Keep an eye on GoDaddy Registry for the next Round of the ICANN new gTLD program. Here is why.

The next round of the ICANN new gTLD program is coming and applicants will need to select a backend registry provider. This publication is not a paid one and I am not pointing to one specific provider. This is just "what I would do" if I needed to select a service provider in the two cases below:

1. A backend Registry for a .BRAND new gTLD application;
2. A backend Registry for a new gTLD project dedicated to selling domain names, whatever type of application: community, generic or geographic.

Which .BRAND new gTLD Backend registry provider?

I often wonder why Trademarks have to pay more for the exact same service as other standard users. In this example, I am referring to registries who sell domain names. My explanation here is that the second type of applicants usually has a team in place with knowledge and it is not necessary to pay for a certain number os services a .BRAND applicant would pay for. This is why the first type of applicant should pay more: the new gTLD procedure - whatever type of application - is one that requires knowledge in the long run. When the knowledge is not there...someone should pay for it. I guess it is why .BRAND applicant types should pay...more.

When it comes to the price, technically speaking, it is the exact same at the backend registry level. If you have one paid created domain name or 1 million, the process is the same so the price should be to me per domain name: it is the type of pricing I would look for as an applicant. Price can actually be below $1 per domain name created.

I would personally hunt for the cheapest offer at any provider with references. I am familiar with providers' blabla and as long as mine can help me reach out to the interface where I can press the button and create my personalized domain names, OK with me. I would also be careful with things such as ICANN reporting, compliance, monitoring, and escrow: my provider should be able to deal with these questions (note that some have a cost). Also, most backends can help you connect directly at your existing registrar so the technique should not be a problem.

Which new gTLD Backend Registry provider to sell domain names?

What I am going to write should probably not please everyone but this would be my way of thinking if I had to select a backend registry. There is one thing that I noticed about the first round of the ICANN new program: none of the applicants projections were there in terms of sales volumes. A new gTLD applicant who wants to "sell" domain names should select a backend registry that has the capacity to help him sell; and selling is very hard to achieve when creating a new registry. No, you will not sell one million domain names per year in the next round.

There are already many known names in the industry: many ccTLD providers offer such service, Core, Centralnic...but there is one that I am really following closely for this one very specific reason: selling should be the number one objective.

In the first round of new gTLDs and even today, all registries wanted to have their domain names on the number one selling platform worldwide: a Registrar. A Registrar is where domain names are sold to final end users (Registrants).

Yes, there is one major Registrar and it is the number one in terms of volumes. When a registry sells domain names, his domains need lots of visibility and the best visibility to receive is to be present on that number one selling platform worldwide. The problem here is that there are lots of registries, some with niche extensions of no interest, and ALL want to exist at THIS Registrar and at the same time. This Registrar is GoDaddy, it has a small frontpage but it serves the world: it is there where you want to be to sell your domain names fast.

Good news, following the acquisition of another provider, this Registrar is now a Backend Registry too and this is recent.

If a Registry (which includes the choice of a backend registry provider) is not allowed to differentiate Registrars in terms of pricing or whatever other service, it does not mean that it cannot instantly allow his client to appear at his Registrar and it is precisely this that I would negotiate with GoDaddy Registry if I were to become their client: "sign me in but have me at your Registrar in the long run, and on front page for at least a few months".

Remember that not all domain names extensions are available at GoDaddy and there is a reason for this:

• There are too many extensions with low volumes (which also means that they are not profitable enough for GoDaddy),
• Be on front page of GoDaddy is probably not a free service so why would GoDaddy bother about an extension...which is hosted at another backend registry provider? Wouldn't you focus on your client's success instead of those of another provider? Of course you would.
• Also and that is very important, GoDaddy can generate an income thank to its famous Registrar but also now, thank to its backend registry service so again: why bother about adding an extension to its Registrar platform where it would earn on the Registrar service only (selling domain names)?
• Adding a new extension requires time and effort.

What Backend Registry offer I would consider:

1. A full offer where the backend registry also submits and follows the submission of my application at the ICANN: not a third party nor a lawyer with no ICANN knowledge.
2. Knowledge of my provider about a possible objection and how to face it.
3. A capacity to accredit my extension at the backend registry's Registrar(s) if it has any. Note that many backend registries are not public Registrars and Registrars are the mandatory network to sell domain names.
4. A provider who has passed the ICANN technical accreditation: if there are more than 1,000 applications in the next round, no one knows if all applications will be submit and validated. What about those new backend registry providers who are not yet accredited by the ICANN: wouldn't it be less risky to select one that is already accredited?

Note that this is a personal thought on how I would think to select a backend registry provider. Since it is yet too early to submit an application, most offers are not available online and even when they will be, not everything will be written so there will be space to negotiate. I also hope this publication will help backend registries to build their offers. Note that some backend registries sold their business...but there are new comers approaching.

How exciting :-)

Backend Registries don't speak French

One might be surprised by such title but as a person involved in creating and promoting dotBrands and other generic new gTLDs, there are a few things that I see...and one that is now obvious is that Backend Registries don't speak French (but a very few).

Creating a new domain name extension requires to think upfront about a strategy but also...about service providers. The Backend Registry is a mandatory service provider when creating a new Top-Level Domain but unfortunately, the offer is limited in France because of our language: Backend Registries don't offer French as a language.

No French? You don't exist

There is a demand in France and interested parties in creating their domain name extension usually proceed through their accredited Registrar, sometimes their Law Firm and sometimes...directly through the Backend Registry provider. I usually talk to the Backend Registry first and fortunately for me, I speak, write and read English.

I like to go straight to the point and just like everyone in business, I like to limit the number of subcontractors. In more simple word, if I had the project to create a new gTLD, I would talk directly to the appropriate service provider and to me, that provider is the Backend Registry: the better when he  has a presence in your country or speaks your language.

I will speak french for you

There are coming Backend Registries (preparing their offer for the next round) and existing Backends; but from my Top10 list, one website offers French only and I believe that this is potential lost business for the others because addressing to one in his language breaks the first barrier to business. 

As a new gTLD Consultant based in Paris, I will offer that service to introduce your Backend Registry offer to French, contact me and will explain how.

UNR and GoDaddy Registry

"We're preparing for the next Round"

There have been many announcements recently: Uniregistry (the Registrar) being acquired by GoDaddy and GoDaddy acquiring another Registry's business with Neustar Registry: isn't this a preparation for the next round of the ICANN new gTLD program? "Oh yes it is".

UNR 

Many followed the news when GoDaddy acquired most of Uniregistry's business (the Registrar and domaining business marketplace, as well as the CEO's domain name portfolio). It is an announcement when a Registrar acquires another. In this deal, GoDaddy acquired all BUT the Registry and Backend-Registry businesses from Uniregistry. It means that Uniregistry kept these two businesses. Since Uniregistry ("Uni" ?) now belongs to GoDaddy, it now makes sense to change name, and that new name is "UNR" (which seems to mean "Uni Naming and Registry). I like short names but please, get rid of "Uni" because in becomes confusing.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy, the number one Registrar in volume of domain names registered, and which acquired Uniregistry, also acquired a Corporate Registrar named Brandsight but it is still unclear to me if this acquisition was to acquire the company's portfolio or if it plans to do develop a serious Corporate Registrar offer for its clients. Note that this would be welcome.

GoDaddy which had a "Retail Registrar" identity is now developing other identities: the Corporate Registrar one and the Registry one too (I would like to add the Backend-Registry identity too but the Neustar Registry acquisition remains unclear about this business).

Note that I make a difference between the Registry's business and the Backend-Registry's one since one is the governing body of a domain name extension selling to Registrars, when the other is the tool to allow the Registry to create domain names and there is a financial connection between those two: the Backend-Registry usually sells to the Registry; because most Registries cannot afford (or have the technical knowledge) to own their technical solution. They usually sub-contract this operation.

GoDaddy Registry

Very recently, GoDaddy made the acquisition of a major player's business named Neustar Registry: not "Neustar" but its Registry's business only. This is a major announcement because GoDaddy was not present in the first Round of the ICANN new gTLD program. It applied to its own dotBrand (the .GODADDY new gTLD) but never used it. The funny thing is that its  .GODADDY domain name extension is operated by another Backend-Registry provider (...) which is not Neustar Registry (I would understand that this changes soon).

Now GoDaddy plans to become a major player in the new gTLD business, this could hurt a lot the Corporate Registrar's businesses since they were the one to offer the .BRAND application nad management service to their clients, subcontracting the technical part to Backend-Registry solution providers such as Neustar Registry. Note that Neustar was neither a Corporate nor a retail Registrar - and GoDaddy is already a Registrar, the most important one worldwide. Getting into that business means that future new gTLD applicants (.BRAND - Cities and Entrepreneurs) could be offered a key-in-hand-solution, having their digital assets operated by the same service provider, all in one place:

• A Registrar (Corporate or Retail) for their domain name portfolio management: all possible operations in all TLDs (legacy TLDs, almost all new gTLDs and almost all ccTLDs);
• A Registry (.BRAND - Generic, Community or Geographic TLD) for the technical operations of their new gTLD:
• .BRAND domain names operated in the exact same place where they manage their other domain names;
• Tools to operate a Registry dedicated to selling domain names to the general public maybe? Note that the solution provider to offer that service would probably be king, we learnt a lot from the first round of the ICANN new gTLD program and the complexity around the understanding of the process and the submission of an application were a serious issue: the provider to simplify that and what comes after...gets my serious attention.
• All other solutions (website hosting and marketing, email, brand and domain name monitoring, security, etc...) invoiced in the same place!

My thought on all this

UNR keeps the Registry and Backend-Registry's businesses but recently announced that it intends to develop it. The word that I read in a press release was "dotBrand" by its CEO, and my understanding of this reading is that UNR will be present in "Round two" of the next ICANN new gTLD program with a new gTLD probable offer for entrepreneurs but also - and more precisely - for Trademarks with an offer for .BRAND new gTLD applicants. This is an important information for me because there won't be so many service providers with an offer around. Let's hope that they will consider the French market (JC: reading this?)

The strange thing about all this is that GoDaddy acquired someone else's business for the Registry and Backend Registry's businesses (Neustar) so there must be a reason behind this. The positive thing is that UNR will be in competition with GoDaddy for its Registry offer(s) and "price" is what made Uniregistry a good service provider because it was "cheap" (it was cheaper to buy a domain name with Uniregistry than Godaddy) so let's hope that their Registry solutions will be cheaper too.

What about Google Registry?

I stand-by because Google, not only offers a free technical registry platform (the Back-End Registry solution) but it also became a Registrar in 2014 and its domain name business is developing fast. Google also operates its own Registries on its technical platform so the only thing that is missing...is an offer. Round two is a little far away but no one can tell if there won't be an offer in a close future. Note that I already asked Google the question in 2017 and the answer was "no". For those interested in digging in that direction or looking for who's working on an offer, I'd suggest to check Nomulus.foo.

New gTLD Registry Software by Google

Google now has an official page for the introduction of its free backend registry solution entitled "Nomulus".

Nomulus is the Google solution for new gTLDs such as :

• .GOOGLE
• .FOO
• .HOW
• .NEW
• .SOY
• .みんな
• and a few others.

It previously used Nomulus.foo to redirect to the URL of its free code available for download on GitHub, but there is now an official URL (and logo) presenting the product.

Good to know

When launching a new gTLD , the below is required:

1. The Company (and team) to operate the Registry;
2. Applying for the required TLD at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which means writing the application on the basis of the new gTLD Applicant GuideBook (AGB);
3. The mandatory ESROW service provider;
4. The mandatory backend registry solution provider: Nomulus is the code to create such a technical solution, it does not offer the service to maintain a registry technically. This is very important to understand prior to applying since the backend registry solution provider is one of the most important aspect of a new gTLD project.

Reminder: note that the free Nomulus solution created by Google is just the code, it requires to host the solution and maintain it and Google does NOT offer that service.

Surprisingly, the GitHub repository delivering the Nomulus code also advertises for other technical solutions.

That old post I just noticed about Nomulus

IP Twins is a popular French law firm to offer a full-package of domain name related services (registration, search, audit and monitoring), web services (web content search, audit and monitoring, AdWords™, auctions) and IP services (consulting, TMCH, new gTLDs applications).

This company is typically the kind of law firm to offer its clients a .BRAND new gTLD solution for the next round of the ICANN new gTLD program.

I just noted this post about Nomulus, pointing to my article following the Nomulus announcement from Google and I appreciate to be quoted in it actually.

Another good read that I just posted.