2014-07-17

New gTLD domain name extensions -- where are all the suckers - err - buyers?

graphic of Google Trends charts for "domain extension" "gtld" ".com" ".net" ".xyz"
Google Trends charts for "domain extension" "gtld" ".com" ".net" ".xyz"

Google Trends - Web Search interest: domain extension, gtld, .com, .net, .xyz - Worldwide, Past 12 months".xyz wasn't searched for often enough to appear on the chart." [date of charts: 16 July 2014]

The bottom chart above puts everything into perspective -- apparently almost no one is interested in the new gTLD domain name extensions (beyond cybersquatters, speculators, and defensive trademark holders). And of course we also have the data.

It's all just as the Domain King predicted, and now the angst and excuses have begun -- just two examples of many --

Why Most Startups Haven’t Heard Of “The New gTLDs” -- here you get one domainer blogger's take on why the new gTLD domain name extensions are failing with the startup crowd -- plus an anecdotal survey of 20 of his fellow classmates from which he concludes if only we used proper terminology -- don't call them “new gTLDs” but instead refer to them as “new domain name extensions.”  Hence the title of this blog post so the darlings at Techstars won't think I am "speaking in riddles." Then I did a little research beyond just 20 people in Austin and the results (see above) are not encouraging no matter what you call them.

Then we have the Dean of domainer blogging who asks Will new TLDs get a second wind? [When did they ever have a first wind?] "Most new top level domain names are struggling to break even the 10,000 domain name barrier. Many applicants tell me they aren’t worried; it’s the long game...."  To which I can only quote the esteemed economist John Maynard Keynes:
"But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead."
photograph of John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)





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