Which top level domain name is better, .guru or .ninja?
The runaway winner so far in new top level domain name launches is .guru. There are now over 30,000 .guru domain names registered.
In my mind, .guru is similar to .ninja as many people use the underlying terms the same way.
He’s a Ruby on Rails guru. He’s a Ruby on Rails ninja.
So which is better, .guru or .ninja?
It will be difficult to measure the two by registrations to figure out which one “wins” this battle. They’re coming out at different times and may come out with different price points.
But my money is on .guru. Guru is more universal, while ninja is more commonly used in techie circles.
And while both are trendy, ninja may well go the way of the “rock star” coder, a common term ten years ago, although that was used more to describe other people (while many techies refer to themselves as Ninjas).
There could be some sleepers here. Maybe there’s a big market for actual ninjas. Maybe martial arts students will flock to the domain. And hey, techies get domain names. We’ll just have to see.
From one standpoint, though, .ninja is already a winner: best accidentally sexualized swag ever (see photo above).
Ryan says
Most will be to burnt out to care at that point, I think a few key terms, most which will be blocked via DPML or reserved by the registry.
I think .Guru is the better play as it is less associated with violence, as .Ninja would be.
Acro says
Guru is pure and humble, while ninja is aggressive and attractive to a particular crowd. Is .God planned ahead? 😀
gary says
30,000. Wow. Do you have any numbers for the other new extensions?
Joseph Peterson says
.NINJA will be a very interesting demonstration of the long-term viability of vanity extensions.
Bill Sweetman (whom I don’t know, compete with, but have every reason to respect) operates NameNinja.com. He’ll be obliged (I suspect) to protect his brand name by registering Name.ninja. And that’s no big deal on its own, although it is symbolic of the extra costs thousands and thousands of businesses will incur thanks to these new extensions.
What will be most interesting to me is the following question: Will we see NameNinja.com in marketing efforts or Name.ninja?
To me, the .COM offers a kind of credibility that nicely offsets the playful “Ninja” alliteration of the “Name Ninja” name. That’s important in attracting clients of a certain type, who look to .COM for professionalism and longevity. If they eliminate the .COM from their branding and marketing efforts, I predict some of their prospective clients, seeing a name that appears to have shallower roots, will get cold feet and look elsewhere.
Of course, registry connections or other factors may dictate a visible switch to Name.ninja during this politically charged 2014 and 2015 … for promotional purposes. But ultimately the business’s own needs must take precedence. Come 2019 or 2024, I wonder if Joe Public will do business with enough .NINJA websites to entrust an important job to such a site. In Bill Sweetman’s shoes, I’d buy Name.ninja but continue promoting the .COM in order to be taken seriously.
He’s welcome to set me straight if he has other intentions.
Andrew Allemann says
Bill was asked this question on TV:
https://domainnamewire.com/2014/02/05/watch-kevin-newman-interview-bill-sweetman-about-new-tlds-on-ctv/
He mostly deflected the question.
He’ll have time to decide whether he wants it or not. name.ninja is on the name collisions list. In fact, name is on the collision list for 444 top level domains according to Domain Incite Pro.
Joseph Peterson says
Interesting. I’ll have to watch that interview at some point. One way or another, the fate of name.ninja in relation to the corresponding .COM will make a fascinating test case.
billsweetman says
Interesting thread, but I’m not going to take the bait. Ninja are all about stealth. You won’t find me discussing, or sharing, my own corporate domain name strategy in public.
Samit says
.PRO > .GURU > .NINJA
At least imho.
Think the demographic and age group each appeals to is different.
todd says
.GURU can be used for any from 10 years old to 100 years old but .NINJA would be pretty childish if it was used by a 50 year old ad exec unless it was purely for fun. Hand someone a business card with Computer.GURU or Computer.NINJA and I think their reaction will give you the answer your looking for.
HowieCrosby says
Dead right. There is no battle here. .ninja is for teenagers and college kids, whereas .guru suits the professional and business type. And this is where the investor needs to be tuned in, selecting the correct extention first prior to choosing their keyword/single prefix.
Andrew Allemann says
I’d argue that .ninja is actually quite popular with a slightly older crowd than that, particularly in tech circles.
KD says
Anyone who buys these domains for resale are.lemmings. Just look at past gTLDs without any competition. (.mobi for example) And in the near future you will have 1,000 dot.whatevers.
HowieCrosby says
With respect, still there are domainers comparing some of the G To .mobi? There is no comparison. .guru .blog .shop etc etc will dedicated websites and serving as the G relates too.
We have got to get out of the .mobi /gTLD comparison, albeit we know many G will not make it, but the extentions that relates to a professional reality will suceed. IMO
This is the new world. I embrace it.
Samit says
It’s actually not an unfair comparison.
If you see the industry heavyweights, developed websites and massive outreach .mobi had, you’d probably understand.
And there will be 900 gtlds… for now.
Andrew Allemann says
Keep in mind that .mobi is one of the most successful TLDs in terms of registrations. It would be a great business to own.
Howie Crosby says
“Keep in mind that .mobi is one of the most successful TLDs in terms of registrations. It would be a great business to own.”
@Andrew Anyone can register a domain name! Personally I disagree, with respect, I would feel depressed at the thought of writing the business plan.
Best to you.
Howie Crosby says
OK, there have been some high sales for some premium .mobi at what around 2007? but I still think this is a facade domain, after the hype, what else has happened, you don’t see .mobi domains being promoted, advertised TODAY! or used by domainers that I know of? Furthermore, many of the .mobi domains are forwarded and not outward sites, or if they are, the ones I’ve seen recently are poor. I mean with all of that money spent on them too.
But I respect your comment Samit.
Alas, the .mobi was flawed from the start, as if a .com or .net etc was not going to be able to represent online via mobile, the domaining industry never looked into the coding aspect of the Internet.
Anyway, lets move on from .mobi, learn that investing was wise for premium from 2005, and the same goes for a ‘few” premium G, but the only consideration is that, .shop .blog (.guru?) etc will have a future in this niche for investment return.
jZ says
i think the point to look at here is that mobi is considered a failure but this failure still has over 1 million domains registered. biz has 2.6 million and resale value is next to nothing. still, with 1 million and 2.6 million domains registered, the registry is making money. how long will it take for these gtlds to reach 1 mil combined?
Andrew Allemann says
Yes, that’s my point. Thanks.
Ryan says
How many .biz .guru .info are sitting in domainer, or portfolio holdings of big warehouses?
These extensions will be culled to death with the option of the IT thing NEW GTLD’s.
I can already see .co losing clients.
Snoopy says
When I went to school there used to be an expression, “Battle of the shitmen”, it is when two idiots get together and have their “battle”, the ultimate crown being nothing at all.
Both these extensions will get blown away with the wind, which is better? Who cares.
Frederick (Freddy) Schiwek says
The question is not which one is better, the question is which one sucks less!
jZ says
both guru and ninja seem like silly terms to be calling one’s self. also both fad terms. i don’t think i would go to anyone who called themself a guru, makes them seem like they are high on themselves. ninja just seems like a joke. maybe the guy from die antwoord will buy one.
John Berryhill says
I never heard of a Teenage Mutant Guru Turtle
John Berryhill says
.guru has a huge potential upside among Sikhs, btw
Samit says
Haven’t met a Sikh who would call himself a guru. They do respect their ten gurus, but that’s another conversation.
Think the difference here is perspective – Is .mobi successful? For the registry, for sure, but not for registrants, which is exactly the case, for now, with newgTLDs.
All the good terms are probably going to be reserved / auctioned / given to insiders – what’s left to register isn’t exactly going to send cash registers ringing for investors – sure there will be the occasional four / five figure sales, but that even .mobi surprises at times.
Joseph Peterson says
Debates about the future success of one or all nTLDs always end up a bit confused because we seldom take time to spell out the perspective on success / failure. People are often talking about different groups; so the discussions get mixed up.
There are many different ways an nTLD can succeed or fail, depending on one’s perspective.
Registrars and Registries:
(1) Registrars make money.
(2) Registries make money initially by getting lots of first-year registrations. Then they sell off the business.
(3) Registries continue making money (like .MOBI) through ongoing registrations.
The real world:
(4) Theoretically, the average business could see such a net benefit more from using an nTLD (compared to its old .COM) that this net benefit offsets the average cost of registering nTLDs that won’t be used.
(5) Consumers will both benefit and get confused and scammed from the new web addresses. Depending where the average falls, consumers might benefit. Regardless, consumers ultimately absorb the cost of this nTLD initiative in its entirety.
Domainers and other Intermediaries:
(6) Bloggers may make money as affiliates by promoting registrations.
(7) Lawyers and consultants may make money.
(8) Will domainers, on the whole, make money from nTLDs as investments?
It’s fair to point out that the success of registrars / registries does NOT imply the success of businesses and consumers. And neither one of those implies success for domainers.
Maybe everybody will succeed or fail together, but I doubt it. For any given nTLD, we’re likely to see a mixture of successes and failures, depending on perspective. Think of it like an 8-digit binary string of “Yes”s and “No”s, which will be different for each new extension:
110 00 110
Ryan says
I have to agree here John, you are extremely wrong, no Sikh would ever call themselves a GURU, it is their 10 sacred Gods they refer to as GURUS, and it would be a huge insult to their religion.
Howie Crosby says
@Andrew “Yes, that’s my point. Thanks.”
My reply was based upon that of a domain investor, I have no interest in the assets and traction of the registrar.
Howie Crosby says
@JZ “i think the point to look at here is that mobi is considered a failure but this failure still has over 1 million domains registered. biz has 2.6 million and resale value is next to nothing….how long will it take for these gtlds to reach 1 mil combined? ”
Again, .biz another weak extension not LEADING anyway, of course it’s worthless, it’s a sub domain ! It doesn’t take much thought into the new extensions that will LEAD the way. AHHHHH.
PS. that’s why our classic extension .info is doing great on Flippa for instance, I don’t need to explain it do I 😉
JZ says
.biz is not a subdomain…regardless will all of these new gtlds combined be able to reach 2.6 mil in a year? or even 2? i don’t know. if you judge by that, they won’t be worth much.
todd says
There are about 23,000 dot coms that end with GURU and about 6700 that end with NINJA so it doesn’t take a scientist to figure out that .GURU will have more registrations by almost 4 times that of .NINJA. This clearly shows that .GURU will be more popular.
Howie Crosby says
@JZ you’re absolutely right .biz is not a “sub” domain, my fault for using the wrong context, I meant sub, as in the dictionary term for subordinate 😉