Taking the .US plunge

[Duke]

I have been thinking about developing a .US site as a trial balloon to see how a site with that extension would fare in the real world. I have been looking for a good name on a subject I am familiar with and would like to develop content on.

I have gotten a 3-letter dictionary word that I think is perfect for what I want to do - especially since I am a wine fan.

It is cru.us. Cru is a familiar term to wine drinkers (well, it is if they drink something a notch or two above Thunderbird or Ripple anyway!). Cru gets over 1000 searches on Overture and a Google search yields over 660,000 entries. I'm really surprised this one was unregistered this long after the .US launch.

Cru is a class of wine (the word literally means growth). Grand Cru means great growth, Premier Grand Cru is first great growth. The word originated in France of course (where cru also means means a vineyard or wine producing region).

I want to use the domain as a portal to American wines, highlighting the top vintners and regions across the U.S. Of course I would sell it if the price was right but I think it is too early to accurately set values for .US names.

Has anyone else developed a .US of their own yet? Any advice or comments on the value of the idea? Some may think it is a waste of time to develop .US this early in the game. If you're one of them let me know - you might save me a lot of wasted development hours! I guess rather than a dollar appraisal I am looking for an appraisal on the merits of the idea.

[David G]

Originally posted by Duke of Earl I have been thinking about developing a .US site as a trial balloon to see how a site with that extension would fare in the real world...Has anyone else developed a .US of their own yet? Any advice or comments on the value of the idea? Some may think it is a waste of time to develop .US this early in the game. If you're one of them let me know - you might save me a lot of wasted development hours! I guess rather than a dollar appraisal I am looking for an appraisal on the merits of the idea.

There is no differenece between developing a .US name vs any other extension, is there?

I have some active .us sites. They can and do get ranked in the search engines the same as any other ext. The SE's really do not care from what I can tell what ext is used.

The only negative to .us sites is almsot zero type-in traffic. I think 95% or more goes to the dot-com. This is also true for net org info biz and others, they all get almost no type-ins.

However, I think there is more hope for .US type-ins than any other extension, but that may be some time in the future before it gets any worthwhile type-ins.

I don't think it's a waste at all if you develop a .us site. I think it's pretty good you're trying a .us out, I've got just a few, literally about only 4 or 5 but they're pretty high profile names that I'm waiting to use. I feel the .us is an excellent new extension and it'll be used a great deal in the next few years. As far as value on the idea, it's great. Just my opinion.

[Duke]

There is no differenece between developing a .US name vs any other extension, is there?

Of course, there is no difference in the actual dvelopment process. I was wondering if those who have done it felt it has worth your time to develop your .US (given the other factors you addressed, no type-ins, etc). I have some .com projects that would certainly pay off sooner, but I am curious about how well a good .us site might fare. I would also like to see some URL's to developed .us sites that you think are particularly good.

I guess what I am really trying to do is get an early reading on the domain's potential. I wouldn't mind throwing a few hundred dollars at good root names (which are more widely available in .us than any other important extension) and holding them for a few years if I become convinced it will eventually fly. It is too late to get a lot of really good names for reg fees in any other extensions.

[URLtrader]

I love technology and was able to register Genetics.us and
Nanotech.us (out of about 20 one word names I tried for) . I also got SexClinic.us and DentalSurgeon.us

If anyone wants to develop sites at above addresses , send me
an email at URLtrader@aol.com

Thanks.

[rainmand]

I've developed IrvineHomes.us and TustinHomes.us. Each city contains many important communities and I've registered each coummunity and point them to their matching city. For example, Turtle Rock is a large community that's located within Irvine so I registered TurtleRockHomes.us and point it to IrvineHomes.us. I've increased my search engine capabilities because of the community URL's. Each web site has a realtor associated with it and the realtor takes the leads and converts them into customers. My responsibility is to create the sites and drive traffic to them and then the realtor takes over after a customer submits a request to the site for information (referred to ad a "lead"). I receive 50% of every home that's sold or bought. I also receive 20% of each loan that's originated. The realtor represents a lot more customers and increases their income. So far it's working out okay.

[DNS Kidd]

Duke - I have great expectations for .us.

From a reseller position, a .us holder doesn't have to convince the world that .us is great, only convince one name buyer at a time.

.us as a level 3 has been around almost as long as .com/net/org.

It just never got the speculation attention, since you could register only one name per organization. .us as a ccTLD has been available for 8 months. Hardly out of the starting gate.

[GiantDomains]

Since this post, duke of earl has regged all the dot-us domains. Sorry, they are all gone

[Duke]

Originally posted by doberry
Since this post, duke of earl has regged all the dot-us domains. Sorry, they are all gone

That is not quite accurate - I missed 3 (that I know of).

Agree with you DNS Kidd.

Nice use of .us rainmand. I think you are setting up a home network that will be very successful for you down the line.