Dot INFO - Fall from Grace

[Rubber Duck]

Looking at the reg stats this week, it woud seem that much predicted drop in the number of dot info registrations is already underway. This is likely to accelerate as the renewals for unsolicited free domains come due.

Glad I am not heavily invested. This is going to leave a bad taste!

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[mole]

All the most marketable names were already taken out at the 1,000,000 mark for the .INFO namespace. It isn't going to make a dent to .INFO value if 1M names are dropped from the current 3M plus.

 

[Rubber Duck]

All the most marketable names were already taken out at the 1,000,000 mark for the .INFO namespace. It isn't going to make a dent to .INFO value if 1M names are dropped from the current 3M plus.

I disagree. You only have to look at the disparity between dot net and dot com, which apart from branding are identical products. Dot net even arguably has a more brandable name, but marketing the brand is crucial.

The contraction of the dot info register will be enourmously damaging to dot info as a brand, even thought the market value of the first 1 Million of any register far exceeds the value of what come subsequently.

Hope you don't have too many, Mole!

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[gpmgroup]

I disagree. You only have to look at the disparity between dot net and dot com, which apart from branding are identical products. Dot net even arguably has a more brandable name, but marketing the brand is crucial.

The contraction of the dot info register will be enourmously damaging to dot info as a brand, even thought the market value of the first 1 Million of any register far exceeds the value of what come subsequently.

Hope you don't have too many, Mole!

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

Long term .info will become more pervasive than .net

Infomation is where the future is networking is just a step to getting infomation. Even Vint Cerf has left MCI (Networks) and gone to Google (Infomation) :wink:

 

[mark]

although i am not renewing some of my .info domains registered under the free program last year as the cost is not worth it (still think registrars should have set renewal fees at less than $2-$3 on these domains if they wanted to retain the business) i still have faith in the extension and continue to register new ones. i have recently found some good keywords now available in the .info extension, many of which have all other extensions taken.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Long term .info will become more pervasive than .net

Infomation is where the future is networking is just a step to getting infomation. Even Vint Cerf has left MCI (Networks) and gone to Google (Infomation) :wink:

I think to look at a series of letters and then just try to say one string is better than another is meaningless. What the hell does Nike mean, nothing at all unless you build it into a world brand. That is what dot com is and what dot biz is not!

Finding information relies primarily on search rather than domain extension, so I am not all convinced that one gTLD is more valid than another in this respect.

Dot info clearly has the potential to be built as brand, but what we are commenting on here is really the effectiveness with which that is being done.

The only unquestionably powerful brands in the domain market as I see it are currently dot com and dot de. It possible that other big brands will emerge with time, but the extension itself will not be the prime determinate of which brands are successful and which are not. It will be down to public and commercial awareness and acceptance.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[JuniperPark]

End users couldn't care less what's happening with the 'junk' names picked up during promotions, or whether or not they are kept or dropped. They want a quality, memorable name. It's just the speculators and resellers that care (or even KNOW about) this issue, and they're the least relevant part of this market.

Good .INFO names continue to be strong and continue sell well. I know because I do it every day.

 

[Rubber Duck]

End users couldn't care less what's happening with the 'junk' names picked up during promotions, or whether or not they are kept or dropped. They want a quality, memorable name. It's just the speculators and resellers that care (or even KNOW about) this issue, and they're the least relevant part of this market.

Good .INFO names continue to be strong and continue sell well. I know because I do it every day.

Well at one level you are right of course, but there is the small issue of price. You cannot deny there is a pecking order.

The top priced dot info this year to my knowledge is $12,000. Best.info has one of the "best" keywords around yet it sells for a fraction of the price of a similar dot com. Even dot net is getting in on the act with a reported $150,000 sale.

To say end users don't care is ludicrous. They are not going to pay dot com prices for a dot info extension, not now and possibly not ever!

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[JuniperPark]

Well at one level you are right of course, but there is the small issue of price. You cannot deny there is a pecking order.

The top priced dot info this year to my knowledge is $12,000. Best.info has one of the "best" keywords around yet it sells for a fraction of the price of a similar dot com. Even dot net is getting in on the act with a reported $150,000 sale.

To say end users don't care is ludicrous. They are not going to pay dot com prices for a dot info extension, not now and possibly not ever!

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

With all due respect.... nonsense. I personally know of 2 separate .INFO sales by 2 sets of buyers / sellers at over $30,000. I'm sure you're aware that most sellers and or buyers do not want their sales published.

It's not .com, it has a different connotation and use, and the comparisons are pointless on many levels. I sell both .net and .info, and .info gets double or triple the price of a .net. Some of my sales I've reported, some I haven't. I assume you saw my sale of Oink.info a couple of months ago for $1,000. I bought the name for $1.95 2 weeks earlier, if you want to calculate ROI. If you can tell me where I can buy single word dictionary terms for $1.95 that I can sell for $1,000 or more in the .COM world, please provide me with a link to that site.

No one has ever suggested it will be bigger than .com, but it's ROI that counts. It's like saying "All the land in Nevada is worthless because it's not Beverly Hills and never will be"! A statement like that has no point -- you can own a lot of lower priced land in Nevada and make billions.

 

[ParkQuick.com]

This drop in domains registered was totally predictable, though. I renewed about half of mine and let the others drop. It's interesting that many people stated that the registration of so many .info domains decreased their value (which it probably did) and now others state that the fact that many will no longer be registered decreases their value. I'm not sure that this is really the case, except in the very short run.

 

[seeker]

I think to look at a series of letters and then just try to say one string is better than another is meaningless. What the hell does Nike mean, nothing at all unless you build it into a world brand.

Dave, you chode one hell of a wrong example.
Nike means victory, and has a strong deeply rooted meaning, including mythologicical ones (such as the Godess of Victory).
But i see your point in other names.

In any case, in the not too long 'long' run, i see .info as being a premium gTLD.

many people who wont renew their names got them because they were free anyway, and probably arent worth keeping.

the rest are superb.
Some of my best sales (after .com) have been .info

 

[dotNetKing]

I agree with mole and JuniperPark's comments.

Personally my .info portfolio hasn't done as well as I had hoped, but I'm sure that free registrations has nothing to do with this.

 

[gpmgroup]

I think to look at a series of letters and then just try to say one string is better than another is meaningless. What the hell does Nike mean, nothing at all unless you build it into a world brand. That is what dot com is and what dot biz is not!

Finding information relies primarily on search rather than domain extension, so I am not all convinced that one gTLD is more valid than another in this respect.

Dot info clearly has the potential to be built as brand, but what we are commenting on here is really the effectiveness with which that is being done.

The only unquestionably powerful brands in the domain market as I see it are currently dot com and dot de. It possible that other big brands will emerge with time, but the extension itself will not be the prime determinate of which brands are successful and which are not. It will be down to public and commercial awareness and acceptance.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

.com is the exception it is synonymous with the internet it is "Just there" in joe public's eye in the same way "www" is usually just there.

Outside America ccTLDs, are used in a nationalistic way as the national local tld v. the worldwide .com. It is a natural and logical distinction in joe publics mind, almost worldwide self branding.

.info brands in this same natural way and in non English languages too.

.net and .org do not brand as easily as they are far more niche.

The biggest thing holding back .info is the uncertainty created by ICANNs new gTLD processes/proposals. While ever there is uncertainty people are reluctant to invest their time and money. (Their logic being if there is going to be new TLDs then we had better play safe and go .com or sit on the fence and wait and see.)

.jobs .travel et al. look like being very restrictive and expensive and they are likely remain very niche.

 

[mole]

Vint Cerf was hired by Google recently to promote the 'new new' web. To grow, you need to reinvent usage and value. .INFO is part of that reinvent mindset, imho. It is hard for resellers to be passionate about this notion , since all they want to do is sell names at a 1000x markup and make a (preferable good) profit.

For those with the vision and foresight to take out some very nice babies in 2001 and still keep them coddled to the breast, value will prevail.

For those who got the remaining scum and flotsam in the 'free promotion' after 3 years of the launch, you can imagine what kind of dog's breakfast got into their portfolios. Purging this scum and flotsam is only natural.

This purging exercise is not about 'losing' value, but about recalibration of true namespace value.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Dave, you chode one hell of a wrong example.
Nike means victory, and has a strong deeply rooted meaning, including mythologicical ones (such as the Godess of Victory).
But i see your point in other names.

In any case, in the not too long 'long' run, i see .info as being a premium gTLD.

many people who wont renew their names got them because they were free anyway, and probably arent worth keeping.

the rest are superb.
Some of my best sales (after .com) have been .info

Foot in the Gob again! LOL

However, I think you would agree that most fans of Nike also wouldn't have a clue to it real meaning.

Anyway, thanks for the lesson!

My gripe with dot info is not the extension itself but the way, IMHO (LOL!) that it has been totally miss managed.

Organising the registration of free domains for buyers who did not want them and didn't even know they were buying was a real fiasco. Artificially boosting reg stats in the hope that those buyers would later cough up hard cash was an error of judgement of massive proportions and judgement day is upon us!

I actually feel sorry for registrants of dot info, as I feel they have been badly let down by the registry.

Yes, in the longer-term dot info will recover, but I doubt it will ever entirely get back to where it should have gone.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[mole]

I actually feel sorry for registrants of dot info, as I feel they have been badly let down by the registry.

Thank you for your misplaced sympathy, drix :santa:

 

[Leading Names]

Looking at the reg stats this week, it woud seem that much predicted drop in the number of dot info registrations is already underway. This is likely to accelerate as the renewals for unsolicited free domains come due.

Glad I am not heavily invested. This is going to leave a bad taste!

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

Honestly, I don't think this will have much (if any) influence on values – end users couldn't care less about registration totals.

- Rob

 

[carlton]

The .info promotion is of no consequence to the domain industry or its future. Just made the drop list longer for awhile. Very anti-news.

 

[Theo]

I never jumped onto the .info bandwagon. My dictionary domains are strictly com/net/org - I do have some .info that were important to me (e.g. Parthenon.info / Aegean.info / Byzantium.info / Constantinople.info etc) but overall nothing beats the original 3 TLD's in value.

 

[Yojimbo]

I don't think the drops will hurt .info value either. I just didn't like the entire promotional scam feel of adding .info's for every other name I had in my accounts. Made my accounts very difficult do look at. Plus I have to grind through all the for sale posts with 8 hundred .info's that they got for free and now are trying to unload for $10 just to get something out of them before renewal. Why don't all the registrars just add 500 random available crappy domains to everyones accounts and hope they will renew them a year later? It's a bad way to do business as far as I'm concerned. Though, maybe it worked for them - I don't know. Some of you guys who run registrars would know if it increased your overall business at all.