Why are WS extensions Dirt?

**Thor King** · 02-15-2008, 11:19 PM

Hello,

A few years ago a company by the name of GDI began selling .WS domain name extensions. It seems no domainer will touch a .ws domain.

Why is this?

Thanks,

Thor

**DomainMagnate** · 02-15-2008, 11:24 PM

I think the question is why would anyone want them?

**tekz999** · 02-15-2008, 11:30 PM

Unpopulah.

**Asperger** · 02-15-2008, 11:34 PM

Hello,
I remember reading somewhere that .ws has around a 0.05% relevance, compared to a .com, in most of the major search engine algorithms, meaning .ws are nearon impossible to work with for PR purposes.

**geist** · 02-15-2008, 11:37 PM

They're more expensive to register than others extensions. Transfers are $100 I think. Plus I believe warez sites are giving it a bad rep. Not sure but it might be improving.

**Thor King** · 02-15-2008, 11:48 PM

Thanks for the input guys.

Hoping to get many more replys. The search engines don't care if it's .com or .ws at least I was told that. Hmmm...

**Toeki** · 02-16-2008, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by geist

They're more expensive to register than others extensions. Transfers are $100 I think. Plus I believe warez sites are giving it a bad rep. Not sure but it might be improving.

The .WS are not open to transfers yet but will be available in a month or so.

**tinner666** · 02-16-2008, 11:16 AM

I see them for sale here and there. Plenty on TNDAM.
When I looked .ws up, I couldn't think of any reason I'd want to buy one.
Matter of fact B-U-Y.ws dropped and can be picked up for $5. today.
Just type it into the search function there.

**Area52** · 02-16-2008, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by Toeki

The .WS are not open to transfers yet but will be available in a month or so.

Where did you hear this? Being able to transfer would be a huge boon to the extention, imo.

Another big problem with ws though, is the expensive fee structure for any word with less than four letters.

If you really think about it, seems rather silly that the domain, cars.com for example, is probably worth north of 1 millon dollars while cars.ws is worth maybe a few thousand+. Both will get you to where you want customers to go and with the same distinct keyword. I would'nt hold my nose up at prime one word names. It may take a while, but the search engine story and how it affects the ws extention can and will change.

Originally Posted by geist

They're more expensive to register than others extensions. Transfers are $100 I think. Plus I believe warez sites are giving it a bad rep. Not sure but it might be improving.

Pricing is comparable to dot com with many registrars.

**doobee** · 02-16-2008, 05:22 PM

Its more a question of the multi-millions that have been put into .com advertising over the years as it was first on the market. People are more familiar with .com than anything else and will instantly recognize the name as being an internet address.

**carlton** · 02-16-2008, 05:26 PM

.ws (Western Samoa's country code). The company buying rights to .ws have tried to repackage/rebrand the extension as suggestive of "website". The problem is that .ws is not intuitive. No one knows what "ws" means or why it is relevant as a website destination.

By contrast, .TV (Tuvalu's country code) has been successfully rebranded as "TV = television" simply because the majority of the world naturally equate TV with "television". The United States country code, .us, is naturally intuitive for "United States". Internet users have to be educated/taught what .ws is supposed to stand for ... therefore the poor reception because of this inherent obstacle.

**katherine** · 02-16-2008, 05:48 PM

.ws is no worse than many other ccTLDs but the local market for Samoa is very small.
And if you are not targetting Samoa users then what's the point of .ws. It's just marketed as a vanity extension.
Vanity extensions, obscure/little used TLDs or domain hacks are not good investments.
You will have a hard time finding an end user for a .ws name.

I'm not against ccTLDs, quite the opposite. But some are much more popular than others. There are a lot of ccTLDs (Africa in particular) that are barely used and where the number of active registrations is in the hundreds.

**Toeki** · 02-16-2008, 11:15 PM

Originally Posted by Area52

Where did you hear this? Being able to transfer would be a huge boon to the extention, imo.

Another big problem with ws though, is the expensive fee structure for any word with less than four letters.

If you really think about it, seems rather silly that the domain, cars.com for example, is probably worth north of 1 millon dollars while cars.ws is worth maybe a few thousand+. Both will get you to where you want customers to go and with the same distinct keyword. I would'nt hold my nose up at prime one word names. It may take a while, but the search engine story and how it affects the ws extention can and will change.

Pricing is comparable to dot com with many registrars.

well, we are a accredited .ws registrar and this was announced by the registry.

**Banned: Vutos** · 02-17-2008, 01:04 AM

Plain and simple not to many people know .ws exist.

**Toeki** · 02-17-2008, 01:38 AM

Sooner or later people will know about it.

**Banned: Vutos** · 02-17-2008, 01:49 AM

By that time there will be new extensions out there.

**Toeki** · 02-17-2008, 01:54 AM

the more the better

**Area52** · 02-20-2008, 02:08 AM

Originally Posted by Toeki

well, we are a accredited .ws registrar and this was announced by the registry.

That's Kool! I did'nt see any reference to it on their website. Maybe a bigger change is coming.

**Toeki** · 02-20-2008, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by Area52

That's Kool! I did'nt see any reference to it on their website. Maybe a bigger change is coming.

Its still in the testing phase but should be available very soon.

**hugegrowth** · 02-20-2008, 10:56 AM

I think .ws is run by a company called GDI. They offer an affiliate program where you get one domain and a website builder for $10 a month. The affiliate program is in english, spanish, french and other languages. They are a member of the direct sellers association. It used to be you had to register a .ws to take part, but last year they opened it up and you can get a .com, .net or other extension instead. $10/month isn't too bad for a domain and Hosting, especially with the dollar being down. GDI has done well for me.

You can also register a .ws at most of the main registrars and just pay the reg fee for the domain.

As for the .ws extension itself, they initially tried to brand it as 'web site' years ago. I see a few sales or developped sites now and then. But sure, it works just like any other extension out there.