First, for new investors you have to understand that many people (not all) who blog about domains every day have no idea about development but are simply in love with posting.  In fact, they use blogs as outlets to bitch about others, provide personal updates to the readers they think they have and basically just sleep better knowing they told a few people what they did today. Of course, there are exceptions (like Michael Berkens who is not just an experienced domainer and respected legal counsel but also an avid fan of drinking grey goose in a bathing suit somewhere in Costa Rica) but for new investors you really need to understand who is really experienced versus who likes to talk.  In general the amount of time it takes to develop will leave little or NO time to blog so if you see someone’s face re-appear each and every day with silly posts its probably a good idea to think hard about exactly what this person is doing in the domain world which gives him authority on a topic. Is he just addressing his thoughts on topics (so its not actually factual but merely opinon) or do they actually practice what they preach?  If I was starting out my desire would be to learn from those who have developed … not those who have read about it.

I’m not being critical of anybody specific but you see (much like FOX news) people actually believe what they see on a small screen in type. Add some pictures, its more credible and as Chef Patrick (I think) said .. add some sexy women and bingo, people will read anything you have to say.

How does this relate to new TLD’s.

Very much.  I think Berkens and Andrew Allerman wrote about .tel reaching 200,000 registrations – some questioned is this good while others reserved judgment for the count after first renewals.

Let’s revert to .asia, .eu, .info, .us, .biz – almost all of the extensions outside of .com, .net and .org.

Lets be honest – they are ALLL miserable failures (some ccTLD’s not included .. .co.uk one of the great ones)

There are only two groups who will succeed with these names.  First, of course, the registries. They get your money every year. Second, developers … yes, I said developers not domainers.

While some domainers were holding out for ridiculous prices (hey, add 5 zeros and we have a deal) people with real talent basically said seeya and bought another extension and now have sites with great SEO, traffic and revenue.

This is a cycle that happens OVER AND OVER with every new extension.  .NYC will fail – they will all fail for domainers except the handful who get a lucky name or those domainers …. Nope, I mean registries who auction off the premiums with high reserves to (now I say) domainers who will never get their money back.

In theory a .nyc extension is valuable but when it costs millions to get an extension nope – it’s a failure.  Let’s do some math.

There are probably 5,000 names that have any value in a .nyc extension but lets say 10,000.  Even at a high registration price of $100 a year that’s a lousy $1,000,000 in renewal revenue per year and that’s before the split to the registrar, annual license fees etc. Hell, the owners of .nyc extension can’t even promote the brand with this kind of cash.

But see here’s the tricky part.  I think its safe to say that a very high percentage of the initial registrations (which is were the ONLY momentum exists for any of these TLD’s) will be bought by speculators for PPC traffic – THEY ARE not buying to resell but purely for type in traffic.  Since almost none of these new extensions will have ANY type in traffic you betcha … the window to resell (to another domainer) will be limited and closed very quickly hence high lost renewal fees and ultimately another failure.

How does this relate to those who blog.  First and foremost – stop reading about new extensions and how they are great investments and focus your time on reading about development, SEO, online marketing etc.

If you watch the local news for a half an hour you will start believing everything they say – no more than reading blogs from people who are really only trying to sell names day after day.  When .nyc fizzles I am sure they will hype the next .stupid to come along.  Affiliate revenue, quick flips, “quality deals” from a reputable domainer … same shit, different extension.  You are not buying value – you are buying hype.

As for keyword domains.

These are the names developers value more than anything else. .com, .net and .org.  It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out.  Keyword domains will continue to rise because they have development value but stick to the extensions that are proven.

Owning mortgage.me or sexy.nyc is only cool if you have the money to build it otherwise stick to the proven winners – there is no reason, no need and certainly no benefit to your wallet or the internet by trying to reinvent the wheel time after time with new extensions.

They are all failures – and will continue to be time after time.

Some will agree – some will disagree .. but ask yourself … whos a seller and whos a developer??

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