Registration numbers games are masking actual use.
Big companies might prefer .com. Most people might choose .com. But there’s another trend I’ve seen over the past year that shouldn’t be overlooked: more and more companies using new top level domains.
It’s a shame that some new TLD operators played games with registration numbers when new TLDs launched. The inevitable decline in registration numbers when those domains dropped is masking what I believe to be a steady increase in end users registering and using new TLDs.
I see this a lot at my PodcastGuests.com service. People choose domains like .show and .live for their podcast websites. I spoke to a podcast company the other day that uses a .audio domain. When I searched for virtual event companies this month, I saw domains ending in .events and .live.
What was once a once-a-month occurrence became once-a-week to now once-a-day.
So much has been lost in the debate over .com vs. new TLDs. .Com stalwarts said new TLDs didn’t have a place in the ecosystem. New TLD promoters said the domains were better than .com.
Neither is correct in 2020. The answer is somewhere in the middle.
Consider the millions of domain registrations this year. A business looks for its ideal domain. If it’s in the U.S., the registrant likely starts by looking for .com. If they don’t find what they want, they might consider an aftermarket domain. A subset of people decides to use a new TLD instead.
Thus, there is a growth curve for new TLDs. It’s not a hockey stick like some people predicted. But it’s there. Actual use by actual end users will increase over time. Slow and steady, but up and to the right.
NewTLDs’ adoption and use is the best thing that can happen for the corresponding .Com domain holders. Traffic bleeding from NTLDs will just increase the value of corresponding dot-Com names.
Please send a “cheap ” thank you card to any companies that are using the dot whatever and you own the dot com…
I don’t agree. Users, more than ever, are guided to websites though links and search engines. Leaked traffic is minimal.
At best, you are feeding on nTLD crumbs with your argument. That’s all you have to promote. Feast on crumbs. Then, do those crumbs HELP as much as you think?
Any ‘leaked traffic’ is mistaken traffic (after having previously visited the nTLD site). Most the time, user knows they made an error in visiting the .com upon arrival.
They bounce instantly. The analytics gets wrecked. The nTLD is effectively terrorizing the .com version with MISTAKEN traffic.
The .com tanks in SERPS as a result, and when webuser figures out their mistake, they will patronize the domain they meant to visit (already seen it once, more often than not)…. That nTLD then rise above.
Bounce / time-on-site / next website visit is a BIG factor in how Google evaluates engagement/ranking. Your leaked traffic is TOXIC traffic.
If the nTLD is big, those crumbs you praise hinder the .com more than anything. Support/email is annoyed, maybe even overwhelm with irrelevant inquiries.
I don’t condone weaponizing ntld to eviscerate a .com competitor, but it’s possible, albeit, complex in practice
I noticed two awesome use cases yesterday. One is by a company called Well Health Technologies Corp, which is a publicly traded company out of Canada providing TeleHealth and Virtual Clinics using http://www.Well.company. After see that I checked out http://www.Well.health and there is another company called Well Dot, another virtual health site. I haven’t been able to verify if the two companies or sites are connected, however they’re nice use cases of new domain extensions. Great use cases are happening more and more daily, and I believe this will continue increasing.
The industry loves touting anytime a .BRAND (exclusive to the company that applied) fails. We’ve seen a handful fail. The comments are full of the same people cheering on .com and ridiculing each ‘failure’. As if.
What media fails to provide is CONTEXT.
There are ~550 .brands. Of course some will abandon them (so what are we up to? 5% of them abandoned?)…
Of 550 .brands, as provided in the neustar 2020 report:
https://www.home.neustar/lp/brand-report/index.html , During 2019, 18,722 domains were registered within the 550.12,509 of those domains were ‘in use’ as of DEC 31.
If you stand back and think about that, that’s a big number. 68% of the domains they ‘registered and tried out’ remain in REAL use. That number has been growing. 10%-20% y/o/y.
The numbers point to a fact – you can’t see the forest though the trees. You need the whole story. That is, these are being used extensively.The data indicates they ARE effective for companies that leverage them smartly.
As an aside, I put newTLD vs .com on websites in practice. I follow Google trends closely. The (smartly chosen) nTLD version receives clicks that are unimaginable to .com. For whatever reason, from page 2-3+ these domains get 5, 10, 20% CTR.
This explains why they rank so fast. Once at the top, the limiting factor is developer ability to create competitive content fast enough…not the domains problem. The new domain does its job perfectly.
The actual amount of clicks a well place nTLD would embarrass the .com version. I’m here to tell you, conversions matter too. Ultimately is the nTLD perceived as authoritative? Did user click out of intrigue, or are they convinced?
It’s best you test yourself. Get a fair 2 word .com..a good one. Be fair…no one clicks trash. Then get a (exactly) matching nTLD domain (2 word span the dot).
None of that silly busy-body 2-word brandable stuff that everyone fell for. You need SEARCH VOLUME phrases, say 50k/mo. +
Next put up a 1 page website – it takes a day…get some affiliate links, why not? Finally. Advertise it with adwords or whatever. Look at how many MORE clicks the NEW domain gets vs .com. You’ll be shocked.
Bet, ll that carries over to organic search too.
Why does the industry judge nTLD based on their FEELINGS? The data shows they are dead wrong. So far blown out of the water…a massacre. If domaining doesn’t know, how can end-users know? They’ll find out…this’ll explode someday when the cat out of the bag. Some developers already know, most definitely including Google.
6 years in and there is no substantial usage of .brand, it is flopped far more more than other tlds. Anyone investing in new tlds in wasting their money.
You’re ignorant. I just posted the facts, as given by neustar. 68% usage of domains – IN USE (AKA: USAGE). Is that not substantial? It’s more than .com usage – although that’s sort of comparing apples to oranges, since .com is open to anybody.
The usage is 12k+ domains from 550 TLDS.
You are only lying as usual. I provided the facts and you post conjecture with NO fact.
You should be banned for lying, imo. What facts do you have. Do you dispute neustar data? Prove otherwise.
A lot being used as forwards too. That’s because the .com is already established, but the nTLD serves as a better advertising mechanism.
A lot of stuff like:
boston.hyatt
london.hyatt
chicago.hyatt
seattle.hyatt
Being effectively leveraged in ways you’ll never grasp.
As pointed out in the post, it’s prudent to focus on NEW businesses adapting them. Expecting .com to abandon for a newTLD is rather an extravagant, wild speculation. Perhaps someday though.
Even many of the .brands THEMSELVES are unaware of what they might do with their new brand.
There is forthcoming shift in perception AND realization of benefits. Widely unknown and unexplored. No credit to ‘domaining’. They sit on hands.
You like to dispute the generalized data. So let’s have a look at a few of THOUSANDS that are using it.
Domains.Google
applecash.apple/grubhub
sanki.komatsu
mining.komatsu
Many examples, many way better than I offer you here. See for yourself.
The big picture is what’s important. There are too many examples to just pick out and say. WAY MORE USE than you put forth. You are simply lying.
Look in the details yourself!
Leverage these new domains with your own ACTUAL use and .com comparison. Hard facts. Until you do that, all you will know is propaganda. You choose to ignore the data I present to push your conjecture.
Sad for you.
All the .hyatt’sl redirect to hyatt.com!
The facts as given by Neustar? Why would you base your research on sales pitches from registries?
To gpm group above. You failed to comprehended what I wrote. I said they act as redirect, explicitly. I also eluded to the a fact you choose to totally ignore.
You aren’t worth debating.
Nor is Snoopy, as always. He asks rhetorical questions, to insinuate to us that they are giving false information.
Your methods are despicable. You’re a plague.
You’re allowed to persist and conjure up ideas of falsehoods under the guise of tolerance.You’re a coddled snowflake. A lot of bad could be said about you.
Common snoopy. Facts!
If we put you in a cell for 1 week, how many developed websites could you name with 100% certainty?
A couple hundred? Maybe a thousand?
As of January 2020 there were over 1.74 billion websites on the Internet.
Your personal view is negligible. Will strongly suggest you follow data rather than your tail.
I couldn’t name a single developed website on a new tld.
Go to you know where. We all know that’s a lie too. So coy. You’re smug, aren’t you? So fake. So so fake. You lied snoopy. You know at least 1…we aren’t stupid.
It’s not like you wrote a paragraph and pushed in a lie. You blatantly lied with a 1 sentence response. You provided us nothing but a lie.
Ironic that this story follows a story titled “THE PREFERENCE FOR DOT COM”
That’s the first thought that came to my mind when I saw it yesterday but the stories are from two different authors 🙂
Impartial views on ngtlds are rare.
The truth is what you describe, ngtlds will never take the place of .com but they are not trash as most investors seem to think. Registries that reserved the majority of good left.right combos or priced them extraordinarily high contributed to the popular view that there are no opportunities for investors and that ngtlds are just a waste of money. This is true for many tlds but not for any Donuts-owned for example. There are opportunities if you know what to buy and at what price($/yr). It’s no different than investing in 2-keyword .coms. If you buy something like fooddelivery.com for $5k you are guaranteed to make money the next day. The same goes for the .delivery version if you can get it at a sensible renewal. The best combos are long gone by now, the ones registries didn’t reserve are in the hands of a few investors that got them during the EAP of each tld but there are still opportunities in the low-mid range. 2-keyword .coms that would sell for $1k+ on godaddy auctions expire daily in the ngtld version and are available for $10/yr-$50/yr if you’re quick.
End-user demand is there for solid left.right combinations, regardless of the extension.
More well known tlds (like .app and .dev that google runs) are even more successful with end-users and command higher prices than their .com counterparts(by that I mean keyword.app will get a higher price than keywordapp.com).
I agree they are not “trash”, I just call them “junk” … lol j/k
What I see is the shift from adding prefix/suffix to.com to focusing on brand matching. The change from GetSupply.com to Supply.co is an example. If companies can’t find a .com matching their brand, they’ll consider other extensions.
One case does not make it a trend.
Also the guy who owns SupplyCo.com is probably very happy to get free traffic and increase the value of SupplyCo.com
Where is the best place or way to sell these new TLD’s? Any suggestions?
Best way to sell,
Step 1: Buy an extension/registry
Step 2: Promote extension to domainers
New Gs are not for domain investors. Keep saying it.
Maybe you should have followed your own advice then Matt?
Why? I’m making money with my niche investment.
I’m clearly disputing the notion that you keep throwing out there that denies any end users want new Gs – it just isn’t true no matter how many times you say it.
Domain investors will have a hard time making money with new Gs – always said that. But everyone needs to be aware of their impact because more end users are gravitating towards them – that affects demand for .com.
As for my niche, my latest sale – a .nyc for $15k. Buyer now 3 months into an 18 month payment plan with Dan.com (Laszlo at Dan can confirm).
But hey, be stubborn and ignore what every new domain proponent is saying, because sure it’s more likely that we are lying about our sales to win some ridiculous rivalry that a couple of .com investors have created.
Or maybe we’re not 5 years old and the sales are real and end users are out there buying these up.
From what I see 99% of .com investors fail from one extent to another. 95% of them are throwing money out the window right now. 4% might get lucky once or twice but blow that all eventually too.
Domains, in any sense, aren’t for most people…and that’s an understatement.
I don’t mind calling the lame ones domainers. They try…that’s enough. Still though, they fail.
What they need is someone to take them under their wing individually. Set them up with a portfolio of 10-20 GOOD domains. They can ponder those awhile, while they own them…get excited about those and base their future accusations more in line what they already have. They really will figure it out faster, holding better domains.
Of course the better domain teacher couldn’t gouge them…lead by example, others will follow.
But no1 out there offering it. It would take A LOT of explaining. If there were a whole industry saying ‘THIS WORKS’, follow that guy! Take his domains and wait a year – it would be more effective.
One persons voice is never heard over the noise. Unless people are on the same page, everyone gets nowhere. And that’s exactly what has been going on with domaining.
I have had success with Uniregistry (which just recently became a subsidiary of Go Daddy).
Thanks Andrew for being that impartial voice.
I’ve been seeing this for a few years and hopefully my trail of tweets and articles show not only how .NYC is being widely and organically used in the city, but also my unwaivering premise that new domains offer end users a nice opportunity for them to acquire their perfect match domain name for a great price.
Perfect match may mean an over the dot brand, or it could mean a TLD that is their chosen descriptor. How they see themselves and what they want to be known for.
These folks are creative and want to build businesses that they are passionate about and they want a name that they can be passionate about. That passion may be at the initial expense of awareness and SEO, which is all catching up… But the upside is how they feel about the name when they see if and tell people about it, with a smile each time.
There is very little room for domain investors here. gTLDs are not meant for investors. Plain and simple. That isn’t to say there aren’t any opportunities for those who try to carve out a niche.
Search anything in Google and you’ll see more than a handful of non-coms across the first few pages. They’re here to stay folks. Let’s move past pretending and I’m saying this not as a booster of them, but as a level headed realist who is a little tired of Schwartz and Snoopy bashing every piece of positive new domain news with their poison.
But while going up and to the right, getting after the ICANN fee chasm is still hard.
When people realize that the new Google search engine system cousin easy search component-based on specific keywords in many areas for easy search the new tlds will become easy searches. Dot-coms are cool but gtldomains are so much cooler in sound , marketing presentation and traffic generation. For the people who understand SEO and the presence of Google and what search word means in 2020 then lightbulbs might start turning on. But honestly I’ve worked with some of the people and the light bulbs in this industry in people’s brains don’t seem to turn on. It’s like a band of followers who want to lead. Ughh. the newer Generations ..the techies ..the awoken, the brains of the inertnet. Ones the ones who have creativity. It seems like some of the people in the olden days by the.com held onto it with no creativity for 10 years and went ahhh i guess time to sell LOL…. let’s face it there’s billions of people on the planet and everybody’s going to be working online now. I want a name that promotes my business. Speaking up when you put a. Live into the Google search engine now it pops up all of the events and shows. Try it. The technology in the Google search in the new tlds are going to be off the chain in about a year. Get ready.. unknowingly some peel these were released that are really going to piss some people off and they have no idea. Cheers to that. Thank you thank you thank you Google for being my friend behind closed doors LOL.
Yes. Domainers have NO idea on SEO. They go by feelings. Not by what data shows. Google has been helping these out, and I’ve been saying it for years. They are boiling the frogs. If they skipped to the ultimate end, giving heavy weight to EMD nTLD domain (as I know they will), it would create too much disruption too fast.
Just look at SEO websites on the most recent updates, this last week. Everyone is saying how they are losing tons of traffic.
I have so much of my own data, it might as well be conclusive. This industry of domaining though doesn’t look at that. Everywhere I go, they even LAUGH at me when I tell the google pilots this ship. They don’t understand websites and how search engines dictate so much of their ‘investment’.
All the known sales on namebio.com of ALL domains amount to $2 billion usd…20 years worth. So what if we know a TENTH? In that case, Americans blow off more than that $1 billion usd IN ONE DAY.
Domaining thinks they know everything. Com’r blundered. Sold out for a pittance. Push silly names between themselves, more than anything.
Sorry guys. Your tiny industry isn’t who I choose to follow. I’ll stick to what google, amazon, godaddy and so many others are investing in.
Keep your .coms, frogs.
In my opinion, the question is not so much whether .com is better than an ntld (in some aspects it still is), but whether the difference justifies paying 50 times or more the price of a registration under an ntld. Most two-words.com are simply priced way too high, so it’s not really a surprise to me that more and more start-ups / small businesses choose to go with a new TLD that exactly fits the name or sector of that company.
Exactly.
And it’s not just 50 times more. For a side project of mine, I wanted the keyword.com and the owner wanted $1.5 million (honestly it’s probably worth $200k).
I thought about it and decided to buy a .digital which, along with the keyword, describes the business/project perfectly. It cost me $2.50 !
I have a logo, website, email and the business cards all created and it all fits well to the brand.
I’m not missing out on traffic or email leakage for the scope of my project and market. I’m saving a truck full of $. I love the .digital alongside my keyword in the domain and email. The domain has been a talking point for clients.
The more organic cases of use, just like my registration and use here, the more that the use will snowball.