Morning Folks!!
Numbers have always been my road map. Numbers cut through all the motives, agendas and bullshit and hopes and all the rest. Numbers don't lie people do. I am guilty of forming opinions based on numbers regardless of the fallout or who is involved and I have done that since 1996. I test and I report. I invest to find REAL answers. My reports cut all ways because I just follow them wherever those numbers lead and to the conclusions they provide. I now have some conclusions and if you have been following my posts over the past year you won't be surprised. Some will always squeal but that is because they are emotionally and financially invested in whatever results I find if it does not dovetail with what they want to hear and their agenda.
First of all anything can be sold. Any extension has an aftermarket. So there is always money to be made. So let's be clear on that. Even manure has value.
.Com is universal because you can put any word or combination of words and it sounds good not awkward. However you can't say that about all extensions. Even extensions I like have limits. .ME in particular. Call to action verbs and some nouns. Not all work well or sound good. There are limits. .TV may be more universal as you can put anything that would naturally go with TV before the dot.
So at this point in time I would say .COM, .TV, .ME, Are the 3 primary extensions today and into the years ahead. We will see if any of the new extensions are universal. I can't see more than a handful even having a chance and I don't count .Company because I see that more as an Intranet as opposed to an Internet.
.mobi, .biz, .co, .xxx, RIP. These extensions have had the benefits of a single star on stage and have yet to reap much in the way of rewards. Again, you can flip these extensions and make a living. I don't focus on that. I focus on raw and natural value and whether it will go up or down in the future. I just see them now with limited futures because the NUMBERS point that way. Could that change? Sure! But it is doubtful with thousands of next extensions entering the marketplace.
That said, you can do well promoting ANY extension IF and ONLY IF you own the .COM counterpart. Sorry, this is just not a debatable issue except for people that are ignorant on the subject. Any other choice and it is guaranteed to cost you a significant portion of business. That business that is lost is the cream, the profit. It is not just another sale. It is not just another 1000 sales. So while companies go googoo over SEO, they are missing the more important piece and time sensitive piece of the puzzle which is a 'Domain Strategy'.
See this was not something that was debatable before O.co as far as I was concerned. But when they went public and announced the amount of folks that were actually confused was the majority of folks. 61% to be precise. What IDIOT can copy that KNOWING this?? That is my position! I mean I would have to define an idiot as making a business decision that could cost them up to 61% or more of ALL of their NEW business.
Now I am NOT calling the guys at Overstock, idiots. Quite the contrary. They had the balls to try something and when it did not work they had the balls to change course. They even had the balls to announce the actual numbers. So the folks I am calling idiots is anyone that has that information and still ignores it or buries it. That's an idiot by my definition. Ignoring important information and not learning from other peoples mistakes.
Personally I wanted to develop Rick.TV. But each time I think of doing it I just refer back to what I just wrote. I don't own Rick.com. That means much of the fruit of MY labor will end up somewhere else. That's a bad equation. I even went out and got Rick.co. But without the .com version I just know I will always being running faster than I actually am.
Now I might launch Rick.TV anyways because I do believe in 'Destinations' and hopefully I can overcome the hurdle by drawing attention to the difference. When 1-800-MATTRESS came along they had a problem. There were 8 letters in a 7 digit telephone number. So to educate the consumer their slogan was 'Leave off the last 'S' for savings!' That was enough to do the trick.
So when .co does not have a slogan bringing attention to the difference, there is no difference and the result is 61% being misguided. Some of those folks will still find them. But it won't be the majority. The answers are always in the numbers and those that ignore numbers are ignorant and since they do it knowing full well that the numbers will tell them the truth, they don't want to know the truth and the facts and that by my definition makes them idiots.
So idiots have 2 choices in life. Remain idiots or instead of getting insulted, actually look at the numbers and realize spitting in the wind won't hurt me, it will only hurt you.
There is no longer an excuse. 17 years and enough facts and numbers to prove the point. It's a compass. Ignore it at your own peril.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
'Success is just a matter of luck. Ask any failure.'
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