Godaddy.com appears to have gone all in on the new gTLD’s.
Gone from the front page of Godaddy is the drop down menu listing the different domain extension that are available for registration, replaced by a huge ad for preregistrations of just 4 new gTLD’s, .Uno, .Luxury, .Build, and .Menu.
Actually the only other extension mentioned anywhere on the front page is .co which is right by the domain search bar.
Instead of a drop down menu there is a “domain search bar” which assumes the inquiry is for a .com
For example type the word “wild” into the domain search bar without an extension and you get a page telling you that wild.com is taken and then suggesting other domains in the .com, .co and .net extensions along with a couple of premium domain names for sale.
Do a search for wild.me and you get a page telling you the domain is not available but doesn’t suggest any other .me domain names but only .com, .net. org and .co domains along with 2 premium domains for sale
It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out not just in terms of the number of new gTLD preregistrations Godaddy gets but in normal domain registrations and of course for aftermarket sales.
With preregistrations for new gTLD domain names starting at $39.95 and going all the way up to $1,199.99 you can understand that margins on these domain names are far in excess of what Godaddy.com makes on a pure .com/.net/.org registration.
Its also interesting to note that on the page for .Luxury, Godaddy seems to be promoting in small part, trademark infringing type of domains.
On its .Luxury page, Godaddy site says:
“Whatever you sell – French champagne, BMWs, Miami condos – .LUXURY tells shoppers you have the best that money can buy.”
Not sure how many people looking to register a new gTLD domain name are going to know about the Trademark Clearing House, UDRP rules, URS rules or trademark laws.
Maybe not the best example Godaddy could have used.
Even when it comes to renewals Godaddy is including an ad for new gTLD on the bottom of the notice
The link that is on the renewal notices goes to a Godaddy page that looks like this:
Once again you can see that Godaddy’s site is now all about the new gTLD domain names.
This page says, find the right name, right now:
Hundreds of domains specific to you
Discover new domains””
Actually the new domains, the new gTLD’s are easier to find that existing domain names.
Again it will see what effect this type of advertising coupled with Godaddy’s new look will have on domain registrations, renewal rates and aftermarket sales.
This rain of crap will drive even more people to .com.
Pre registrations are the surest way to frustrate people looking to buy a domain. Especially at these prices.
Is Go Daddy encouraging people to buy BMWs.luxury? lol
if even 1 person buys a .whatever that is not “driving more people to .com”
because they didnt exist before, now they will. its taking away from .com… you can debate how much but saying its driving MORE people to it is nonsense.
Who could possibly take .luxury seriously? The concept reminds me of children playing dress-up. Plastic necklaces spray-painted gold. Knock-off “designer” handbags. Suckers. Fools!
@ontheinterweb
They are not buying right now. That is the Go Daddy nonsense. Marketing non existent merchandise. People will probably buy the one they want, if they are lucky, in 6 months to a 1 year from now. Until then the more people are confused by this Go Daddy nonsense the more they will by .com.
“Whatever you sell – French champagne, BMWs, Miami condos – .LUXURY tells shoppers you have the best that money can buy.”
You can also register Mercedes, Ferrari, Rolex, Gucci, Prada, and more…..
Pretty poor example for a major player in the field like GoDaddy to use. It looks like they are condoning TM infringement.
I wonder if that text was written by GoDaddy or the registry itself.
Brad
It’ll be interesting to see how this whole new gtld thing plays out. But I expect it to become very, very annoying. Particularly once registries get desperate and start mass emailing .com owners that they can own the same left of the dot in the .whatever.
The new gtld program is an interesting case study in that many of the people running the registries are probably going to break even or maybe make money. They can recover their investments because a number of people will be baited into registering names. But, overall, there isn’t any discernible need for new extensions. And when there isn’t a need, the idea will eventually flame out and it will result in a lot of people losing a little money each.
The gtld operators will make a little money. Gtld registrants will lose a little money. Overall, gtld domain names will prove to be more of an annoyance than impactful innovations.
Guess who will make the big money?
ICANN and registrars with the biggest one of all Go Daddy.
And a couple of new gTLD registries.
The launch of these things, is turning out to be anti-climatic. Where’s the bang?
A least they should have entered with their best: .web, .app, .club etc.
From what I see, there’s no pizzazz; almost like conducting a fireworks show with spent pyrotechnics.
Domaining is a form of arbitrage. New gTLD registries are being structured by people that are fully aware of the many markets domains are sold and don’t have DoC oversight, so they will take money from the table instead of leaving it to other parties.
What will make new gTLDs successful, or unsuccessful, is the relevance end user registrants and website users see in them, not the relevance domainers see in them.
@onlinedomain
whew, for a minute there i thought you were making a statement that will matter in 6 months or something..
as far as whos making the money – who cares – its still taking money off the .com table. but as long as your statement about “just bringing more attention to .com” has a built in expiration date, i agree i suppose.
I agree the new gTLD program would have been better off if the better domains went 1st but that couldn’t happen because those had the most applicants and still have contention and ICANN now said they won’t start auctions until March 2014 and it will take well over a year from that date to get them done.
@Berkens
“… ICANN now said they won’t start auctions until March 2014 and it will take well over a year from that date to get them done”. – Berkens
So who do you think goes online first, the good gTLDs or Obamacare?
Cater to the elite with .LUXURY – As low as $799.99*/yr
Really? When I can just register “luxury.xyz” instead… LOL You can’t make this stuff up!
Now this is priceless —
.luxury
Priority Pre-Registration – As low as $1,199.99*/yr
* Click here for product limitations and legal policies
You click, and you get
Product Limitations:
* Plus ICANN fee of $0.18 per domain year.
MB,
I find it interesting that the continuing banter on this and other blogs seems to be whether and what people will or might do. Current pre registration numbers aside which I believe are likely mostly speculative I see very little consumer engagement in much of anything as a business owner myself.
Its good to discuss things inter-industry but sooner or later somebody has to be concerned about the actual consumer market and whether they are buying or will buy .com or .whatever.
I think more focus needs to be on education and marketing and less on speculating on potential consumer actions that may not happen on either side in the absence of substantial marketing outreach and instead of the infighting insults and positioning regarding protecting ones point of view regarding the success of .com or .whatever .
I just got an email from Name.com advertising .IO registrations for $99.00. What? 99 bucks? Why would I pay so much for something that most people wouldn’t understand the meaning of. (It’s a real stretch to say it’s for tech / development companies, and that it means “input / output”. As if that really has any real significance…)
I’d rather register, (just as a joke), .GIGO. (“Garbage In, Garbage Out”.) But then again, I’d pass on that one, as well. So much crap coming up, and amazingly, it’s priced higher than the well-known extensions we’ve been able to choose from for years.