Here are answers to your questions about the .me “landrush”.
I was checking search logs today and noticed someone found Domain Name Wire by searching for “Will three letter .me domains be valuable.” Regretfully, the web surfer didn’t find what he or she was looking for on Domain Name Wire. So I thought I’d take some time to answer your specific questions about .me, starting with that query.
Q: Will three letter .me domains be valuable?
A: No
Q: Why not?
A: .Me is just another re-purposed country code similar to .ws. Look at what happened to .ws. .Me is the country code for Montenegro. The only use for domains like this is search engine optimization (assuming Google doesn’t discount the domain extension).
Q: Can anyone register .me domains?
A: Yes, if you really want to throw away your money. Ironically, third level .me domains (e.g. .com.me) can only be registered by residents/businesses in Montenegro.
Q: OK, but couldn’t I come up with some clever domains like f@ck.me?
A: No. The registry held back many names like that with the hopes of profiting by selling them later, similar to what .mobi did. Among the 2500 or so domains held back are other ones that play off .me, such as alert.me, bite.me, and add.me. It also held back hundreds of first names, like Andrew.me.
Q: If .me is so bad, why do I keep reading about it in the press or on marketing blogs?
A: Registrars make money from duping people into buying .me domains. They like to call this sort of thing a “landrush”. Marketers lost out on the initial domain landrushes, so they hope and pray that they can make money with this one. Some might get lucky by selling them to other unsuspecting investors.
Andrew says
apparently people have been frustrated by thinking they had registered .me domains today, only to get a notice that they didn’t. Here’s a search that just came in:
“godaddy email stating The following domain name has failed to be register”
tekmo says
While I agree that .me will be no .com, it has far more value than “worthless.”
The ws comparison is a bad one. who remembers .ws? .me is far more memorable.
And i’m not expert on new tld’s, but doesn’t every new extension have the registrar hoarding the “good ones”?
Andrew says
@ Tekmo – the registry hording thing is relatively new. It’s just a money play.
.ws was branded to mean “web site”. .me is similar to .name in that it will be used mostly for personal sites. I can see some commercial uses, but the .com will still be required. Maybe “worthless” is too strong a word, but not by much.
M. Menius says
“Registrars make money from duping people …”
Every launch of a new tld, with the exception of .mobi (they deserve credit for balls and diligence), has ALL of the funding going into initial registration buzz. A registry creates as much hype as possible, pumps up a frenzy of initial registrations. Then, once the money has been counted by the registry, they abandon any effort, any support, any semblance of real promotion to sustain and build the tld over time. That formula is tired and old, yet will continue to work as long as new blood keeps entering the game.
Andrew says
What’s weird about .mobi is it didn’t really take off until flowers.mobi sold. Then all hell broke loose.
Steve M says
Andrew’s right; .mobi can thank Rick for their previous interest boost.
As for “diligence” ; let’s wait and see if and when they “get around” to enforcing their own “use it or lose it” rules by taking back the 100’s (1,000’s? 10’s of 1,000s?) of non-complying names and reselling them…or not.
Frank says
In late 1999 many domainers did not renew 2 word .com domains since these were seen as second-rate domains. A handful of individuals, out of the millions of .com owners, decided to take a gamble and catch these 2 word domains as they were being dropped.
Now nearly a decade later, many of these 2 letter .com domains are selling for 6 figures. They took a gamble and their gamble paid off.
I registered many domains in 97/98 related to my work. Now that the domains are parked and as I get traffic data, I find many of these domains bring in type-in traffic completely un-related to my original development intentions. Example; a few years back, fuelwater dot com would bring in athletes looking for gat*rade type drinks. Today that same domain name brings in people looking to change their cars to run on water.
The internet is still in its relative infancy. The industry is changing so quickly no one really knows which trajectory is the correct path. No one liked, .co.uk, now few years later these are fetching good prices. The market will eventually decide, before evolving again.
Many of the the new extensions will surpass the .net/.org in value. I’m a big believer in .in and .cn. New .in and .cn users are kids and first-time internet users who don’t know that .net or .org even exist.
Looking at the current social-internet trend where everyone thinks of himself/herself as a walking brand, personally I think the .ME extension has great potential. I like it when people say they don’t like the .ME, because this means less competition for me. I’m not a big fan of the .MOBI, it’s way too hyped and trends with too much hype are usually priced in. It’s like the .TV that was supposed to have put the television and cable industry out of business. I like to stay away from products with way too much hype. I like the .cn because of its natural momentum. In a decade the users of the .cn ccTLD will be more than 30% of net-users.
For those who missed out on .com, the rest of the Internets future is just beginning. Go with your gut feeling, because no one knows where we’ll be in the next 10 years.
Rob Sequin says
Andrew,
I have to agree with you on the value of .me.
I passed on .travel, .eu, .asia, .name, .cc, .pro and .ws and will pass on .me.
People should spend their money on quality. Buy one $1000 .com rather than spending $1000 on 100 .crap domains.
There is A LOT of money pissed away in this industry.
tekmo says
right on andrew. i have to defend .me because after today i already have quite a bit of money tied up in them. it just seems, as far as memorable domains go… nothing is more memorable than a .me (aside from the .com)
Sure it may take a while for that to happen, but shit if i had to register them for 2 yrs im willing to wait. Lets just hope that godaddy and others promote them to the best of their ability. certainly don’t expect them to reach .com in popularity, but even 10% of a .com sale in a .me would make me very happy
Rob Sequin says
Tekmo,
Are you going to develop even one .me domain? If not, then why should anyone want a .me? Just so one speculator can sell to another?
Don’t get me wrong. I am all about the American way and speculation but if EVERYONE buys so they can resell, where’s the value in that?
Beanie babies anyone?
tekmo says
my background is in development, not domains. the value i see in domains is that they are easy to remember.
should i develop any of the premiums(and yes i plan to) i was lucky to get, i really feel like .me is memorable. yes, i except any the .com versions to catch the type in traffic, but as far as im concerned theyre more memorable then any other tld i know of.
and just on a whim, i think .me’s will get decent treatment from google because of their high price. .info’s get hurt in indexing because they’re prone to spam because of their low price.
Chris Hooley says
Couldn’t disagree more with the points about low value. .ws is one thing. .mobi is one thing. but .me gives marketers the ability to shorten and personalize domains.
Mark my words, and use them against me later if you must, but of all TLDs .me will be a standout, even after open registration.
It just makes too much sense. And it’s easy. And as numerous TLDs become the norm, this one will remain one of the sexiest ones for marketers because it will remain one of the most marketable.
NoNamesForSale says
Will CCs expose site operators in the U.S. to unexpected censorship challenges and tax questions?
Maybe not with dot-me, but when might we see the first shut downs of a dot-cn or dot-in domain?
Who is going to push the envelope?
Dan says
Hi,
I also think…that people are a little confused about “me”… as Apple has just opened up “me.com” & mobileme.com…and its been in the news as much if not more, at the same time as the news about .me launch started.
There may be a little confusion going on here.
A little off the subject…but here is an interesting article on whats going on with Apple and “me.com” & “mobileme.com” domains.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/17/technology/ptpogue17.php
Best,
Dan
Andrew says
Tekmo, I agree that .me is one of the better country codes. But the fact that ICANN is liberalizing TLDs is part of the reason I’m bearish on .me. After all, we could have .you in a couple years time.
Joe Kennedy says
My friend registered his in 2 minutes while I was online with Godaddy for 2 hours. The thing is it was a godaddy affiliate page. You may get lucky and register it quick
the site is http://www.NeedAWebDomain.com for some reason there up and running like a charm and no one else?
Rick says
The whole idea of .me is ill fated. Not only will it not take off, I predict it will be the biggest loser of all the TLD names. This well has been tapped one too many times. Within 2 weeks from now, nobody will be talking about .me anymore and anyone who has invested in them will have to quickly realized they got duped again.
Rob Sequin says
Rick,
A bigger failure than .name or .travel?
Those are big shoes to fill.
DR. DOMAIN says
Great post Andrew.I was one of the n00bs who went headfirst into .mobi. I’m keeping a handful…but I’m in no hurry to take a stab @.me.
dave says
omfg.me
Eldar says
I have started my way in buying domains with .me, I have bought aproximately 30 domain names… Now read your forecast and it made me sad 🙁 Hm…
Eldar says
I bought http://www.100percent.me, http://www.twentyfourseven.me, http://www.letterfrom.me … etc./ I think I was over excited when I heard a news about .me domain… 🙁
mefreak says
doh.me !
W. Williams says
Well in the words of W. Buffet, “I’d rather be the one saying I told you so, as opposed to the one who said I should’ve!”
Andrew says
W. Williams – when I look at the prices these auction domains are going for I don’t think there’s much room for a return. If you can get creative it will be possible to flip something for a few grand.
Gommez says
what dou you think domains like featuring everytime hassle mister alcoholic dot me should be worth? Should i sell them now or should i wait?
Cheers Gommez
Juan Carlos Arzola says
I DO THINK strongly that DOT ME will be worth a lot of money in about 10 years…
Pauly says
I bought:
yougottabefuckingkidding.me
and
yougottabekidding.me
…just as a joke.
ANybody want to buy them? $1000 each. LOL!!
Chris says
I bought “entertain.me” to develop into a portal. Hope it wasn’t a waste……
Rob Sequin says
31. Chris,
As long as you plan to develop, any domain can be successful because then you are building a business and not just speculating on price appreciation.
Take icio.us for example. Terrible domain name but they built it into del.icio.us
Mark Kolb says
Dot ME is a great marketing package where the domain name is also the brand or message, eg: http://www.beerdrinker.me, champion.me, stylish.me
For more dot me potential, visit http://www.dotmewebsites.com
nak says
Thanks God! My bulk registration of .Me domains didn’t work for some reason at GoDaddy. I am relatively a newbie in domain market. Driven by the hype around .Me I decided to try my hands at it. I was wondering .com can not be beaten by any other tld in popularity, agree to a great degree..com is the best but will there be a second best ever? There is a huge gap between the one at the top and the second best. What domain extension has the potential of coming close to .com? We grew up typing something.com in our browsers. In fact .com introduced us to www. But does that hold true to the new generation as well? dot com was easy to pronounce and so does dot me, even easier. Does the recent failures of much hyped extns. working through a fear factor. I am not sure.