Sedo.com published a New gTLD Research Report last month and I don’t see that anyone reported on it.
The report was based on a survey of 600 small to medium business owners that took place in January
The most important findings of the ‘gTLD Awareness Report’ are:
- 63% of small to mid-sized business owners are unaware that new gTLDs will be available in 2013 and many do not understand what the value of these new addresses will be.
- Over half of respondents feel that new gTLDs will make the internet more confusing.
- More than 40% of respondents said there was no advantage or were unsure what the advantage of a new gTLD would be.
- 94% of respondents said they were not currently planning to purchase a new gTLD.
We have reported about other similar surveys.
Generally we have the same criticism of this survey as the others, which is that more than half of those questioned never purchased a domain:
Why ask someone who has never purchased a domain about new domains?
If 36% never purchased a domain why would you even ask them if they were going to purchase a new domain?
If you were going to poll the public on NFL rule changes wouldn’t you ask 1st “are you a fan of the NFL” ? and if they answer no why would you ask them about rule changes?
So While many look at these numbers as a negative, we don’t
We don’t find it shocking or surprising that more than half of the respondents haven’t heard of the new gTLD program.
Why should they?
Not one has launched and the whole process seems to an outside (and some insiders) to be a bureaucratic mess which has been going on for years.
Of course none of the new gTLD’s registries have began to advertise, and ICANN hasn’t seemed to have spent a dime in marketing the program in mainstream media or to the type of business owners the survey covered.
The fact that 36% of respondants have even heard of new gTLD’s is we think pretty remarkable for a product that hasn’t even launched.
If 63% haven’t heard of a product its not surprising that only 6 % of the people plan on purchasing one.
On the other hand enom.com announced that they received over 2 Million expressions of interest to register a new gTLD and UnitedDomains.com has over 1.1 million pre-registrations.
Hello MHB,
We could have not been more right in all of our past comments on the gTLDs and this just corroborates our position. Consumers have NO trust in anything at the right of the dot that is not a .COM.
For all consumers know something .Whatever could be some Off Shore Scam.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
99% Unaware of New gTLD’s; 99.99% Not Planning On Purchasing One
the public does not give a SHIT about new gTLD or dot whatever except dot com
pffffffff
people trust established companies/websites, not extensions.
“offshore” (offshore from where?) scams are on .COM domains too.
Gratefully, Absolutely Nobody (Made up Group) (Aluminum Tiger)
R. E. ” pffffffff
people trust established companies/websites, not extensions.
“offshore” (offshore from where?) scams are on .COM domains too.
Gratefully, Absolutely Nobody (Made up Group) (Aluminum Tiger) ”
Its pretty obvious to all, whose the professional here and who is an unhinged???
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Contact Group)
yes Jeff.
me and you.
find one person on this blog or anywhere else who thinks your style of posting is the way to be.
Gratefully, Couldn’t be Important If I Tried (well, hello) (Baby Kitten)
All of these surveys do not mean very much in terms of their value to most TLD applicants.
If I own .MENU, it is meaningless if 94% of people say they dont plan to purchase a domain in new TLDs. I can going to market my tld to restaurants. the relevant market research needs to be these users.
even, a generic like .web or .blog. when marketing for these, they will sell.
the same is true of so many of the tlds.
Hello MHB,
Anyone thinking that businesses who have to resort to gTLDs for Marketing their products is in huge trouble. By resorting to gTLDs this shows their Marketing Analysts should be fired and find a Smart Money Marketing Analyst who knows their profession in the New Online marketing world dead ahead.
Seriously encirca ?? where are you getting your info. from?, bubble gum wrappers?
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Jeff,
your corporate kind was the type that laughed at the internet in the early days.
keep shaking your fist at change there old man..
@Encirca:
.info .tv .jobs .biz .tel .mobi .travel (your favorite) .ws etc etc and more etc….
all of these didn’t work…because?
@Domo
because not enough of a flood was happening. 1 TLD per year isnt really going to gain anyones attention and there is a limited amount of money to be made by the registries, etc..
multiple that by 1,000 and they will find a way to make them “work”
people saying “they” wont find a way must think that everything sold to us are things we *need*
@Domo,
As insiders, we tend to focus on the success of the TLD as a business. Its true that none have scaled to their ambitions. And it is true that not ALL of the registrants will be happy with the results of their investment in a new TLD.
The fact that a TLD only has, say 10,000 registrants, does not mean the registrants in the TLD are unhappy with their new internet address. M
But for some registrants of new domains, the first batch of new TLDs worked VERY WELL!
There are businesses who are using .TRAVEL, .INFO, .JOBS and the others that are very happy with the results. Just google any of these TLD’s and you can find businesses that have built an internet business around an internet address using one of the TLD’s.
The point is this: there will similarly be registrants (but not all) of the future TLDs that will also be very happy in the results they deliver.
Whether the TLD operators themselves are happy does not really matter. ICANN has made sure that there will be someone available to keep these TLD’s alive even if they dont make much money for its owners, as long as there are some users of the TLD that are happy.
Tom Barrett
EnCirca
R. E. = ” your corporate kind was the type that laughed at the internet in the early days.
keep shaking your fist at change there old man.. ”
Let a wise old man educate you Grasshopper.
I embody and champion Internet Growth and expansion and reject uneducated ones such as yourself as knowing what the game is really about. Son I hope you are not advising clients, because they are in for a rude awakening.
People seeking expert advice seek out the marketers who know what Pure Play generic .COM profit centers are about.
IMPORTANT = If they suggest you build your Internet foundation on any other extension other than that of a .COM Profit center Foundation. FIRE THEM IMMEDIATELY !
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Tom,
at last an honest assessment!
Now when you say: ‘But for some registrants of new domains, the first batch of new TLDs worked VERY WELL!”, I am guessing yo refer to domainers/speculators players of the “greater fool theory” (survivor investors)…isn’t ?
I personally did very good with the dot tv and to a lesse extent with dot info, mainly Spanish-language domains and once, just to see what it felt like, I registered a dot.Mobi domain. That was indeed an awkward moment – and one I’m still trying to forget.
Someone else said long ago:
“nothing worse for the future development of a new extension/TLD than premium domains falling in the hands of domain speculators/hoarders”
But should we gauge the success of an TLD only by the shear number of registrations?
I personally think some of the new TLD’s will do “relatively” well… such as TLDs that represent a profession or a trade: eg .lawyer, my youngest son is about to graduate from a prestigious business school, when I asked him his opinion on the new TLD’s he said:
Dad is a very simple supply and demand equation, if I can’t have my name@lawyer.com I would go for myname.lawyer if I could” or something along those lines…
One thing that concerns me is the functionality/memorability of the potential new email addresses :
eg: JoeShark@Miami.lawyer or BendDover@Houston.doctor…
confusing to say the least.
Best.
Robert Fernandez.
Tom Barrett
EnCirca
Its interesting that you have so much faith in ICANN keeping the gTLDs functional?
We think ICANN will drop them like a hot potato just as they dropped lease holder protections against UDRPs for current extension holders.
We would be interested in how you can guarantee anything of this nature , please elaborate.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact group) (Metal tiger)
Apple Computers will never become popular… PC’s and Windows are too ingrained.
nobody will pay 2x and 3x the PC price for a computer with the SAME hardware inside would they?
welcome to the future. people buy things they dont need.
Gratefully, Nobody Important (Mickey’s Clubhouse) (I like long walks on the beach)
@ Tom Barrett
EnCirca
R. E. = ” There are businesses who are using .TRAVEL, .INFO, .JOBS and the others that are very happy with the results. Just google any of these TLD’s and you can find businesses that have built an internet business around an internet address using one of the TLD’s. ”
Each and everyone of these businesses could have been 66% larger and more successful by starting out with a .COM Profit Center. Just the extra Bleed traffic they missed by not using a .COM Profit Center can mean success or failure.
Why take the chance with other .Whatevers ? Only fools take chances, the Smart money knows better why don’t you ??
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
yeah, rarely do people take chances with business.
that would be unheard of.
“what does ENCIRCA know”
Jeff, the only way to know is to embrace the enemy. Google it. It’s amazing how much you can learn from ‘SEO Manipulated Search Engine Marketing. You say “More and more web businesses will be stranded and isolated in cyberspace” No knowledge is power and Google = knowledge. It’s Harvard it’s Stanford it MIT, its the library. It’s an intellectual Tsunami you are resisting at your own peril.
http://www.thedomains.com/2012/10/16/encirca-rolls-out-a-white-labeled-registrar-service/
ontheinterweb wrote:
> Apple Computers will never become popular… PC’s and Windows
> are too ingrained. nobody will pay 2x and 3x the PC price for a
> computer with the SAME hardware inside would they?
——–
Apple is an extremely unique example. They did so many things right over the past decade that they had no where to go but up. Apple’s iPhone division alone makes more money than all of Microsoft.
That’s why to compare Apple’s success with the hopeful success of gTLDs, is, to put it simply, ludicrous.
@Grim
not really so ludicrous.. its possible a handful of these gTLD’s will be the “extremely unique examples” out of 1,000+ and end up making people comfortable with .whatever eventually.
Snippets that ontheinterweb wrote:
——–
“Not really so ludicrous…”
“It’s possible…”
“A handful…”
“Eventually…”
——-
Sorry, but try including any of those phrases in a business plan and see how fast a potential investor laughs in your face and tells you to get the hell out of his office.
Yes, I believe that some gTLDs will make certain registrars a lot of money from people who think just like you. But other than that, what are they good for? Everyone who is saying that gTLDs will only make the Internet more confusing, not to mention less trustworthy, is spot on.
RE: “Sorry, but try including any of those phrases in a business plan and see how fast a potential investor laughs in your face and tells you to get the hell out of his office.”
Grim, this is happening. its not hypothetical anymore and its not my money involved. you get to watch from the sidelines and see what happens.
it isnt going to make the internet more confusing. the only people who will be “confused” are domainers trying to keep track of all the TLD’s that exist…
.COM is not “trustworthy” – its the most used and most recognizable. maybe there is an age gap here, but nobody i know would TRUST a website based on the TLD. that is an incredibly primitive way of going about things and never was accurate. they would probably choose .COM when buying a domain just like a lot of people think of GoDaddy when buying a domain.
im curious, what about a .biz site would YOU not trust ?
@ontheinterweb
I’m growing bored of this but I’ll answer your last question… I own .BIZ domains for defensive purposes for my .COM sites, but I’ve never visited one… ever. Are there any good ones? I wouldn’t know, because there are more than enough long-established .COMs out there to keep me occupied on the Internet way longer than I should be.
Anyway, enough, have fun.
@ ontheinterweb
History will record how ill informed you are as a newcomer to Online Marketing Realities.
My clients would laugh you out of their boardrooms. Good luck you will need it.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
fair answer – but thats not really a “trust” thing then..
@Jeff
im in my underwear. i dont want to step foot in a boardroom… thats the point son.
@ontheinterweb
You’re assuming it’s not a “trust” thing… but deep down, to me it wouldn’t be as trustworthy as a .COM. Anyway, do you have any .BIZ sites you’d recommend? There’s probably a reason there’s not a glut of them that people are overly excited about.
@Grim
you’re right about the deep down sort of thing. but i wonder how long it will stay like that? i’d imagine the reason i have no .BIZ sites to recommend (you’re correct) or even ones i’ve recently visited is more related to people “defaulting” to .COM since 1985.
(just kidding about that 1985 part, Jeff)
people copy what the big boys do though and this many random TLD’s has a higher probability of normalizing them then it did with only a dozen or so…lots of money will probably be lost in the process.
@ ontheinterweb
” Dude !, this is just the stress talkin man ”
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
I don’t even really know why I pay for defensive .BIZ and other obscure extensions that no one wants. That’s just good beer and whiskey money gone to waste. But I guess the headache of dealing with someone who decided to use one of my .COM domain names in a .BIZ, (or whatever), isn’t worth the hassle.
yeah but this will change the way a lot of people defensively register.. in the past i registered my full name in most of the TLD’s… wont do that anymore.
All these new gTLD’s will give a turbo-boost to the following statement that has ALWAYS rung true:
“Content is King”.
Doesn’t matter what extension you use…if your content is valuable to people, they will seek you out and spread the word for you – you could be using a .com, .net, .tv, .me, or whatever…it’s ALL about the content and value you provide to others.
R. E. = ” Doesn’t matter what extension you use…if your content is valuable to people, they will seek you out and spread the word for you – you could be using a .com, .net, .tv, .me, or whatever…it’s ALL about the content and value you provide to others. ”
Professionals writing content trust the .COM Brand when seeking Professional Content.
You wont find consumers or professionals trusting any other .Whatever when looking for credible professional Content.
NYTIMES.com , ETC. ETC. and on and on . Sorry WorldStarJobs this is not credible thinking on your part and contrary to 99% of consumers preference when looking for trusted and professional content. This is fact.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
I partially agree with WorldStarJobs. For example, if you had a website called SuperFunVideoGameReviewSite.INFO and you had absolutely the best selection and highest-quality video game reviews found anywhere, people would visit you, regardless of the name.
The problem is, as I’ve said before, creating that content. It’s not easy. It takes a lot of time. And if you hire people, as you probably would have to if you’re creating a site that will beat everyone else out there, it takes a lot of money.
So yeah, it can be done. You could get a .CC or .WS or whatever and make a really great site and people will come. But if you’re spending all that time and energy and money creating that site, why not go with a .COM in the first place? Even if you had to pay $50,000 to get a good .COM game domain name, that’s nothing compared to all the other costs involved. And I bet if you’re creative enough, you could easily come up with a .COM that hasn’t been registered and pay only $10.
So again, if it cuts down on the confusion factor that some people might have, and boosts your credibility, why not go with .COM in the first place? Ask most people and that would definitely be their first choice. (And look at most UDRPs and you’ll see that most people are trying to steal, er, lawfully obtain .COMs, as well.)
Hello MHB,
One of the favorite (We are victims) of the tech crunch followers is (not everybody can afford .COMs)
Well now everybody with that excuse for crying foul can Leverage a .COM profit center by leasing one. There is no longer a legitimate excuse for people to sit back and bitch instead of getting up off their lazy butts and create .
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)