as there is no comparison.

  18. Elliott,

    I’m sticking with dot com. After market sales in the other extensions are weak at best. Even dot org and dot net. You just can’t beat dot com in the after market! Now, the other gTLDs are somewhat valuable to people in that space, but for the most part they’re going to be worthless to the majority of us.
    Have a great day! Johnny

  19. I don’t think I’ll touch any. Too much speculation. The public just doesn’t seem interested. There is just no need.

    I don’t know what ICAAN do with their money??? They’re absolutely useless when I’ve requested help or information. Seems very corrupt.

    I’ll stick with my .COM’s, .COM.AU and .CO’s for now (to be honest I don’t touch .NET or .ORG as I have never found them appealing.)

    Scored some gun .COM and .COM.AU in the last 24 hours.
    All hand registered. All OUYA related. Also sold one of my lowest valued .CO’s for $XXXX last week.

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console

    That’s where the money is. Following and anticipating the innovation and product of the future.

  20. There have been plenty of top seo keyword domains available to pre reg. So yes without question. I believe the 2000 ish extensions will simmer all but keyword .coms to a lower domain. This is an exciting second wave, if one is to speculate carefully.

  21. Maybe? In two years time the .com will be the spammers domain as it is so un generic. With the refinement of extensions who is going to want to buy, value or choose between a vague .com to to direct gtld. Once searchability increases in the new doms and filters out the .coms
    The king will be pawned.

  22. Just buy .com’s that are focused on gtld’s…whether gtld domain extensions make it or not you know that .com’s are always going to be there. The opportunity is selling advertising to new gtld promoters or anything that relates to the discussion on gtld’s.

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