We’ve recently seen the new GTLD market gain substantial traction. However, these extensions are still in their infancy. At the moment, the power of these new GTLD’s has yet to be fully realized by the masses.
I have to admit that at first, I was not impressed. I thought that it was a marketing ploy aimed strictly at domain name investors. I couldn’t fathom why anyone would spend thousands of dollars to register something so wild and different when they could buy a great, generic keyword .com instead. After some time, I finally caved in and decided to give it a go. Don’t get me wrong, a majority of my portfolio is still .com, but I am very glad that I diversified and acquired some new GTLD’s.
To date, I’ve managed to sell quite a few new GTLD’s and have averaged a solid return on my investments and reeled in well into five figures in profit. To name a few, I have sold Internet.Marketing, Night.Life, City.Life, VR.Dating, Design.Agency and quite a few others.
I firmly believe that the right combination of keyword + extension new GTLD’s will have an impressive, and exponential rise in value over the next five years. However, when you make the decision to acquire a new GTLD as an investment and to want to ensure a substantial profit is in your future, you must take into consideration these three main attributes.
1. Keyword & Extension Combination
The art of acquiring one of these domains based on the combination of keyword and extension is quite simple; find the most relevant two keyword phrases, and put a dot between the words.
For instance, registering Insurance.Flowers would make no sense, and has zero value. Just because Insurance is a quality keyword, and Flowers is a quality keyword, doesn’t mean pairing them with a dot in the middle will create a domain that will have value.
A better pairing would be Car.Insurance. Why? Because “Car Insurance” is an extremely relevant term, highly valuable in the .com, and has an obvious commercial use. All you’ve done is take the keywords “Car Insurance” and placed a dot in the middle.
All being said, there are only a handful of new GTLD extensions that can accommodate premium combinations. Choose wisely.
2. Renewal Price
Renewal price is a big factor when deciding what kind of new GTLD to buy. Some of the renewal fees are mind-boggling and well into the thousands of dollars per year.
While I understand that some of the renewal fees are much higher for “premium” new GTLD’s, I do not think it is wise to invest in a domain name that will eat away at your future profit every year.
I do, however, have one or two domains that cost me around $500 a year each in renewals. I made sure they were the most premium new GTLD that I could buy so that even if it takes 5-10 years to find the perfect buyer for it, I would still make a substantial return. One example is Travel.Agency, I spent a good amount acquiring the domain name, and I have to spend $500/yr renewing it. I don’t even flinch at that. Why? For one, I could develop it into a lucrative business, and two, this domain name will sell for six figures one day.
With new GTLD’s launching all the time, your options are limitless so make sure when you buy a new GTLD, you heavily consider the renewal fee. Otherwise, any profit you might have made will slowly disappear.
3. Development Potential & Brand Ability
This one goes for every domain, but even more so for a new GTLD. You have to ask yourself how likely it is that a serious business can be developed on the domain name. Will a company spend thousands of dollars to market this brand? Is it worth it for them to step into the world of new GTLD’s? Will acquiring this domain name give their brand the needed edge to become #1 in their niche?
Take for instance the recent sale of Smart.Watch. That is a prime example of a new GTLD that meets all of the requirements, especially brand ability and development potential. You can name your product with it, sell the product with it, and run an extensive and successful marketing campaign all around the domain name.
There are numerous other examples, for instance, Coffee.Club is a brilliant and highly brandable domain name that has a lucrative business model behind. Who doesn’t love coffee? Who hates running out of coffee? The subscription box model is also extremely successful, and they did a phenomenal job picking the domain name for their business. While it may have cost them $100,000 to acquire the domain name, no amount of money can replace the branding value that brings to their business. Feel free to Google the term “Coffee Club” yourself and compare their domain name to the others you see. Which one stands out? Simple, Coffee.Club.
It goes without saying that domain names are the doorway to your brand, and if you decide to brand your company with a new GTLD, you have to choose wisely.
In Summary
Take your time, do your research, and make sure that you take into consideration everything you can before deciding to invest in a new GTLD. There are far more risks involved, so even more research has to be done before buying one. There are, however, far more opportunities available for investors seeking long-term profits.
Be sure to stick to relevant keyword combinations with a dot in the middle, keep your renewal costs down, and make sure you don’t get overly creative when buying a new GTLD and you should do just fine.
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