Why I Think Most Gtlds Will Fail

[ParkLogic]

I recently wrote an article about .XYZ propping up sales numbers with free giveaways and how it was a train wreck. I think that I unfairly singled out .XYZ – I actually believe that 98% of them will be wrecks. The issue for me is sales, real sales going to real end users who build real websites and start marketing real businesses. Not these funny type of giveaway sales either.

I remember when .eu was released it went nowhere because all the domain investors snapped up the good domains. There’s very few if any companies use .eu as an extension. They prefer to use the ccTLD. For an extension to prosper it needs to be used by end users not domain investors.

So what’s the problem with the launch of so many new gTLDs, one piling right after another? It’s a massive supply to a latent demand. So why is this a problem for the registries?

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Let’s imagine that you’re trying to sell .college (not meaning to pick on Daniel again) to an existing school. Say you’re trying to sell the domain for $20/year. Ask yourself, how long are you going to let the sales person spend on the phone trying to convince an existing college that they should change their entire branding to .college? Remember that the registry and registrar are sharing the revenue from any sales.

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[Biggie]

sooooo, how many parts to this article?

 

[Theo]

Not everyone thinks like a domainer, Michael. The anti-gTLD crowd has missed the whole point of gTLD existence: to expand the namespace to provide meaningful Internet names for brands and services. Of course, adding fodder to the same naysayers, most Registries have become both greedy and unwilling to invest in promoting their products. And whey they do, as in the XYZ case, the results are marred by the "papering of the house."

 

[Seraphim]

What is the backstory on .rocks? What does that even mean? Is that "mywebsite.rocks" or "shoveling.rocks"?

.blackfriday? .community? .enterprises? .international? You pretty much have to bookmark any website sitting on a gTLD that is beyond 4-5 characters. Very few people are going to have the patience to type out a name like .international. I wouldn't be surprised if 25%+ of the prospective visitors avoided the website altogether just because it's too awkward and tedious to type. Most people I know are also terrible spellers, so how many times is a person going to unsuccessfully type out a name like .community before giving up?

Before this new gTLD era came about, I used to look at domain extensions like .com.pl (.com.ccTLDs) as being the largest traffic bleeders due to the high probability for extension confusion. I generally avoided those types of domains altogether unless I had the corresponding ccTLD. Now just imagine the traffic loss on a domain like .international, it has to make .com.ccTLDs look bulletproof.

Does anyone know what the protocol is for failing gTLDs? I'm assuming there are fail-safes in place? Perhaps not?

I wonder if there is money to be made in apps or technology development that might help ease the entry/access into some of these longer extensions...