New gTLDs Will Make Geo Domain Market Huge

Posted by Steve under General on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 7:38 pm

ICANN just announced its approval of new gTLDs which will more than likely lead to a new online goldrush as suggested in the article. But this time it will be corporate America and Traditional Media making the move to become the new owners of elite extensions and not entrepreneurs. While many domainers have their opinions on this recent announcement, I for one am glad that ICANN has opened the flood gates. There are many Pros and Cons to new gTLDs or as David Castello has coined vTLDs on ElliotsBlog.com. But, I do not want to get into that can of worms at this time. I will leave most of that stuff for the experts to discuss and give my opinion on their blogs. There are plenty of topics already in the industry on this announcement if you are set on learning the pros and cons.

So why am I excited about this new announcement? Well, the Geo Domain Industry just grew 10 fold with this new announcement of vTLDs. We can anticipate the following geo domain extensions such as .nyc, .paris, .london, .chicago, etc…… to come soon enough. And the amazing thing is many of these will not be launched by small time companies. Major media companies are going to to jump at this opportunity since they missed the boat on geo .coms. True value will unfold in the industry as gTLDs are embraced by corporate America. This is a lot of geo domains when you look at how many countries, cities, states, and regions there are in the world.

The timing could not be better with all of the internet going local. It is really wide open for solid growth in the geo domain industry. Even generic name .TLD will still use city, state, country, and regions in their website addresses as well. The possibilities and opportunities are endless. Our geo network being built is center mass of all this growth.

These are exciting times, and of course those who own elite .com geo domains will be in a great place as those consumers who are confused will end up at the .com address from time to time. What will separate sites, is what I, and many others have said from day one, Content. Quality content will bring that visitor back to your site regardless of the extension. Love the term coined by David as well, Vanity TLDs (vTLDs). Makes Perfect Sense.

11 Responses to “New gTLDs Will Make Geo Domain Market Huge”

1. Jamie Parks Says:
   June 26th, 2008 at 20:13 pm

   Embrace the chaos…

   ***SMO***

   Jamie,

   Glad to see you back. Chaos unveils opportunity and strategies for disruptive change. Both great things for those who act on them.

   
   
   
2. Fred Mercaldo Says:
   June 26th, 2008 at 20:15 pm

   I have read over 100 comments via different blogs…with the major geo-domain owners sounding positive. My true feeling is that our major city.com owners that develop sites properly will thrive…and not because of consumer confusion. Dot.com has been, and will continue to be the best real estate on the internet…I predict that you will see a major purchase in the coming 12 months, prior to the new TLD’s being issued, of a city.com by a major media company…at a price that will rock the domain world…our values will continue to appreciate, regardless of the new TLD’s.

   ***SMO***

   Fred,

   No doubt. .com will continue to rise in value. However, with this new opportunity, new strategies will be launched IMHO. This is a potential paradigm shift in the domain industry. It all depends on which companies embrace this new GoldRush Opportunity and how they build it out. One thing I forgot to mention, is that these major companies who embrace these vTLDs bring built in marketing with clients/customers. Much more different than the new TLDs that launch from scratch and have to build an audience.

   Regardless, elite geo domains will always remain valuable. The key thing to note here is that these new vTLDs have the potential to bring additional value to the geo domain industry, and this is never a bad thing for those invested in geo domains.

   
   
   
3. David J Castello Says:
   June 26th, 2008 at 20:23 pm

   Thank you, Steve.

   Now if I’d only thought of buying vTLD.com and vTLDs.com before I said anything this morning! Seriously, I thought about it, but felt it wasn’t the ethical thing to do.

   Name.com quickly snapped up both names today.

   ***SMO***

   Yes, this name vTLD will stick IMO, you should have registered the names. It would not have been an ethical dilemma, it is smart business. All good, you are credited at the originator.

   
   
   
4. David J Castello Says:
   June 26th, 2008 at 20:46 pm

   My dilemma was that bloggers were writing me this morning for my opinion on the ICANN decision and I immediately suggested vTLD to describe these future TLDs.

   My feeling was that if they found out later that I owned the name vTLD.com and/or vTLDs.com they may have felt manipulated.

   
   
   
5. Kellie Says:
   June 26th, 2008 at 20:58 pm

   What will it be, David? A fine Macallans?

   I wish I’d gotten my hands on vTLD.com - no such luck. But I do kindly thank you for the inspiration. See you in Chicago.

   
   
   
6. Emil @KING.NET Says:
   June 26th, 2008 at 23:09 pm

   who call it as vltd?

   or just another anything.tld

   
   
   
7. David J Castello Says:
   June 27th, 2008 at 01:10 am

   Kellie:
   A 25 year Macallan neat will do the trick.
   See you in the Windy City.

   
   
   
8. Rob Sequin Says:
   June 27th, 2008 at 07:16 am

   Agree.

   David gets credit for the term.

   These owners get credit for registering vtld domains AFTER he said it.

   Registered yesterday:

   vtlds.com
   vtlds.net
   vtlds.org
   vtlds.info

   vtld.org
   vtld.info
   vtld.biz
   vtld.us
   vtld.mobi

   vtldblog.com

   Available for registration

   vtld.tv
   vtlds.biz
   vtlds.us
   vtlds.tv
   vtlds.mobi

   (VTLD.com registered in 2003)

   
   
   
9. Tim Davids Says:
   June 27th, 2008 at 18:39 pm

   maybe I’m not understanding the concept but I dont see any oportunities with the vtlds…any city or company starting one will keep ALL the good names for themselves like mobi did only they will never sell them off to the public. Do you think “restaurants.Chicago” will be available to hand reg?

   
   
   
10. Conor Neu Says:
    June 27th, 2008 at 20:28 pm

    I agree with Tim here, at least for the short term. History repeats and do not expect any good generics to be available to the general public. I am expecting a lot of businesses buying the domains (FranksPizza.chicago), but the general generics could be limited or expensive.

    If .mobi does not take off, new vTLD owners will need to figure out a bit of a different strategy for their marketing and sales.

    
    
    
11. Tommy Butler Says:
    June 28th, 2008 at 04:27 am

    This is a weird one.

    Now lets thinks about this
    Tourist boards have spend millions rebranding there city and country locations with the word Visitlocation.com ect ect.

    Do you think they will scrap this and now go for .location
    maybe one or 2 but not them all.

    Media companys will be the ones who will snap them up newpaper companys will buy up the new tlds as its a way for them to get an new advertising stream to hit the local customers that we as geo owners are targeting.

    These new rules can do major city geo brand damage first of all most geo guys are running small business compared to advertising revenues and people that major newspapers can employ.

    Yes im scared “well im in not really” as cant see an advertising or media company buying my kind of location but i can see them spending $100.000 on tld like .london .nyc. paris .dublin .berlin
    ect ect.

    The advantage we guys have is we all ready have the sites build we have the customers and have build up the trust.

    And yes i agree its vanity names but every city have a vanity
    and this is going to be one big battle.

    so i would suggest for geo domainers to build more business relationships and start building there brands.

    Build more networks and advertise your own brand.
    last week i bought europeancitys.com why did i buy it.

    Simple to build a european network of city locations to advertise my main city.coms and town.coms

    to me this is the way of beating .”vanity names”

    ***SMO***

    Tommy agree with most here. You are one who have said this for years, develop, develop, develop

    It will be interesting to see how things turn out in the end. This does have the potential for a paradigm shift for the domain industry.

    If anything, alot of domainers are going to go broke buying everything up in 100’s of TLDs…. =)

    
    
    

Leave a Reply

Your comment here...

Or add a Video Comment

with

« Back to text comment