As someone who runs a website in the domain investing space, the new gTLD domain names will likely lead to advertising revenue opportunities. I don’t have any open banner spots nor do I have plans to add banner space, but at some point in the future, I assume there will be new gTLD advertising inquiries. That aside, new gTLDs matter to me as a domain investor, and I want to discuss why that’s the case.
In the next year or two, we are going to see most major domain registrars marketing new gTLDs to customers. I think we will see registrars try to upsell and cross-sell customers, scare them into buying them for brand protection, and use other tactics to create awareness of them and drive sales revenue. As much as these new gTLDs are going to make money for registries, I think registrars will seize this opportunity to increase customer LTV.
My opinion is that the marketing efforts will become mainstream, and there are going to be people who see lots of opportunity for this “new gold rush.” Whether we like it or not, tens of millions of dollars (or more) will enter the market from people looking to invest in these new gTLD domain names. This is going to not only make the registries and registrars wealthy, but I anticipate it will find its way into the pockets of other domain investors in many ways. For instance, people who make money from selling these domain names will likely re-invest it in good .com domain names.
I have no idea if these new gTLDs are going to be successful en masse. My gut says a number of them will be big successes and many will fail. I don’t think all will fail as some people seem to believe. I think there’s going to be too much smart money backing them for a large failure rate. I also think some will be loss leaders to sell other products and services, so a “failure” may not actually be a failure.
A wild card is what a company like Google does with its gTLD domain names as well as how the search giant treats the new gTLDs. I don’t think many people outside of Mountain View know exactly what Google’s plans are, and I don’t think we will be able to gauge the impact until quite some time.
New gTLD domain names have brought and will continue to bring considerable mainstream press onto domain names. No matter what happens, I think the business of investing in domain names is going to change, and it may change how we do business.
I can’t say for certain how things will change. I’ve built my business in a way that allows me to be flexible with my investments. Should I see non-.com opportunities arise, I am ready and I will be able to capitalize on them. My portfolio continues to be 99%+ .com domain names, and I am excited to see how things develop with respect to the new gTLDs.
Our business has changed over the last few years, and it’s going to be exciting to see how it continues to evolve.
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