There is a lot happening in Finance "and" new gTLDs. In fact this report on monthly domain name registration volumes is one of the longest from the Jovenet Consulting new gTLD reports. One of the reasons for this is that lots of Trademarks in the finance applied for their .BRAND new gTLD. The top of the report clearly is about generic domain name extensions dedicated to selling domain names but almost two thirds of it is about .BRANDs. Surprisingly, half of the .BRAND TLDs...are just not being used.
54 .BRANDS and 34 generics
Some Trademarks have put their personalized domain names in use and have registered more than 100 for them: .CREDITUNION (500 domain names) - .DVAG (200 of them) .BNPPARIBAS - .CITIC - .BLOOMBERG - .BRADESCO and .BARCLAYS
Between 10 and 100 .BRAND domains
15 financial .BRAND Trademarks have registered between 10 and 100 of their domain names. The interesting thing about this is that the volume of these registrations has kept increasing: a sign that .BRANDs are finding adoption?
No news from Boston Ivy
The registry in charge of operating .FOREX - .MARKETS - .TRADING - .CFD - .SPREADBETTING and .BROKER shows small signs of development and such niche TLDs with their low number of domain names registered seem to find difficulties to recruit registrars. Note that the price of these domains has already been lowered but...have all solutions been considered? Not sure.
Abandoned .TRUST new gTLD?
The .TRUST new gTLD received no more registrations on a one year period of time and sticked to 51 domains from January to December 2017. We found interesting titles used such as a "Domain Assured Portal" which could be an attractive service for owners of domain names at high risk of being stolen, wrongly transferred or..."and more".
Generics: blue or red?
What about generic financial new gTLDs? These are the domain name extensions dedicated to selling financial domains through the network of accredited Registrars: have they been successful in terms of volumes of domains registered?
First of all, it is important to note that 10 of them kept receiving registrations month after month and never lost one single registration (and when it was, more other domains were registered). This is a good sign for a registry (when it does not cheat). The extensions concerned are: .MARKET - .FUND - .CASH - .CAPITAL - .EXCHANGE - .FINANCE - .CREDIT - .FINANCIAL - .INVESTMENTS and .MARKETS
Then we have extensions which behaved strangely: the .LOAN gained 1,3 million registrations during the year. This is a lot and there is a story behind this...of course. It lost 1,8 million domains between June and July (...) The funny thing is that the plural version of this same TLD - the .LOANS new gTLD - gained registrations too but only has 3,584 registrations in total. Strange, isn't it?
Some TLDs lost (a lot of) registrations: The .BID new gTLD lost 90,000 registrations between January and December and .ACCOUNTANT lost 39,000 (its plural version - .ACCOUNTANTS - only has 2,573...in total. The .TRADE Top-Level domain lost 2,500 domains.
Finally, only five TLDs like .DIAMONDS lost registrations between January and December and 22 .BRAND extensions sticked to one single registration in one year.
Check the full report here.
A blog about New gTLDs and dotBrands (.BRANDs) from the ICANN new gTLD program. You can subscribe to The gTLD Club's Newsletter.
Monday, December 18, 2017
Finance and new gTLDs: blue or red?
Location:
Shamattawa, MB, Canada
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Friday, December 15, 2017
New gTLDs for the Law: blue or red?
Have new domain name extensions dedicated to the law received many domain name registrations in 2017? This table tracked registration volumes from January to December.
The list
There are not so many TLDs related to the law: .LAWYER - .LEGAL - .LAW - .商标 (".trademark") - .ATTORNEY - .PARTNERS - (.BAR) - .ASSOCIATES - .ABOGADO - .FAIRWINDS (a Trademark) and .ESQ
The list
There are not so many TLDs related to the law: .LAWYER - .LEGAL - .LAW - .商标 (".trademark") - .ATTORNEY - .PARTNERS - (.BAR) - .ASSOCIATES - .ABOGADO - .FAIRWINDS (a Trademark) and .ESQ
We found no other generic extensions dedicated to selling domain names but we found other trademarks with a connection to the law. We did not list them because they do not deal with legal things only but also accounting and plenty of other subjects. We are happy to add those we could not have noticed.
Blue or red?
The .LAW new gTLD gained more domain name registrations than all other extensions: 3,500 of them in one year and 2,000 for .LEGAL while .LAWYER gained...none.
The .PARTNERS and .ASSOCIATES kept receiving domain name registrations each month and sticked to the blue from January to December ("blue" meaning that they received registrations and "red" that they lost some).
Check the full report here.
Blue or red?
The .LAW new gTLD gained more domain name registrations than all other extensions: 3,500 of them in one year and 2,000 for .LEGAL while .LAWYER gained...none.
The .PARTNERS and .ASSOCIATES kept receiving domain name registrations each month and sticked to the blue from January to December ("blue" meaning that they received registrations and "red" that they lost some).
Check the full report here.
Labels:
dotlaw,
new gTLD reports,
statistics
Location:
Seattle, WA 98195, USA
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Unsure if this .BRAND has noticed
It is a fact: owners of new gTLDs do not all use their personalized domain name extension because they don't know what to do with it. They pay for it because they can.
It is also a fact that some...don't know what they bought. I went to some meetings where the people belonging to a .BRAND new gTLD did not even know that they had their own extension.
I wonder if it is the case for the .LAMER new gTLD which advertises for a .CREMEDELAMER on the frontpage of its Registry. This is a Top-Level Domain that actually does not exist.
It is also a fact that some...don't know what they bought. I went to some meetings where the people belonging to a .BRAND new gTLD did not even know that they had their own extension.
I wonder if it is the case for the .LAMER new gTLD which advertises for a .CREMEDELAMER on the frontpage of its Registry. This is a Top-Level Domain that actually does not exist.
Location:
Wilmington, NC, USA
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
The future of Round 2 ?
Extracted from the slide of a working group at ICANN
This is what the next kind of new gTLD applications could look like instead of "generic", "community" and "geographic" from the first round of the ICANN new gTLD program.
This is what the next kind of new gTLD applications could look like instead of "generic", "community" and "geographic" from the first round of the ICANN new gTLD program.
Labels:
ICANN new gTLD program,
second round
Location:
Dawa, Ethiopia
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
New domains for Companies: were we right?
In 2016 we started to select a certain number of domain name extensions in which we believed that companies should secure their (second level) domain names with: because they'd want to use it, or..."just in case". In 2017, from January to December, we tracked the variations of these registration volumes to see if they attracted consumers (Registrants) or not, and we're happy to see that we were not so wrong.
Note that if the number of domain names registered in a certain extension is not the only criteria for a successful new gTLD, it remains an important one.
Our selection
Here is the list of TLDs that that we believe companies should secure their domain name with:
With such an important list of more than 750 new domain name extensions, we did not want to select too many: just the one that we think are generic and international enough to be registered by a Trademark.
A certain number of TLDs have been very successful in 2017: the .VIP new gTLD gained 200,000 more registrations between January and December. This is mainly due to the chinese market.
The .BLOG - a must have - received almost 100,000 more registrations in one year and 50,000 more for the .WORLD new gTLD. The .SOLUTIONS received 20,000 more and 15,000 more for .EMAIL (let's hope that .MAIL does not see the day). 10,000 more registrations for the .COMPANY and .GLOBAL new gTLDs. With .TEAM, all of these extensions just kept receiving registrations from a month to the other (understand that they sticked to the blue). The .WHOSWHO TLD which received 15 registrations in one year ;-)
The .SITE lost 48,000 registrations: this is a surprise since the .WEBSITE belongs to the same Registry and gained 40,000 more domains during the same period. The .世界 (.world) new gTLD lost...28,400 domain name registrations between January and December. Few TLDs from this report have lost registrations and when they did, except for .SITE and .世界 (.world), they lost very few, they stagnated during one year.
Did Jean Guillon secure his trademarks in these extensions?
Let's admit it: securing a Trademark in "just" all of these extensions is an investment and as a very small company, I admit that I used my budget a different way. I use a .CONSULTING domain name for my company but I secured in .BLOG - .EMAIL - .COMPANY - .COM and .TEL. I also own other domain names in the .INTERNATIONAL and .BUZZ new gTLDs from this list.
What about 2018?
We will probably remove the .TEL from our list and it is yet unclear if .SITE and .WEBSITE are absolutely necessary for a Trademark to secure: unfortunately, they are not the only generic TLDs and when their number is too important (there is a .ONLINE too), we think that it drops their value. Not to forget that .WEB - a possible game changer - will come at some point too. By the way, I will combine two reports in a single one in 2018: "Company" and "Generics" will come as one.
Check the full report here.
Note that if the number of domain names registered in a certain extension is not the only criteria for a successful new gTLD, it remains an important one.
Our selection
Here is the list of TLDs that that we believe companies should secure their domain name with:
- New gTLDs: .VIP - .SITE - .WEBSITE - .BLOG - .WORLD - .SOLUTIONS - .EMAIL - .COMPANY - .公司 (company) - .GLOBAL - .INTERNATIONAL - .EXPERT - .SUPPORT - .TEAM - .BUZZ - .商标 (".trademark" in Chinese) - .世界 (world) - .集团 (corporate group) - .CEO - .FEEDBACK - .WHOSWHO - .CONTACT - .WEB (coming).
- Legacy TLDs: .COM - .PRO - .TEL
With such an important list of more than 750 new domain name extensions, we did not want to select too many: just the one that we think are generic and international enough to be registered by a Trademark.
A certain number of TLDs have been very successful in 2017: the .VIP new gTLD gained 200,000 more registrations between January and December. This is mainly due to the chinese market.
The .BLOG - a must have - received almost 100,000 more registrations in one year and 50,000 more for the .WORLD new gTLD. The .SOLUTIONS received 20,000 more and 15,000 more for .EMAIL (let's hope that .MAIL does not see the day). 10,000 more registrations for the .COMPANY and .GLOBAL new gTLDs. With .TEAM, all of these extensions just kept receiving registrations from a month to the other (understand that they sticked to the blue). The .WHOSWHO TLD which received 15 registrations in one year ;-)
The .SITE lost 48,000 registrations: this is a surprise since the .WEBSITE belongs to the same Registry and gained 40,000 more domains during the same period. The .世界 (.world) new gTLD lost...28,400 domain name registrations between January and December. Few TLDs from this report have lost registrations and when they did, except for .SITE and .世界 (.world), they lost very few, they stagnated during one year.
Did Jean Guillon secure his trademarks in these extensions?
Let's admit it: securing a Trademark in "just" all of these extensions is an investment and as a very small company, I admit that I used my budget a different way. I use a .CONSULTING domain name for my company but I secured in .BLOG - .EMAIL - .COMPANY - .COM and .TEL. I also own other domain names in the .INTERNATIONAL and .BUZZ new gTLDs from this list.
What about 2018?
We will probably remove the .TEL from our list and it is yet unclear if .SITE and .WEBSITE are absolutely necessary for a Trademark to secure: unfortunately, they are not the only generic TLDs and when their number is too important (there is a .ONLINE too), we think that it drops their value. Not to forget that .WEB - a possible game changer - will come at some point too. By the way, I will combine two reports in a single one in 2018: "Company" and "Generics" will come as one.
Check the full report here.
Labels:
dotcompany,
new gTLD reports
Location:
Palmas, TO, Brazil
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Monday, December 11, 2017
City new gTLDs: blue or red?
Which have been the number of domain name registered for city names as a new domain name extension in 2017?
From January 2017 to December 2017, we took a monthly snapshot of each city domain name registration volume. There are 42 of them to which we added 2 domain name extension related to cities: the .CITY and the .TOWN new gTLD. Tours is a famous city in France so we added it too.
Blue or Red?
As usual, blue is for the city names which gained domain name registrations from a month to the other and red is for those who lost some.
In general, we can see that there's not so much red in the table but for a few TLDs. This is not the case for other groups of TLDs. As you will notice below the problem with city TLDs is that...they stagnate.
Some cities are successful: the .TOKYO Top-Level Domain gained 25,000 registrations in one year and 16,000 for .LONDON while the .NYC gained almost...no registration on a 12 months period of time.
There is an interesting project out there which explains the success of the .CITY new gTLD: one registrant own 22,000 of them: let's hope that this project is a success! The .TOWN knew a constant progression curve until beginning of december 2017. These two generic TLDs do progress.
If .TOKYO is a success, the .VEGAS is another one, it gained 6,000 registrations in one year and never went backward from a month to the other. Other city TLDs which have sticked to the blue:
From January 2017 to December 2017, we took a monthly snapshot of each city domain name registration volume. There are 42 of them to which we added 2 domain name extension related to cities: the .CITY and the .TOWN new gTLD. Tours is a famous city in France so we added it too.
Blue or Red?
As usual, blue is for the city names which gained domain name registrations from a month to the other and red is for those who lost some.
In general, we can see that there's not so much red in the table but for a few TLDs. This is not the case for other groups of TLDs. As you will notice below the problem with city TLDs is that...they stagnate.
Some cities are successful: the .TOKYO Top-Level Domain gained 25,000 registrations in one year and 16,000 for .LONDON while the .NYC gained almost...no registration on a 12 months period of time.
There is an interesting project out there which explains the success of the .CITY new gTLD: one registrant own 22,000 of them: let's hope that this project is a success! The .TOWN knew a constant progression curve until beginning of december 2017. These two generic TLDs do progress.
If .TOKYO is a success, the .VEGAS is another one, it gained 6,000 registrations in one year and never went backward from a month to the other. Other city TLDs which have sticked to the blue:
- The .BOSTON new gTLD which launched in September 2017;
- The .YOKOHAMA Japanese TLD;
- The .TOURS (not a city TLD but I don't mind, it is a city too in France);
- The .BRUSSELS extension;
- The .OKINAWA extension from Japan;
- The .KYOTO extension from Japan.
Some city TLDs are still in "we have no idea what to do with our TLD" mode and have registered very few domains: .DUBAI - .MADRID - .ABUDHABI and .STOCKHOLM (when a TLD registers a very limited number of domain names, it can mean that it is doing tests and there nothing more coming).
January was better than December
Some cities had more domain names registered in the beginning of the year, in January 2017 than in December 2017. It is the case for .NYC - .BERLIN - .KOELN - .HAMBURG - .PARIS - .MOSCOW and its IDN, the .МОСКВА new gTLD - .WIEN - .ISTANBUL - .MIAMI - .IST -.QUEBEC - .BARCELONA - .COLOGNE - .DURBAN and the .RIO new gTLD. Some of these registration volumes stagnate, let's hope 2018 will be better year.
Check the full report here.
Some cities had more domain names registered in the beginning of the year, in January 2017 than in December 2017. It is the case for .NYC - .BERLIN - .KOELN - .HAMBURG - .PARIS - .MOSCOW and its IDN, the .МОСКВА new gTLD - .WIEN - .ISTANBUL - .MIAMI - .IST -.QUEBEC - .BARCELONA - .COLOGNE - .DURBAN and the .RIO new gTLD. Some of these registration volumes stagnate, let's hope 2018 will be better year.
Check the full report here.
Labels:
dotcity,
Jovenet Consulting,
new gTLD reports,
statistics
Location:
Paris, France
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Friday, December 8, 2017
Photography and new gTLDs: blue or red?
This is the "recap" of the 2017 new gTLD report related to photography and a few other digital things. You might have noticed that the title of the report has been changed to "Photo / Digital new gTLDs". The reason for this is that the report informs about more than photography and I was requested to add the .DESIGN new gTLD. This new TLD will be added to the report in 2018.
Blue or Red?
Blue and red are the two colors that I used to qualify the extensions that gained registrations (in blue) and those who lost some (in red) from a month to the other.
One can easily notice that the .MEDIA - .STUDIO - .DIGITAL - .ART and .CAM new gTLDs have sticked together and known a successful year in terms of registrations. The .ART launched late and is a pretty interesting example since its Premium domain name strategy was criticized, blocking hundreds (thousands?) of domains from being registered through the network of accredited Registrars.
The .FILM and .MOVIE Top-Level Domains are interesting too since they are niche TLDs. Their progression curve is slow but constant. The film (and movie) industry seems to be attracted by these two highly descriptive extensions.
I bet on the .PHOTO (with no "s") new gTLD when I launched these reports and wrote that the singular version of a TLD would beat the plural version in terms of interest. If registration volumes demonstrate "interest", I guess I was wrong since the .PHOTO domain name registration volume is seriously dropping down and lost 7,000 registrations in one year when the .PHOTOS gained 800. But hey...it is still too early to say since the figures that I see...don't match.
In regards to .PICS, the behaviour is strange since it is a short TLD, kind of descriptive too: every english speaking person knows what a "pic" is. I don't understand why it has lost almost 20,000 registrations since January 2017. In fact, I would be tempted to think that "pics" do not magnify the word "photography" so one interested in such extension would rather buy a ".photo", a ".photos" or a ".photography" instead of a ".pics". Or is it because there's a .PICTURES too?
The two .BRAND new gTLDs for Canon and Nikon have not been very active and seem to have been in tests during the year but the .NIKON extension recently increased its registrations to 30 ".nikon" domain names recently. 16 only for the .CANON TLD. Are the two competitors entering the arena with a project?
Check the full report here.
Labels:
dotphotos,
icann,
new gTLD reports,
statistics
Location:
Sweden
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Thursday, December 7, 2017
New gTLDs and Catering: blue or red?
The year is finished and volumes of domain names registered in the Catering category are now available: it is now possible to check which domain name extension has been successful and which has not in terms of domain names registered.
Four extensions: .CAFE - .COFFEE - .PIZZA and .食品 (food) have received increasing domain name registrations month after month and sticked to the blue.
TLDs such as .KITCHEN - .MENU - .RECIPES and .COOKING have less domain names registered in December 2017 than they had in January 2017. I don't call these successful TLDs.
The .PUB domain name extension lost more than 10,000 registrations from January to December 2017.
Some Trademarks withdrew their application and Mcdonald's was one of them.
Check the full report here.
Four extensions: .CAFE - .COFFEE - .PIZZA and .食品 (food) have received increasing domain name registrations month after month and sticked to the blue.
TLDs such as .KITCHEN - .MENU - .RECIPES and .COOKING have less domain names registered in December 2017 than they had in January 2017. I don't call these successful TLDs.
The .PUB domain name extension lost more than 10,000 registrations from January to December 2017.
Some Trademarks withdrew their application and Mcdonald's was one of them.
Check the full report here.
Labels:
dotcatering,
newgtlds,
statistics
Location:
Iceland
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Monday, December 4, 2017
VOLVO is not testing the electric car...
...is is testing its .VOLVO new gTLD :-)
It is quite usual that Trademarks to have acquired their expensive .BRAND new gTLD don't do anything about it. When you look at the list of Automotive .BRANDs, you wonder why these companies applied for their extension: most of them have sticked to one domain name registration for the entire year.
Then, it happens
Tracking new gTLD domain name registration volumes allows to see when suddenly, something changes, and it is precisely what is happening with Volvo which had registered one ".volvo" domain name since 24 October 2016, the date when the TLD was delegated.
Volvo registered 26 more during the month of November. As a person used to noticing these registrations, it does not mean that the company is going to use them. First registrations are often a test but these also send a sign that the Trademark could start to deploy...its ".volvo" domains.
It is quite usual that Trademarks to have acquired their expensive .BRAND new gTLD don't do anything about it. When you look at the list of Automotive .BRANDs, you wonder why these companies applied for their extension: most of them have sticked to one domain name registration for the entire year.
Then, it happens
Tracking new gTLD domain name registration volumes allows to see when suddenly, something changes, and it is precisely what is happening with Volvo which had registered one ".volvo" domain name since 24 October 2016, the date when the TLD was delegated.
Volvo registered 26 more during the month of November. As a person used to noticing these registrations, it does not mean that the company is going to use them. First registrations are often a test but these also send a sign that the Trademark could start to deploy...its ".volvo" domains.
Labels:
dotvolvo,
Jovenet Consulting,
statistics
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Friday, December 1, 2017
Using the ".bot" new gTLD
The .BOT new gTLD has not launched yet but, according to Domain Name Wire, it appears that it was presented in Las Vegas recently. This domain name extension was delegated in December 2015 - two years ago - and belongs to Amazon.
This is what the Registry says about it:
This is what the Registry says about it:
- Identity: use a .BOT domain name to communicate your bot offering to the world and claim your unique identity to represent yourself in the bot community.
- Pioneer: if you are an early adopter and use bots to engage your audience, get your .BOT domain name early. Go ahead, be the pioneer that you are.
- Innovate: .BOT will bring the bot developer and user community together with tools and an online space that is all about bots and associated services.
A TLD dedicated to...Bots
Obviously, these domain names were created to offer an identity to those willing to introduce the service of their bot online.
If this makes perfect sense to me since the word "bot" easily allows to identify the universe of bots, I know I shouldn't be writing this but I personally hate it when I receive an answer from a bot. I tried some of the one offered on Skype and I got rid of them since they sounded like stupid answering machine trying to remind me about things that I didn't really care about.
"Automation, automation and automation"
Bots are a developing, this is a reality. Banks want them, call centers are already using them, and whatever one think, it is more affordable to use a bot rather than an employee, it's even faster (and again, I hate to write this).
After introducing its Messenger bot platform in 2016 Facebook went from 33,000 bots to more than 100,000 to talk to its customers. Stock trading bots are already very efficient too. So, are bots part of the future? Possibly. Are .BOT domain names the TLD bots makers will use to introduce their work? That's quite possible too. In a close future? Time and how Amazon will market it will tell.
Amazon Lex
Buy the way, did you check amazon Lex?
After introducing its Messenger bot platform in 2016 Facebook went from 33,000 bots to more than 100,000 to talk to its customers. Stock trading bots are already very efficient too. So, are bots part of the future? Possibly. Are .BOT domain names the TLD bots makers will use to introduce their work? That's quite possible too. In a close future? Time and how Amazon will market it will tell.
Amazon Lex
Buy the way, did you check amazon Lex?
Labels:
amazon,
dotbot,
ICANN new gTLD program
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Des .MARQUES à la télévision?
Le parcours d’une entreprise ou d’une marque pour s’identifier sur Internet et souvent le même: un site Internet auquel une personnalisation viendra s’ajouter, celle du nom de domaine en “.com”. Pourtant, certaines marques en ont décidé autrement.
Des marques Françaises qui s’affichent
Des marques Françaises qui s’affichent
Bien que créer sa propre extension n’est pas chose facile, certains participants français au programme des nouvelles extension Internet, finalisé en 2012, ont beaucoup avancé et il n’est plus rare de voir leur publicité à la télévision. Sur les 49 candidats français, quatre affichent déjà leur nom de domaine estampillé “.marque” dans leur publicités.
Tel est le cas de Cuisinella avec son www.ma.cuisinella, de Schmidt avec son www.home-design.schmidt, de Leclerc avec son www.traiteur.leclerc et de BNPParibas avec son https://mabanque.bnpparibas.
Read the complete article (in French).
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Project John Wolley for new gTLDs
The concept of a universal directory does not exist on Internet. There are thousands of directories of all kinds and online Yellow Pages in many countries. All of these websites are different, accessed differently and operated differently: for example, Yellow Pages in France are different from their equivalent in Spain and Italy. There is no standard directory operated behind a same name worldwide.
This is what project John Wolley offers: a universal directory operated behind a single domain name extension.
This is what project John Wolley offers: a universal directory operated behind a single domain name extension.
Read my complete article on CircleID.
Labels:
John Wolley,
Jovenet Consulting,
new gTLDs,
round 2
Location:
Dallas, TX, USA
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Thursday, November 9, 2017
No one cares about new gTLDs?
Yesterday, I published an article entitled: "Publication: a new gTLD for $10,000 ?" and actually my source made an error: it was $100,000 and not $10.000.
I have been publishing about new gTLDs "only" for a few years now and I agree that few people cared about new gTLDs.
My publication generated a lot of views for a small blog like mine so I can confirm today that many more people pay interest.
Labels:
new generic Top-Level Domain,
statistics
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Publication: a new gTLD for $10,000 ?
A french major Registrar returned from the latest ICANN meeting, also called #ICANN60, and published that the asked price to submit a new gTLD application to the ICANN "could" change to $10,000 or below. There is no indication as if this concerns dotBRAND new gTLDs, community, geographic or other generic new gTLD applications.
My source just made the correction to $100,000. Apparently a "0" was missing.
I fell from my chair and I wondered: would this happen, what consequences could it have?
Reminder
It cost a lot to submit a new gTLD application in the first round of the ICANN new gTLD program: $185,000.00 was the fee. This was just the entry ticket. Other costs applied: writing the application, escrow service provider, backend registry, intellectual property, etc and etc.
In more simple words, it means that the awfully expensive entry ticket could be divided by almost 20.
The ICANN controls if the market of new gTLDs can expand or not and we still don't know when this can happen. Also, it is important to remind that the business of registries offers a fantastic advantage: it is some sort of monopoly since a registry is the sole legal entity to receive authority from the ICANN to operate the domain name extension it applied for. New questions arise then, if it cost $185,000 to acquire a monopolistic financial position: what if that cost was suddenly lowered to $10,000 ?
Possible Changes
Below are the possible changes such a drop of price could cause and I will be adding more content in the future:
Companies
40 cities created their domain name extension worldwide, some even created two extensions for one city but isn't this number nothing compared to the thousands of cities which could then have access to their personal online territory? There could even be a ".bordeaux"!
Registrars
A backend registry is the mandatory technical platform to operate a registry and be aware that this is a tough job: don't think that you can do that in your garage...for Top-Level Domains dedicated to selling domain names at least.
In the first round of the ICANN new gTLD program, submitting a new gTLD application required to enter a validation process which took long (several months, up to years). If actual ICANN reviews will probably allow to shorten procedures in the next round (ie: some backend registries have already demonstrated that they are "able" technically), the number of applications received could cause a delay problem. 1930 applications were received in the first round: how would 50,000 and more applications be processed by validation agents and how long would it take for an applicant to be granted the use of his extension? This is a real question if cost is lowered.
New gTLD speculation
There is background noise that some applicants would apply to speculate on new gTLDs since applications in competition can go to private auction and it can become far more profitable to lose one rather than launch a new gTLD. If you invest $200,000 ($185,000+) in an application to recover $500,000 to much - much - more in a lost auction, what would that give if the investment price was lowered to $10,000 instead of $185,000? This is an issue to me for generic TLDs but also...for Trademarks.
Could the web support it?
When new gTLD launched, many wrote that the Internet infrastructure could not handle so many more domain name extensions: I am surprised to see that nobody talks about this anymore. I expect to learn more about this when the ICANN technical review is terminated...if it ever mentions this.
Objections
There are procedures to object against an application: when a community is not representative enough, when there could be a trademark infringement, etc... If the fee to object was very high in the first round of the program and the ICANN procedure a complete nightmare, what would this be if - suddenly - hundreds/thousands of Trademarks learnt that someone else applied for their sign as a domain name extension? Again, this is a real issue that the ICANN has to face: as a small company using a Trademark, I just could not face the cost of such a procedure...and protect myself from bad behaviors.
I will be adding content to this publication.
My source just made the correction to $100,000. Apparently a "0" was missing.
I fell from my chair and I wondered: would this happen, what consequences could it have?
Reminder
It cost a lot to submit a new gTLD application in the first round of the ICANN new gTLD program: $185,000.00 was the fee. This was just the entry ticket. Other costs applied: writing the application, escrow service provider, backend registry, intellectual property, etc and etc.
In more simple words, it means that the awfully expensive entry ticket could be divided by almost 20.
The ICANN controls if the market of new gTLDs can expand or not and we still don't know when this can happen. Also, it is important to remind that the business of registries offers a fantastic advantage: it is some sort of monopoly since a registry is the sole legal entity to receive authority from the ICANN to operate the domain name extension it applied for. New questions arise then, if it cost $185,000 to acquire a monopolistic financial position: what if that cost was suddenly lowered to $10,000 ?
Possible Changes
Below are the possible changes such a drop of price could cause and I will be adding more content in the future:
Companies
- Only 489 Trademarks operate their .BRAND new gTLD worldwide but more would be interested and the possible number one reason would be to secure their assets. I already read the number of 50.000 more in the LinkedIn group dedicated to new gTLDs (2,600 subscribers).
- An interesting reason why a company could want "to apply" is to increase the level of trust for its customers: this is my number one reason and when some single short domain names can cost far more than $10,000 a piece, acquiring an entire domain name extension can seriously make sense in terms of branding.
- Groups could use their Trademarks and sub-company names as second level domains;
- The LAGUIOLE case figure is one that most Trademarks fear to face: with a lack of Trademark protection 20 years ago, the famous knives had no authority to operate under the name of the city where they are created until very recently! Who will be first to apply for the ".laguiole" new gTLD and how? As a city name or as a Trademark? With a lowered price for new gTLD applications, this would become a serious option to protect the Trademark for the next 100 years.
40 cities created their domain name extension worldwide, some even created two extensions for one city but isn't this number nothing compared to the thousands of cities which could then have access to their personal online territory? There could even be a ".bordeaux"!
Registrars
- They probably would consider building their own infrastructure (a backend registry solution) to host new gTLDs for their clients: some tools exist already and the myth of registering a dotBrand new gTLD the way a domain name is registered might even become a possibility in a close future.
- They would have to organize and industrialize the process to treat requests. Processing applications required lots of professional knowledge to participate in the first round and if lessons were learnt to prepare what's coming, treating and following dozens of applications will require organization and resources.
CSC will still have a problem with the ".csc" new gTLD.- Background noise - AND THERE IS A LOT IN FRANCE - tells me that there will be more, much more, dotBrand applications and I am confident that the ICANN registration process will be simplified. What if Registrars receive...hundreds of these application?
- New offers: a registrar is necessary to operate a .BRAND new gTLD. Doesn't it make sense to operate an existing domain name portfolio at the same service provider for new .BRAND registries?
A backend registry is the mandatory technical platform to operate a registry and be aware that this is a tough job: don't think that you can do that in your garage...for Top-Level Domains dedicated to selling domain names at least.
- It is quite possible that backend registries would transform their offers and lower their price, for .BRAND applications at least.
- Backend registries that I met in the first round did not all offer a complete solution to apply but a technical solution only: I expect this would change...to keep a client and avoid signing too many contracts with too many providers.
- Backend registries would probably have to compete with registrars and their new small solutions "key in hand" dedicated to .BRANDS (including escrow management, reporting, etc...)
- Get rid of exit fees and awfully expensive contract renewals. I read contracts that some applicants signed and I wondered: HOW CAN SOMEONE HAVE SIGNED THIS? Some registries' project(s) are already dead just because of this...and there are today far more interesting offers on the market.
- The historical domain name extension would still be used of course but new .BRAND applicants would probably start to redirect ".com" to their .BRAND to work more on their new branding and the new options made available to strengthen their Trademark, instead of ".com".
- Domain name investors (domainers) would be more pissed : many "hate" new gTLDs since they've flooded the market.
- They would become the best promotion tool for new gTLDs that has ever existed: more ".tlds" and ".brands" indexed means more visibility, strengthening the culture of new domain names for future generations.
- Google might start to better consider ".rugby" domain names as content related to rugby (this is an example): as of today, new domains are indexed the same way ".com" are.
In the first round of the ICANN new gTLD program, submitting a new gTLD application required to enter a validation process which took long (several months, up to years). If actual ICANN reviews will probably allow to shorten procedures in the next round (ie: some backend registries have already demonstrated that they are "able" technically), the number of applications received could cause a delay problem. 1930 applications were received in the first round: how would 50,000 and more applications be processed by validation agents and how long would it take for an applicant to be granted the use of his extension? This is a real question if cost is lowered.
New gTLD speculation
There is background noise that some applicants would apply to speculate on new gTLDs since applications in competition can go to private auction and it can become far more profitable to lose one rather than launch a new gTLD. If you invest $200,000 ($185,000+) in an application to recover $500,000 to much - much - more in a lost auction, what would that give if the investment price was lowered to $10,000 instead of $185,000? This is an issue to me for generic TLDs but also...for Trademarks.
Could the web support it?
When new gTLD launched, many wrote that the Internet infrastructure could not handle so many more domain name extensions: I am surprised to see that nobody talks about this anymore. I expect to learn more about this when the ICANN technical review is terminated...if it ever mentions this.
Objections
There are procedures to object against an application: when a community is not representative enough, when there could be a trademark infringement, etc... If the fee to object was very high in the first round of the program and the ICANN procedure a complete nightmare, what would this be if - suddenly - hundreds/thousands of Trademarks learnt that someone else applied for their sign as a domain name extension? Again, this is a real issue that the ICANN has to face: as a small company using a Trademark, I just could not face the cost of such a procedure...and protect myself from bad behaviors.
I will be adding content to this publication.
Labels:
ICANN new gTLD program,
round 2
Location:
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292, USA
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
The .USA new gTLD
In 2011, the .USA new gTLD team announced the creation of a .USA new gTLD for the second round of the ICANN new gTLD program.
You can check their website and meet with the team if you are in Abu Dhabi.
You can check their website and meet with the team if you are in Abu Dhabi.
dotUSA is attending #ICANN60 in Abu Dhabi. The GNSO finally introduced WT5 to discuss geographic names as new gTLDs.#dotUSA pic.twitter.com/Rb2yjUPzFA— dotUSA (@dot_usa) November 1, 2017
Labels:
dotusa,
icann60,
new gTLD applicants
Location:
Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Monday, October 30, 2017
Approved Board Resolutions for new gTLDs
This is an extract of the approved board resolutions from a recent regular meeting dated 29 October 2017 of the ICANN board. Content not related to new gTLDs was removed.
On the .GAY and .MUSIC new gTLDs
On the .GAY and .MUSIC new gTLDs
The Board has adopted the "BAMC Recommendation on Request 17-4".
In simple words: for the moment nothing changes and procedures continue.
On the .AMAZON new gTLD
The Board asks the GAC:
- if it has any information to provide to the Board as it relates to the "merits-based public policy reasons," regarding the GAC's advice that the Amazon applications should not proceed; or any other new or additional information to provide to the Board regarding the GAC's advice that the Amazon applications should not proceed.
- if it has any new or additional information to provide to the Board, it does so by the conclusion of the ICANN61 meeting scheduled to take place from 10-15 March 2018, in order to assist the Board's appropriate and prompt consideration.
To learn more.
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
New gTLDs subsequent procedures
#ICANN60 GAC: WG on subsequent procedures 4 #newgTLDs hopes 4 initial report by April 2018, w final report (except WorkTrack 5) by Q4 2018.— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) October 29, 2017
Labels:
icann,
new gTLDs,
second round
Location:
Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Time for .LOM and .VTO new gTLDs?
Lombardy and Veneto are two rich regions and it requires to be rich to operate a new gTLD.
If planning for more autonomy does not happen in one day, it is something that can be prepared, and new domain name extensions clearly offer that, on the Internet at least.
The next Round of the ICANN new gTLD program should be coming in a few years and both Lombardy and Veneto, as regions, will have full authority to submit ICANN an application to become sole operators of their own domain names. Note that Veneto won't be able to apply for a .VEN new gTLD since it is the ISO 3 code for Venezuela and the ICANN does not allow that.
Read my complete article on CircleID.
Read my complete article on CircleID.
Labels:
ICANN new gTLD program,
round 2
Location:
Lombardy, Italy
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Monday, October 23, 2017
Advisors blocking emails from new gTLDs?
I read that some advisors block their clients from receiving emails using a specific new domain name extension.
Yes...I read that (...)
In more simple words, it means that a person in charge of offering the service to manage emails for you will decide that (for whatever reason) you won't receive emails from a complete domain name extension. For example, if the .TOP new gTLD is a concerned extension, it means that you won't receive any emails from any email ending in ".top".
TLDs with the worst reputations
Yes...I read that (...)
In more simple words, it means that a person in charge of offering the service to manage emails for you will decide that (for whatever reason) you won't receive emails from a complete domain name extension. For example, if the .TOP new gTLD is a concerned extension, it means that you won't receive any emails from any email ending in ".top".
TLDs with the worst reputations
There is a list of TLDs with the worst reputations for spam operations. It is maintained by Spamhaus and this is how it explains why a TLD can be bad: "A TLD may be "bad" in two ways. On one side, the ratio of bad to good domains may be higher than average, indicating that the registry could do a better job of enforcing policies and shunning abusers. However, some TLDs with a high fraction of bad domains may be quite small, and their total number of bad domains could be relatively limited with respect to other, bigger TLDs. Their total "badness" to the Internet is limited by their small total size".
OK, this is not a new story: some new domain name extension - because the domains they offer are cheap - are an open door to spammers and malware operators but unless I am wrong, this has always existed: don't you receive spam from emails ending in ".com" too?
Scarry
I understand that Spam is an annoyance but I would certainly not want a third party to take the decision to block me from receiving emails from an entire domain name extensions for the assumption that it is listed in the Spamhaus list or just because some people don't like new gTLDs "because .com is better":
One thousand two hundred and twenty seven new domain name extensions were introduced to the Internet. In many of these "new gTLDs", domain name registration volumes are increasing, which also means that more people are using these in their email. If you have a doubt, have a look at this report. So: do you seriously want to take that risk?
Corporate Registrars
There are external advisors who "deal with domain names" and Corporate Registrars who it is the job to provide serious recommendations on how to deal with domain names and emails. They are not so many to be serious and I count five that I would recommend. On that list, none of them would ever - never - suggest their client to block a complete Top-Level Domain from sending emails.
And by the way
I have a client who uses a ".top" domain name for his website and decision was taken to use a ".top" because it matches with the name of the company. My client is fully satisfied with this: he even shortened his domain name changing to a ".top" and now redirects the ".com to the ".top", as well as emails.
- What if you miss that email coming from your new accountant who's using a ".accountant" domain name in its emails?
- What if you miss this email from that startup using a ".agency" because it wants to be identified as an agency online?
- What if you miss ALL THESE EMAILS because your advisor doesn't like new domain name extensions?
One thousand two hundred and twenty seven new domain name extensions were introduced to the Internet. In many of these "new gTLDs", domain name registration volumes are increasing, which also means that more people are using these in their email. If you have a doubt, have a look at this report. So: do you seriously want to take that risk?
Corporate Registrars
There are external advisors who "deal with domain names" and Corporate Registrars who it is the job to provide serious recommendations on how to deal with domain names and emails. They are not so many to be serious and I count five that I would recommend. On that list, none of them would ever - never - suggest their client to block a complete Top-Level Domain from sending emails.
And by the way
I have a client who uses a ".top" domain name for his website and decision was taken to use a ".top" because it matches with the name of the company. My client is fully satisfied with this: he even shortened his domain name changing to a ".top" and now redirects the ".com to the ".top", as well as emails.
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Thursday, October 19, 2017
CentralNic secures contract for 14 new gTLDs
CentralNic has agreed to provide KSregistry GmbH with its market leading Top Level Domain registry services. The deal with KSregistry covers 14 Top-Level Domain (“TLD”) extensions currently managed by OpenRegistry, which KSregistry acquired from Group NCC in 2017.
CentralNic’s registry services division is already the global leader and is the only company to support six out of the top twenty new Top-Level Domains, including .xyz, the domain chosen for new ventures by Google (abc.xyz), Deloitte (exponentials.xyz) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (engine.xyz) among many others. CentralNic is also a leader in TLD services for governments and enterprise, managing multiple country-code and geographic TLDs as well as the TLDs of global 1000 companies such as Saudi Telecom, Etisalat, and Kuwait Finance House.
Under the terms of the deal, CentralNic will increase the number of new Top-Level Domains for which it is the Registry management platform to 65, with TLD clients spread across four continents.
“I am delighted to agree this deal with KSregistry, whose owners are among Europe’s most successful experts in the domain name industry,” said Ben Crawford, CEO at CentralNic. “CentralNic has been providing registry infrastructure services for over 20 years, and our registry platform is known for its performance, scalability and security. We are also the world leader in migrating TLDs onto our platform, having won dozens of new TLD contracts away from other backend providers, whilst never having lost a TLD client.”
“Partnering with CentralNic to deliver registry services makes perfect sense for all parties,” said Alexander Siffrin, CEO at KSregistry. “CentralNic’s registry platform is the most advanced and feature rich in the world. Coupled with KSregistry’s unmatched management and customer service means that we can provide current and future TLD registry clients with very best technology, experience and support at competitive pricing.”
KSregistry contacted its Registry Operator clients prior to signing this collaboration agreement in order to gauge their support for migration to CentralNic’s backend registry. The reaction was overwhelmingly favourable, which is why KSregistry and CentralNic were able to conclude an arrangement quickly, which also gives CentralNic the option of using KSregistry’s SKYWAY data center.
Labels:
Ben Crawford,
centralnic,
new gTLD applicants
Location:
London, UK
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
First spam from a ".vin"
Location:
Bordeaux, France
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Some new gTLD contacts...are gone
A "new gTLD contact" is a contact that you find in any new gTLD application: there is a primary and secondary contact.
I checked new gTLD applications to investigate about a question that I have: are primary or secondary contacts still in place? This question is important to me because they are the local point of contact to operate the new domain name extension.
Method used
I proceeded as follow:
I checked new gTLD applications to investigate about a question that I have: are primary or secondary contacts still in place? This question is important to me because they are the local point of contact to operate the new domain name extension.
Method used
I proceeded as follow:
- I checked all new gTLD applications from a specific category from the Jovenet Consulting new gTLD reports;
- I searched for either primary or secondary contact (full name and email);
- I went to LinkedIn and checked if this contact still worked in the company (or if she is still linked to it).
In some cases, it is the Registrar or service provider in charge of operating the TLD which is used as primary and/or as secondary contact. This is a good choice when a .BRAND new gTLD doesn't want to have to take care of this. Some backend registry service providers also offer this as an option for generic TLDs, as well as other mandatory services to operate a new gTLD.
In other cases, the person's name and surname hadn't changed and had left the company or had changed position with an email still getting through to "someone". This is not so important as long as someone is in charge of reading these emails but I'd suggest to change this to the person in charge within the company.
I also found Gmails addresses used as primary contacts. That: I don't understand it. I am the first person to say that Gmail is a great and very well secured service but I'd certainly not use an email that does not match the domain of the registry's project, nor an email on which I don't have full control of.
I even found an email using a domain names available for registration. This means that no email are going through and returning with an error. It also means that a third party registering that domain name could set up a "catch all" and receive all emails sent.
I also found Gmails addresses used as primary contacts. That: I don't understand it. I am the first person to say that Gmail is a great and very well secured service but I'd certainly not use an email that does not match the domain of the registry's project, nor an email on which I don't have full control of.
I even found an email using a domain names available for registration. This means that no email are going through and returning with an error. It also means that a third party registering that domain name could set up a "catch all" and receive all emails sent.
What to think about all this?
A new gTLD is a serious responsibility: like a domain name, it is not supposed to end after a website has been launched (unless maybe when your company's name is Whatever Engineering and you'd consider redirecting your ".com" to truly use your ".engineering" domain name).
Operating the emails of primary and secondary contacts have consequences : in the end, they are the same story as operating a domain name when only one person knows about the complete story. Don't forget about what can happen when it's time to pay or talk to ICANN: what if you miss that email? Same when planning to sell your TLD: this is probably where I would send my offer.
Operating the emails of primary and secondary contacts have consequences : in the end, they are the same story as operating a domain name when only one person knows about the complete story. Don't forget about what can happen when it's time to pay or talk to ICANN: what if you miss that email? Same when planning to sell your TLD: this is probably where I would send my offer.
Labels:
Jovenet Consulting,
new gTLD reports
Location:
Phoenix, AZ, USA
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Ten Fold Engineering
Checking LinkedIn when I start my day is often something that I do first. I also do that exercise to double-check if one company which name has an ending in one of the new domain name extensions registered that new domain name.
Ten Fold Engineering belongs to these companies and has at least two domains:
- Its ".com";
- And its ".engineering".
Try this now:
- Hit on the ".com" above and get rid of the ".com" in the URL;
- Ad a "." right after the "d" and hit enter.
Isn't this shorter?
Labels:
dotengineering,
Jean Guillon,
Jovenet Consulting,
new gTLDs
Location:
Abingdon OX14, UK
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Monday, October 16, 2017
GNSO New gTLD Subsequent Procedures (Face-to-Face meeting) : 28 October 2017
This PDP Working Group is tasked with calling upon the community’s collective experiences from the 2012 round of the New gTLD Program to determine what, if any changes may need to be made to the existing oNew gTLD policy recommendations from 8 August 2007. Those who are interested in providing their input into new gTLD policy recommendations for subsequent procedures are encouraged to attend.
More here.
(previously wanted to post this to gtld.events : apologies)
More here.
(previously wanted to post this to gtld.events : apologies)
Labels:
icann60
Location:
Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Amazon looks for a gTLD Registry Counsel
Counsel will support the Amazon Registry Services business on a broad range of commercial contracting, licensing, technology, and regulatory matters relating to gTLD registries. Counsel will work directly with business teams, providing day-to-day advice, resolving issues that arise in existing commercial relationships and addressing pre-litigation legal disputes and inquiries. Counsel’s principal duties will include structuring, drafting and negotiating complicated technology, distribution, licensing, marketing, and other commercial agreements, including agreements with third parties in the domain name space. Counsel will also provide ongoing legal counseling in a wide range of areas relating to intellectual property, including contractual relationships, data protection, and regulatory compliance. Limited travel (domestic and international) may be required. The successful candidate must be inquisitive, enthusiastic about technology, have a sense of humor, be business minded and demonstrate sound judgment even in ambiguous situations.
Basic qualifications
- 5+ years of legal experience (with at least three years at a leading law firm or in house) as a transactional attorney, preferably with focused experience in specialized IT contracts and/or the domain name system
- Familiarity with trademark and copyright law
- A J.D. degree and membership in good standing in at least one state bar
- Limited travel (domestic and international) may be required
- In house experience at a technology company
- Familiarity with cross-jurisdictional contracting issues is a plus
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Strong analytical skills
- Excellent organizational skills, ability to manage multiple projects at once, follow through and meet deadlines
- Ability to work independently while being able to contribute successfully to cross-functional teams
- Common sense, great judgment, and a good sense of humor
Apply here.
Labels:
amazon,
new domain names,
registry
Location:
Seattle, WA, USA
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Monday, October 2, 2017
3 new gTLDs for "game"
There are 3 new generic Top-Level Domains for the sign "game":
- The .GAME new gTLD;
- The .GAMES new gTLD;
- The .游戏 (.game) new gTLD.
These 3 new gTLDs appear in the SPORT new gTLD report.
Labels:
dotgame,
new gtld stats
Location:
Singapore
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
The right approach for .BRANDs
Unless I am wrong, I think that these .BRAND domain names were redirections to long URLs.
Not anymore:
Not anymore:
- http://location.leclerc/
- https://www.mouvement.leclerc/
- http://www.photomoinscher.leclerc/
- ...
That could look like an approach for trademarks to start using their .BRAND new gTLD:
- Use new domain names as redirections to old long URLs;
- Host final contents differently;
- Use new ".brand" domain names and kill redirections.
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Losing auctions: the next new gTLD business model
Reading that small line, in the link below, reminds me that I never signed any NDA to participate in the Famous Four Media project: what if I had published or distributed their list of strings prior to the first round of the ICANN new gTLD program to close?
You don't understand?
Here is an explanation - and again - it focuses on the number one reason why participants in the next ICANN new gTLD program should pay attention to confidentiality.
What the text says
The link I am referring to, points to this line which says: "An additional $2.4million of cash due as a result of the private auctions for .llc and .inc in which the Company withdrew its applications".
Another line below in the linked document says: "H1 2016 group losses of $1.9million reduced to $0.5million group loss H1 2017". The first new gTLD launched in 2013.
You don't understand?
Here is an explanation - and again - it focuses on the number one reason why participants in the next ICANN new gTLD program should pay attention to confidentiality.
What the text says
The link I am referring to, points to this line which says: "An additional $2.4million of cash due as a result of the private auctions for .llc and .inc in which the Company withdrew its applications".
In more simple words, it means that this participants (called a "multiple registry"), earned $2.4 million by withdrawing two of its applications in the ICANN new gTLD program: this in return of participating in an auction for a third party (the winner of the auction) to become sole operator of these two extensions.
As a reminder, it cost $185,000.00 to submit one application (in fact it cost more than this but let's focus on basic figures) and in that case, by withdrawing it because of an auction, it generated $1.2 million.
Thinking fast
Let's assume that a participant to a new gTLD project gets info prior to the next round to begin: developing competing projects for the sole purpose to participate in auctions becomes highly profitable. It is risky but much faster to reach out to profitability and much more profitable than selling domain names.
Labels:
auction,
icann,
new gTLD acquisition,
new gTLDs
Location:
Wonderland, Scottsdale, AZ 85257, USA
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Monday, September 25, 2017
The .CHLOE gTLD
The operation of the .chloe gTLD is being transferred to China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) as part of this test. Simulating an emergency registry operator transition will provide valuable insight into the effectiveness of procedures for addressing potential gTLD service interruptions.
Transition Simulation in Progress
Transition Simulation in Progress
Labels:
dotchloe,
ICANN new gTLD program,
newgtlds
Location:
China
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Le Louvre: time for a change?
Le Louvre is one of the most popular museum in the world, at least in real life, but can we say the same in terms on naming?
Le Louvre is French
Le Louvre is French so it uses a ".fr" domain name. Normal isn't it? The website is available in multiple languages and it occupies most of the results in the front page of Google when I hit "Le Louvre". Good, but let's hope that this does not change since it has no SSL certificate (Google announced recently that SSL certificates help rank better). Yes...the most prestigious museum in the world is not secured on Internet.
I checked a certain number of similar ccTLD domain names to see if other extensions had been secured (and more domain names registered) and it I didn't want to dig more than the .es and it. My conclusion is that...well...not so many apparently, but who worries about this: it is "Le Louvre". I visited lelouvre.fr too and...well...no need.
Interesting, the louvre.museum domain name has been registered but points to an error. I would have redirected it to the official domain name. What about Paris? The louvre.paris domain name was registered and redirects to louvre.fr: good point but since Le Louvre is located in Paris, isn't it time for innovation?
HOT - Coming to Abu Dhabi
Le Louvre opens in Abu Dhabi in November 2017 and it is important to know that the ".abudhabi" new gTLD was launched in April 2016. Since then, one domain name was registered only and this, very recently. The only known existing domain name ending in ".abudhabi" is icann60.abudhabi. Sadly, it is a simple redirection to the next ICANN meeting in but hey...it's a start.
Le Louvre in Abu Dhabi has its own website and it is...http://louvreabudhabi.ae/ (not secured neither).
Hundreds of people are working in in communication and intellectual property for Le Louvre, and I am confident that one, at least, has had the same thought as I have: isn't it the opportunity to consider changing domain names for these two fantastic museums and go for a ".paris" and a ".abudhabi" domain name? It implies changes and I already hear SEO specialists but hey: what's the most important when you are Le Louvre?
This is innovation.
The ".museum" new gTLD
Just for the note, ".museum" domain names are only available to museums and individual members of the museum profession but it appears that this is about to change (how surprising). The .MUSEUM new gTLD will open to all in the future: "Eligibility requirements have been expanded such that registrations will be granted to museums, professional associations of museums, individuals with an interest or a link with museum profession and /or activity, or bona fide museum users." This is a common move at closed Registries to "expand" the number of domain name registrations. In more simple words, "Individuals with an interest" also includes cybersquatters, domainers but also, bona fide Trademark owners who would be interested in securing their domain name in the ".museum" extension.
Le Louvre is French
Le Louvre is French so it uses a ".fr" domain name. Normal isn't it? The website is available in multiple languages and it occupies most of the results in the front page of Google when I hit "Le Louvre". Good, but let's hope that this does not change since it has no SSL certificate (Google announced recently that SSL certificates help rank better). Yes...the most prestigious museum in the world is not secured on Internet.
I checked a certain number of similar ccTLD domain names to see if other extensions had been secured (and more domain names registered) and it I didn't want to dig more than the .es and it. My conclusion is that...well...not so many apparently, but who worries about this: it is "Le Louvre". I visited lelouvre.fr too and...well...no need.
Interesting, the louvre.museum domain name has been registered but points to an error. I would have redirected it to the official domain name. What about Paris? The louvre.paris domain name was registered and redirects to louvre.fr: good point but since Le Louvre is located in Paris, isn't it time for innovation?
HOT - Coming to Abu Dhabi
Le Louvre opens in Abu Dhabi in November 2017 and it is important to know that the ".abudhabi" new gTLD was launched in April 2016. Since then, one domain name was registered only and this, very recently. The only known existing domain name ending in ".abudhabi" is icann60.abudhabi. Sadly, it is a simple redirection to the next ICANN meeting in but hey...it's a start.
Le Louvre in Abu Dhabi has its own website and it is...http://louvreabudhabi.ae/ (not secured neither).
Hundreds of people are working in in communication and intellectual property for Le Louvre, and I am confident that one, at least, has had the same thought as I have: isn't it the opportunity to consider changing domain names for these two fantastic museums and go for a ".paris" and a ".abudhabi" domain name? It implies changes and I already hear SEO specialists but hey: what's the most important when you are Le Louvre?
This is innovation.
The ".museum" new gTLD
Just for the note, ".museum" domain names are only available to museums and individual members of the museum profession but it appears that this is about to change (how surprising). The .MUSEUM new gTLD will open to all in the future: "Eligibility requirements have been expanded such that registrations will be granted to museums, professional associations of museums, individuals with an interest or a link with museum profession and /or activity, or bona fide museum users." This is a common move at closed Registries to "expand" the number of domain name registrations. In more simple words, "Individuals with an interest" also includes cybersquatters, domainers but also, bona fide Trademark owners who would be interested in securing their domain name in the ".museum" extension.
Labels:
dotabudhabi,
dotmuseum,
ICANN new gTLD program,
Le Louvre,
newgtlds
Location:
Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Thursday, August 31, 2017
New gTLD Registry Fee Offset Proposal
This is the ICANN answer to Chairman of the Registries Stakeholder Group in regard to a proposal
to offset new gTLD Registry Fees.
In simple words:
In simple words:
- Registries: "ICANN: it is too expensive for us! With all that money that you have, why don't you lower costs?"
- ICANN: "hey, we've been talking about this for years: where the hell were you in 2011? As for now, it is No."
The answer
Thank you for your proposal of 14 March 2017, regarding new gTLD registry fees. Your letter has been published to the ICANN correspondence page.
We sympathize with the financial challenges that some new gTLD registry operators may be facing in the early periods of these new businesses. New gTLD Operators face a challenging task of building consumer awareness and this can and may take significant time and effort. ICANN remains committed to supporting the evolution of the robust, stable and trusted domain name marketplace, and new gTLDs are part of this evolution. ICANN recognizes the challenge you cited related to universal acceptance of TLDs, in particular IDN TLDs. ICANN has established the Universal Acceptance Steering Group to help address some of these challenges. This effort is being funded from the New gTLD program application fees. By the end of FY18 ICANN will have committed several million dollars to this effort.
We appreciate that the gTLD Registry Stakeholder Group (RySG) has developed a proposal to offset New gTLD Operator fees for ICANN’s consideration. Your proposal requests ICANN to provide a one-time credit to new gTLD registry operators of 75% of the annual fixed registry fee ($25,000 USD) using a portion of what your proposal characterizes as $96 million of projected remaining funds from the New gTLD Program applications fees. In your letter you assert a fiduciary duty on ICANN to refund the excess funds from the New gTLD program to the registry operators, to be clear, ICANN does not agree with this assertion.
Your letter cites obstacles related to competing in the domain name market place due to the fixed registry fee structure of the New gTLD Registry Agreement. The current registry fee structure, comprising fixed and registration-based fees, was outlined in the Section 6.1 of the Base Registry Agreement and published as part of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook (AGB). It was subject to several rounds of public comment from the wider ICANN community as part of the AGB development process, and the fee structure and amount have not changed since the ICANN Board approved the AGB in 2011.
As you are aware, the 2012 round of the New gTLD Program is still underway, and a portion of the remaining funds are required for the ongoing operation of the program.Download the updated proposal from the gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) here (PDF document).
As noted in ICANN’s FY18 Operating Plan and Budget, ICANN expects to have spent approximately $214 million on the Program, including “hard-to-predict” costs incurred in FY18 and in the future3 . To date, ICANN has spent Program funds on a range of previously unforeseen expenses including the formation and coordination of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group, Emergency BackEnd Registry Operator Program operations, studies and mitigation plans relating to Name Collision, implementation of the Trademark Clearinghouse, support for the administration of ICANN Accountability Mechanisms, and legal fees and costs relating to the New gTLD Program. The remaining Program funds are intended to cover operating expenses and future unanticipated costs such as those listed above, which continue to occur on an ongoing basis. We do not yet know how much of the New gTLD Program remaining funds will be required to address future unanticipated expenses, and by when. As such, at this time, ICANN is not in a position to commit to the dispensation of any potential remaining funds from the New gTLD Program applications fees. Thank you for your thoughtful proposal and for your understanding.
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Can .WEB revive .WED ?
The .WED new gTLD (for Wedding) is in danger of...never, ever launching. By "launching", I mean to sell domain names. To "launch", a Registry must sell more - much more - than 100 domain names.
I wrote an article about this subject on DomainNameWire and I believe that it is a good read for any coming new gTLD applicant who wants to throw himself in the next ICANN new gTLD round.
Read my article on DomainNameWire.
I wrote an article about this subject on DomainNameWire and I believe that it is a good read for any coming new gTLD applicant who wants to throw himself in the next ICANN new gTLD round.
Read my article on DomainNameWire.
Labels:
dotcedding,
dotweb,
dotwed,
new gTLDs
Location:
Delaware, USA
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
New gTLD Subsequent Procedures
Less than 30 persons (in the world) are following-up with the new gTLD subsequent procedures.
And participants are...
This is a rather boring MP3 recording on Adobe. Names appear on the left.
And participants are...
This is a rather boring MP3 recording on Adobe. Names appear on the left.
Labels:
ICANN new gTLD program
Location:
112 Avenue Kléber, 75016 Paris, France
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Free SSL with Goggle Suite
Users of "Google Sites", from the Google Suite of applications from Google, were just informed that they can now map their domain name to the new version of Google Sites.
The Good news: all users with a personal domain name are upgraded with a SSL certificate. No complex setup, no price increase, no blabla crap. Thank you Google.
The Good news: all users with a personal domain name are upgraded with a SSL certificate. No complex setup, no price increase, no blabla crap. Thank you Google.
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
More new gTLD case studies
The ICANN just published three more case studies. The domain name extensions concerned are:
- The .KRED new gTLD;
- The .CEO new gTLD;
- The .手机 (xn--kput3i) IDN new gTLD.
This content was extracted from each new gTLD application submitted to the ICANN during the submission process: "18(a). Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD".
The .手机 new gTLD (.CELL)
Beijing RITT in this application is applying for the Chinese IDN string of .CELL only. This is not an application for .CELL (ASCII). The true IDN string will be referred to throughout this application as .CELL (Chinese IDN) for simplicity of review by ICANN. .CELL (Chinese IDN) is intended to become one of the most common and easily accessible TLDs on the internet, especially targeted to Chinese speakers. It will vastly expand options for creating domains, developing mobile applications, and giving new opportunities to those who have been unable to obtain a desired domain name in Chinese in existing TLDs. Most importantly, it provides the opportunity for the full domain name to be represented in their native language. The .CELL (Chinese IDN) TLD will help facilitate the expansion of those opportunities for Chinese-speaking Internet users. While we expect long-term growth as Internet penetration increases, we expect that awareness and early adoption will ramp up gradually and the first few years will experience a modest adoption rate. Therefore, we anticipate that we will have 30,000 domains under management (DUMs) after three years.
Beijing RITT in this application is applying for the Chinese IDN string of .CELL only. This is not an application for .CELL (ASCII). The true IDN string will be referred to throughout this application as .CELL (Chinese IDN) for simplicity of review by ICANN. .CELL (Chinese IDN) is intended to become one of the most common and easily accessible TLDs on the internet, especially targeted to Chinese speakers. It will vastly expand options for creating domains, developing mobile applications, and giving new opportunities to those who have been unable to obtain a desired domain name in Chinese in existing TLDs. Most importantly, it provides the opportunity for the full domain name to be represented in their native language. The .CELL (Chinese IDN) TLD will help facilitate the expansion of those opportunities for Chinese-speaking Internet users. While we expect long-term growth as Internet penetration increases, we expect that awareness and early adoption will ramp up gradually and the first few years will experience a modest adoption rate. Therefore, we anticipate that we will have 30,000 domains under management (DUMs) after three years.
The .KRED new gTLD
The mission⁄purpose of the .kred TLD is to establish a cohesive, clear, dedicated, immediately identifiable online identity, experience, and sales channel for KredTLD Pty Ltd. Kred, launched by social analytics leader PeopleBrowsr in 2011, measures influence in online communities connected by affinities. Kred values audience quality and engagement over audience size by assessing anyone’s ability to inspire action (Influence) and propensity to engage with others (Outreach). As a market leader in social media engagement and analytic services, Kred is excited to have the opportunity to take a lead in this new, expanded Internet environment as one of the first brand TLDs. The .kred TLD leverages the influential Kred brand, to enable us to offer our cutting edge technology products and services to individuals, brands, and industries in a clearer way than is currently possible. It will bring Kred’s online presence together into one clear channel of communication and experience, thus clearly distinguishing the company and its products from competitors.
The .CEO new gTLD
CEOTLD Pty Ltd. will combine PeopleBrowsr’s Kred’s influence and outreach measurement, real world rankings and other information feeds to provide comprehensive information for, by and about the CEO community and its members. The .ceo TLD enables us to offer our cutting edge technology products to individuals, brands, locations and industries in a clearer way than is currently possible. It will bring CEOTLD Pty Ltd.’s online presence together into one clear channel of communication and experience, thus clearly distinguishing the company and its products from competitors
All case studies can be checked here.
Labels:
case study,
icann,
ICANN new gTLD program
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Friday, August 18, 2017
Are new gTLDs profitable?
A Registry to operate its own Registrar (or a Registrar to operate its own Registry) is a good solution to lower down the price to maintain a domain name and the reason for this is simple: tech costs are split and most of the money stays in...
Who's who
It is even better when the Registry owns its own Backend Registry and its Registrar.
In simple words: a Registry makes more money when the money paid to mandatory service providers are the same people.
The example that I like to give here is based on Afilias: a Backend Registry provider, also applicant (Registry) for five of the six existing colors. Afilias is not a Registrar.
What when registration volumes drop?
Since 2016, Jovenet Consulting tracked weekly, then monthly, domain name registration volumes from various groups and industries and this post will focus on new gTLDs that have the name of a color.
There are six of them and one is a Trademark so we won't pay much attention to it since it does not sell domain names to end users:
I heard a story which said that "red" was a special color in some countries in Asia and this was the reason why ".red" domain names were so successful...until May 2017 apparently. I won't count .GREEN here because this TLD was acquired lately by Afilias and you will note that registration figures are quite different from the first four TLDs.
Who's who
It is even better when the Registry owns its own Backend Registry and its Registrar.
In simple words: a Registry makes more money when the money paid to mandatory service providers are the same people.
The example that I like to give here is based on Afilias: a Backend Registry provider, also applicant (Registry) for five of the six existing colors. Afilias is not a Registrar.
What when registration volumes drop?
Since 2016, Jovenet Consulting tracked weekly, then monthly, domain name registration volumes from various groups and industries and this post will focus on new gTLDs that have the name of a color.
There are six of them and one is a Trademark so we won't pay much attention to it since it does not sell domain names to end users:
- .RED (€11/year)
- .BLUE (€11/year)
- .PINK (€11/year)
- .BLACK (€31/year)
- .GREEN (€54/year)
- .ORANGE (a dotBrand new gTLD = no price)
(there's .GOLD too but does it count as a color?)
I went to retail registrar Uniregistry and extracted prices that you can see above. The first three are acceptable prices but I find .BLACK and .GREEN quite expensive and since Uniregistry is a cheap Registrar, you can easily expect that these domain names will probably cost much more at other service providers.
When looking at the new gTLD report entitled "New gTLDs related to COLORS", you will note that almost ALL registration volumes continue to drop starting January 2017 and if you look at May 2017, something strange even happens.
So: profitable?
Does it mean that such extensions are not profitable? I don't think so.I heard a story which said that "red" was a special color in some countries in Asia and this was the reason why ".red" domain names were so successful...until May 2017 apparently. I won't count .GREEN here because this TLD was acquired lately by Afilias and you will note that registration figures are quite different from the first four TLDs.
The .RED new gTLD is now below the 50,000 registrations so it does not pay ICANN the $0.25 fee per domain anymore. Even if the curve is dramatically going down, it still has 48,000 domains with a probable majority being paid by Registrants. Since Afilias is Registry and Backend Registry for its TLDs, it pays the minimum to maintain its own domain names: below $5 per year? Less than $1 maybe?
Let's imagine that these 48,000 domains are paid by Registrars at the price of less than $10. It still means quite a lot of money for the Registry in the end. A lot less for .PINK and .BLACK.
What about "strategy"?
In 2016, and during a period of 7 months, the .RED Registry had between 308,000 and 318,000 domains on the market. I have no idea how nor why these numbers were so high but I believe that the only question to have today is: "was it worth it?"
If it takes so much domains to end up with so few: it is still 48,000 domain names on the market. Let's assume that these domains are paid, and hopefully renewed, I consider that such strategy is a good one because all Registries want to have 48,000 domains names renewed on the market. Should Afilias have adopted the same strategy for it other "colored TLDs"? The question remains.
Labels:
back-end registry,
Jovenet Consulting,
new gTLDs,
registry
Location:
Dublin, Ireland
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
dotBloggers
The Registry seems to be inventing a new word for Bloggers using a ".blog" domain name.
Labels:
dotblog
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Amendment to Base New gTLD Registry Agreement
The #ICANN Global Amendment to the Base New gTLD Registry Agreement is effective today! https://t.co/tdFjIvjozp pic.twitter.com/OJbnYWOtY4
— Akram Atallah (@AkramAtallah) 31 juillet 2017
Labels:
icann,
ICANN new gTLD program,
Jovenet Consulting,
registry
Location:
Los Angeles, CA, USA
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Monday, July 24, 2017
Which Registry will succeed in...
...selling domain names in supermarkets?
When it comes to paying in a supermarket, you're often offered to buy that “little thing more”: chewing-gums, sweets, alcohol, but it is now also possible to buy “online things” such as Apple and Google music: why not offer domain names too?
Domains names are no BtoC consumer products
Let’s be serious: can you imagine a Registry pushing a Registrar to “do the job”, trying to offer domain names in supermarkets? This just would not work for several reasons:
Added to more services, a supermarket has the capacity to address end users and evangelize the process of registering a domain name a complete different way, make things more simple and go straight to the point: deliver what is offered on the packaging and nothing more that what the price says. It does not work the same online when you can offer “options”, simply by clicking on a button. The more clicks...
A supermarket also has the capacity to offer “trust” in the purchase: the seller is already an authority, can Registrars says the same: nationwide?
Let’s be honest, what looks nicer: jguillon@hotmail.com or jean@guillon.email ? What about this one for "Jovenet Consulting": www.jovenetconsulting.com or www.jovenet.consulting ?
Added to the domain name, a personalized email is typically what Google and many other Registrars are trying to achieve in their offers but a supermarket could demonstrate that it is even a better place to bring consumers to buy such products: it is faster and does not require to read it all.
A Registrar with the capacity to offer a complete solution and a dedicated path for such consumers:
*BtoC stands for “Business to Consumer”, different from BtoB which stands for “Business to Business”
When it comes to paying in a supermarket, you're often offered to buy that “little thing more”: chewing-gums, sweets, alcohol, but it is now also possible to buy “online things” such as Apple and Google music: why not offer domain names too?
Domains names are no BtoC consumer products
Let’s be serious: can you imagine a Registry pushing a Registrar to “do the job”, trying to offer domain names in supermarkets? This just would not work for several reasons:
- Approaching a supermarket chain is a tough job that requires time and the job of a Registrar is to sell domain names and offer services dedicated to domain names;
- What about marketing and packaging: who pays? Certainly not the supermarket chain! Which Registrar has the capacity to pay for all this but one which has a close link to a supermarket chain?
- What about pricing? Is a Registrar ready to drop its price or accept to earn money in year two, when the domain name is renewed?
- What about support...
Many people want to have their blog: to post their holidays’ photos or just to write the story of their life but they won’t necessary search for this on Internet because it is so difficult to understand and there is so much info to provide, it can even become technical!
The truth is that very few people know what a domain name is so you can imagine when it comes to talking about a “Registrar” :-)
Added to more services, a supermarket has the capacity to address end users and evangelize the process of registering a domain name a complete different way, make things more simple and go straight to the point: deliver what is offered on the packaging and nothing more that what the price says. It does not work the same online when you can offer “options”, simply by clicking on a button. The more clicks...
A supermarket also has the capacity to offer “trust” in the purchase: the seller is already an authority, can Registrars says the same: nationwide?
Why not add the email to this package?
Another truth is that very few people know that an email can be different from gMail or Hotmail so offering the option to personalize an email with a domain name seriously adds to the quality of the offer.
Let’s be honest, what looks nicer: jguillon@hotmail.com or jean@guillon.email ? What about this one for "Jovenet Consulting": www.jovenetconsulting.com or www.jovenet.consulting ?
Added to the domain name, a personalized email is typically what Google and many other Registrars are trying to achieve in their offers but a supermarket could demonstrate that it is even a better place to bring consumers to buy such products: it is faster and does not require to read it all.
So what is the solution then?
I studied various possibilities but I strongly believe that the best approach is with a Registry which operates its own Registrar. The reason for this? A better price and reduced costs to take care of all operations with a limited number of subsidiaries. Note that I will not explain about “a better price”.
A Registrar with the capacity to offer a complete solution and a dedicated path for such consumers:
- The Blog (without ever mentioning the word “hosting”);
- The Domain name;
- The Email;
- One yearly payment.
- To pay for year one;
- A 3 lines explanation of what the consumer buys;
- A short URL where to:
- Create the domain name which will activate and point to the Blog;
- Create the email;
- Explain and point to the interface to Blog;
- Renew the domain name (renewing should be explained on the coupon).
Who can do that?
Come on: don’t you see?
;-)
*BtoC stands for “Business to Consumer”, different from BtoB which stands for “Business to Business”
Labels:
innovation,
Jean Guillon,
Jovenet Consulting,
new gTLDs,
registry
Location:
Amazonia, MO 64421, USA
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Visibility for new gTLDs
These are this morning's stats for gTLD.club, just before my latest publication.
I still don't understand these stats: why are they greater in the middle of July?
To appear on the gTLD Club, come here.
I still don't understand these stats: why are they greater in the middle of July?
To appear on the gTLD Club, come here.
Location:
92120 Montrouge, France
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
New gTLDs: how they incite innovation
We thought new gTLDs would bring innovation to the world of domain names, but has it been the case? Clearly not...and this for two reasons:
We are interested in talking about your new gTLD innovation, contact us if interested.
- It took too long for many projects to be validated by the ICANN and launched;
- It cost too much Registries to wait and money dedicated to innovation went to...you know...when you have to pay your staff while waiting, etc... :-)
We also thought that innovation would be sudden but it appears that it is taking longer.
Is innovation coming now?
Clearly yes.
I see new kind of projects coming which did not exist because of the non existence of new gTLDs. All use and/or focus on new domain names:
- Tools to operate large portfolios of domain names with a minimum number of clicks: some Trademarks now want to find a use for all of these new domains they have to secure*;
- Tools dedicated to the meaning of specific TLDs (.email - .club - ...);
- Directories dedicated to specific domain name extensions: the interesting thing about new gTLDs is that some extensions now clearly mean something and help identify the content of a website directly when reading the domain name;
- Search engines for specific TLD meanings: why not search an info about a Contractor in a search engine dedicated to ".contractors" domain names?
- "Gain sharing" focussing on specific TLDs: a method to help
RegistriesRegistrants generate an income from a specific domain name extension; - Mad scientists projects**.
Some registries are still having a hard time to make their project profitable but this is what is driving creativity today. There are failures with, for example, attempts to flood the market creating new domain names with no content; but little by little, we see that registries are not necessary - as we imagined it - the one to deliver creativity: registrants and entrepreneurs are now the one to take the lead.
Rebranding is innovation
According to Verisign, it appears that ".com" was originally created to represent the “commercial” intent of a website so now there is a ".search" domain name extension, does it mean that it is time for Google to change its extension to perfectly match with what it is really doing?
What about The Time: isn't it time to change to a ".news" or ".press" to clearly express what it is about, or does it have to stick to that old speech about ".com" domain names and SEO?
Some Trademarks are showing initiatives:
What about The Time: isn't it time to change to a ".news" or ".press" to clearly express what it is about, or does it have to stick to that old speech about ".com" domain names and SEO?
Some Trademarks are showing initiatives:
- Bentley announced its http://www.corporate.bentley
- Total developed its Wiki: http://wiki.total
- SNCF will soon change to oui.sncf
- etc...
By the way, what sounds best here: "innovation is branding" or "branding is innovation"? Don't both sound good thank to new gTLDs?
We are interested in talking about your new gTLD innovation, contact us if interested.
* conceived by Jovenet Consulting
** some are clearly imagined at Jovenet Consulting ;-)
Location:
Paris, France
I am a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris. "New gTLD" stands for "new generic Top-Level Domains" from the ICANN new gTLD program. They are new domain name extensions such as ".consulting" (instead of ".com").
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