How to Decide if You Should Be Pumping Money into the gTLD Domain Names

Category : Domain Names
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This is the ground floor if you want to get in with the gTLD domain names.  If you’re going to get in on them ever than now is probably the best time to do so.  With over 600 new extensions coming out I would consider it a crapshoot on which ones will pick up steam in the aftermarket.  If you have a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines and you are willing to take an educated gamble you could jump in with both feet now.  But with the pricing structure that a lot of these domains are selling for it is a pricey (and risky) proposition.  Smart people minimize their risk if they are able to and before you start dumping your money into unproven extensions you should do whatever you can to minimize your risk.

1.  Presocialize the gTLDs to people and get a response.  Not many people are too aware of the gtlds, or when they are launching, or how the pricing structure works, or that you need to go to certain registrars to preorder them.  See if your current clientele has an interest in them.  We all get those spam emails saying “we own domain XXXXXXX.com and wanted to know if you were interested in purchasing it”.  We’ve all seen that the domain is actually at auction and they are trying to presell the domain before bidding in the auction.  I’m saying you should apply a similar concept and see if people would be interested in the domains prior to you dropping the bucks.

2.  Check out how the gTLDs that already released are doing in the aftermarket.  Probably the best litmus test you’ll get for now is Flippa.  There have not been strong sales, but a few have been selling in the $XXX range.  If you could register some similar domains at the normal reg fee you may be able to make some quick bucks on a flip to fund additional purchases.

3.  See who is buying.  There’s a reason why people see what Warren Buffet likes, because people like to put their money where the smart money puts their money.  Same can be done with domains.  Check out the whois info for some of the gTLD purchases and see if you recognize the names that are putting money into them.

4.  Can you take a domain, build a simple site on it, show some value and flip the domain/site?  Maybe a domain like Baseball.camp may not attract a lot of interest, but maybe a domain like Baseball.camp that lists out 100 baseball camps across the country might.  There are people are Flippa who are searching not only for revenue generating sites, but they are searching for potential.  Show people the potential and you may have a nice sale on your hands.

5.  If all else fails and you can’t do anything with the domain how are the doing forums doing in regards to people selling their gTLDs to other domainers?  Could you at least break out even with the domain?  If so, then you have no risk.  You can try to sell the domain and if all else fails you sell it for what you bought it for… but only if the market is there.  Look into this before you buy.

You should not assume any parking revenue for your domains.  The only people who may possibly land on your new gTLD domain today are other domains.  You will not be getting any type in traffic from the general public (in my opinion) so don’t go in thinking you can break out even on the reg fee with the parking traffic, it just isn’t going to happen.

I personally have purchased less than 10 gTLD domains to date.  I believe with the large quantity that is out there that my best bet is to focus on quality.  Quality keywords that make sense with the right of the dot extension name.  I’d rather purchase a great domain on Day 2 and drop a couple of grand than buy 60 OK domains when general availability opens up.  These will be much harder to sell than .com domains so you better have a compelling story on why the end user needs the domain, and the easiest way to have one is when you have high quality domains.  Cautious investing to all.

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Comments

  1. Funny names have been selling on flippa for a few hundred, but reg fee on these puppes are a few hundred also.

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  2. I’ve registered quite a few.. only time will tell whether they are a good investment. There are quite a few already at auction on Flippa.. some doing quite well, some not so well

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