Zouzas Subject of New Article at DNJ - DNForum - Domain Sales, Domain Forum, Domain Appraisals, Domain Registrars

**Duke** · 04-05-2003, 11:39 PM

Thought DNF members would be interested in knowing that fellow member Zouzas is the subject of a new article at Domain Name Journal .

Zouzas showed up here in February with some truly great .US domains like movies.us, entertainment.us and pictures.us. Find out who he is, how he got those domains and what he is doing with them!

Banned: bidawinner · 04-05-2003, 11:53 PM

Cool .. Christian was very quick in building up his dot US portfolio !... I see Kim is also busy..

The DNjournal is growing..great Job Ron..

**icehole** · 04-06-2003, 05:30 AM

friggin great article duke! I ALWAYS like reading about .us.
good job!

**mole** · 04-06-2003, 07:27 AM

Duke has a way with words

Keep those articles coming, Duke!

**icehole** · 04-06-2003, 07:40 AM

god DAMN I want his names =)

**mole** · 04-06-2003, 08:04 AM

Zous did say he got a number of his names from the aftermarket. I wonder if movies.us was one of them. I know the landrush for .us was pretty lame as many foreign speculators were turned away by the Nexus spectra. Seems like acceptance for the .US extension is now fast growing, and the price should definitely rise.

**Duke** · 04-06-2003, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mole
Zous did say he got a number of his names from the aftermarket. I wonder if movies.us was one of them. I know the landrush for .us was pretty lame as many foreign speculators were turned away by the Nexus spectra. Seems like acceptance for the .US extension is now fast growing, and the price should definitely rise.

Christian did buy movies.us recently. When he decided to go after key .US domains he didn't fool around.

**mole** · 04-06-2003, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Duke
Christian did buy movies.us recently. When he decided to go after key .US domains he didn't fool around.

Question is, how much?

There is this site I've been eyeing regularly http://www.urly.biz They are of course taking a risk to sell .biz so outright, but it does appear that Neulevel doesn't seem to give a hoot

I guess it's only names that command high envy value where the irregular snipers come out with their rusty bullets

**Duke** · 04-06-2003, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mole

Question is, how much?

Come on Mole - you know that's like asking a woman how old she is!

**mole** · 04-06-2003, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Duke
Come on Mole - you know that's like asking a woman how old she is!

Not for a young woman! .US is hardly a year old, for christ sake

**DomainNames** · 04-06-2003, 01:39 PM

Movies.us is definitely one of the best names possible.

Great article duke, great writing. Good luck zouzas.

**izopod** · 04-06-2003, 02:37 PM

Excellent article Duke--very well written!! Somewhat of a "change" from other Domain news oriented sites.

Just a couple of comments I had from the article:

_________

DNJ: He is primarily interested in one-word domains

My comment: Smart move! 2nd tier names will be plentiful in a few years time.
_________

Zouzas: .US if by far the best bet for those looking for an alternative to .com.

My Comment: Certain dot US names will be considered an "alternative" to dot com FOR US residents, and those doing business in the US.

I think that will be fully recognized in a few years time after we've distanced ourselves from the hype of the roll-outs. It appears Zouzas has picked up on this and is only going after solid names. I do not see anything wrong in his choice of dot US names so far. They are good/excellent alternatives to dot com. HOWEVER finding a good dot US alternative to dot com in the United States will be difficult. Made up names, and or MyBusiness.us type names are not a good fit for "investment" purposes. Especially since the "alternatives" are growing by the day.
__________

Zouzas: The only other extension that does not need branding is .US.

My Comment: Wrong. All extensions have to brand, even the dot com sites (retooling their image).

This is akin to which comes first the "chicken or the egg". In the online world people still HAVE have to find you otherwise you'll be without visitors to your site. So the ENTIRE URL is important to brand, not just the end.

Also remember Dot US is a ccTLD...not a gTLD. If I am looking to brand overseas, a Movie.US would not make sense. HOWEVER, since the US has one of the largest online populations, I don't see a problem AT ALL with trying to brand Movies.US here in the states. This is a situation where Movies.US is a very good alternative to it's dot com counterpart.

_____________

Zouzas: Look anywhere and you will see the letters US.â€ Zouzas believes .US only needs to have people realize it is now available as a domain extension. He thinks the upcoming debut of kids.us will help make that common knowledge in America.

My comment: The connection with the "Kids.US" ending and a regular dot US name is well, not a very good one IMHO. The name recognition of .US is already well known given the fact some states use dot US third level URL address already: www.state.sd.us (as an example). IF dot US is to take off it must "stand on it's own". The problem is an uphill battle since dot com is "America's TLD". So the best bet as Zouzas has seemed to pick up on would be to pick "Top Tier" dot US "dot com" alternatives.

FYI: Some states have actually stopped using their "State.SD.us" URL for promotional purposes in favour of "dot com" addresses.
Example:

http://www.discoveringmontana.com/css/default.asp
http://www.myflorida.com/

REASON: American's are used to dot com for obtaining information. Also, who likes a third level domain. So if I were a dot US owner I would DISTANCE myself from the "Kids.us" connnection.

POINT: If you go after dot us names, ONLY go after the best. That is my best professional advice I can give you.

Banned: bidawinner · 04-06-2003, 03:06 PM

Izopod.. ALL states use .US or .Gov as theri official sites.. I believe florida is the only state that also uses .com as an alternative.. so to imply there is some movement to .com is simply not true.

Kids.US WILL make a huge difference in awareness level of .US IMO ..simply because every child in the United States will be "introduced" to .US (via Kids.Us).. and their parents.. your talking about no less than 70 million people that will be "educated" on about the .US extension (via Kids.US) within 30 days of Kids.US becoming available, that on top of the millions that are already aware of .US through their government jobs.

I agree Christian is doing an excellent job of going after the top tier generic words.

**zouzas** · 04-06-2003, 03:24 PM

and ther are com addresses swithcing to a US address,,,olympics are not just for the united states but for the world and millions will be accessing the site thru a new .US address,,,,

thanks again duke for the article

you decide,,,,thelastdotcomnameleft.com or eNames.us

**Duke** · 04-06-2003, 03:46 PM

I think acceptance of .US will be considerably broader than many expect. It's great to have the one-word killer domains, but my target market has always been small businesses (as that is the background I come from and the market I understand best). They will not be able to afford the killer one-word .us domains any more than they can afford killer one word .coms. Those will be left to the large corporate entities to buy and to be sure the owners of those names are going to do very well.

At the same time, the supply of good 2-word .coms has been exhausted too. Personally I see a lot of value in good two-word domains. From a small business standpoint it gives you an opportunity to give people a great perception of what your business is all about, while keeping the address short and memorable. Something like AudioStore.us or PhotoCenter.us will be excellent for such businesses. They won't be $10,000 names - but will hit the sweet spot for small businesses around say $300-$500. I'll sell products like that all day when my wholesale cost is $7 (+ a couple of years renewal fees as .US matures and values rise).

Millions of new American businesses will be formed in the next few years. I look for them to gravitate to .US to get solid yet affordable terms that will describe their business. It is obvious of course that a mediocre name will be worthless in any extension.

P.S. Thanks to everyone for your kind comments about the article and to Christian for his time and co-operation!

**izopod** · 04-06-2003, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bidawinner

Kids.US WILL make a huge difference in awareness level of .US IMO

Bid, you need to get out more. This is the "Dot Com" generation of kids. They will attract to "kids.us" like they do spinach on a Sunday afternoon dinner. NetNanny, et al work about as well as any "filtered" system I can think of. Coming up with "Kids.us" was a very dumb, and rushed piece of legislation IHMO. Once again, showing how little congress understands the online world. Keep in mind, I am a hard core conservative. I above anyone should embrace "Kids.us" with open arms. I don't---I think it "dumbs down" the system by a factor of 10.

Also keep in mind... Everyone "hates" third level domains. If you think "Kids.us", (a.k.a) www.fun.kids.us will make them "recognize" dot us better then it would have already happen given the fact most schools use the dot US names, example www.brentwood.k12.sd.us.... note: Most schools that are wired to the internet have a ".k12.sd.us" homepage.

further notes on states moving to a dotcom: Those were the only two that I remembered. There are more.

**izopod** · 04-06-2003, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Duke

Millions of new American businesses will be formed in the next few years. I look for them to gravitate to .US to get solid yet affordable terms that will describe their business.

SmithDryCleaning.us

or

SmithDryCleaning.biz (I choose this one, unless dot com taken)

As far as the US chamber of commerce is concerned, they still love Dot com. However, I don't see a big push either way. It's going to be whatsever available. Given that fact, I do see this a plus for dot biz, given the fact speculation has been discouraged. Business owners aren't going to haggle over a dot US owners insistence on getting 5K for a $25 dollar name. Also, .biz is for business owners. In time as small .biz owners begin to market their URLs, it will become readily apparent as to which name will be "second to com" ---lol I love that line!!

**Duke** · 04-06-2003, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by izopod

SmithDryCleaning.us

or

SmithDryCleaning.biz (I choose this one, unless dot com taken)

Why on EARTH would you do that? Unless there is a market for sending your dry cleaning overseas to be done, there is no need whatsoever to use a global TLD for a local small business like that.

Of course, that's what makes a horse race. The market will decide.

**Duke** · 04-06-2003, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by izopod

Duke, you need to get out more. This is the "Dot Com" generation of kids. They will attract to "kids.us" like they do spinach on a Sunday afternoon dinner.

You were responding to Bidawinner not me - that was his quote.

I see you edited your post to correct it. Thank you.

**izopod** · 04-06-2003, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Duke

Why on EARTH would you do that? Unless there is a market for sending your dry cleaning overseas to be done, there is no need whatsoever to use a global TLD for a local small business like that.

Market Research....

In a way you "shot yourself in the foot"... We use dot com all the time to promote our goods. American's don't see gTLD's as a global tld. They see them as their own.

The reason I like .biz for small biz owners is that it's a perfect fit.