.LONDON Potential? Need Opinions...

Hey guys, the price to get a .London domain name for a year is around about £35 for a one year registration. With regards to this, how much is a business likely to pay for a domain such as "hotelsin.london" or "thingstodoin.london"?

Will they be willing to pay substantially more than the price I'd be paying? Or would they not really see the appeal of such a domain. I know this is a very subjective question, as some people would pay nothing and others would pay thousands, but you get the idea.

 

Nope, stay away from these new extensions, you will waste your money

Check the results of all the other new extensoins

 

I would stay away from domain hacks if you're a newbie. You would be better going for names like pubs.london, hotels.london or taxi.london as opposed to domain hacks. Not allot of companies buy them and with it being a new extension, the demand might not be there.

 

The part I highlighted is exactly the thing that highly depends on you. You can have adsgasrt.xyz and still find a sucker...er, client...who will give you their money. Alternatively, you can have the best name and still get a low amount because you don't market it properly. One of the cornerstones of domain selling is to explain to the buyer WHY this domain is valuable for them, what is their benefit. People's desire to purchase is firmly lead by pure benefits and that is your job to emphasize as a seller.

This is on a more general note. Speaking for your case in particular I would refrain from giving you a direct advice, however I can tell you mine and many experienced domainer's opinions which I've gathered in various forums. The new batch of TLDs is a fad, just like the last ones were. And just like with the last ones, there would always be the people who want to be pioneers and jump head-first into a tornado of registrations. History does not speak too well about them tho. Even if its too early to judge the new TLDs, the fact is that most of them fail after an year or so, when the seller still can't get rid of the domain(s) and renewal times come. Even the hype with some of them like .guru and .ninja is bound to go away and many people will be wondering what to do with their genius names.

Now, the localized TLDs might have a chance if there really is a strong desire for them and businesses adopt them quickly. I noticed at the beginning that .BERLIN was getting a lot of regs but later found out that there was something like a promo and they were practically giving them for free. But without knowing that anyone can be tricked into thinking that the extension is getting popular. As I can see from the TLD stats .LONDON currently has around 50k regs. An year from their reg I can assure you that many will drop. Or simply think about it that way - how many .london websites have you seen so far? Are there big local brands that adopted such a name? And do you have a solid plan on how to market it vs a .com? Reality is that people are still used to the few TLDs they know (some don't even know .net or .biz, let alone understanding that yoursite.london is not yoursite.london.com).

Again, history shows some very high-end sales of new extensions but if you are not a seasoned domainer with a solid plan I would refrain from taking any action until you see which TLDs do take off and which are buried in oblivion.

Hope that helps

 

i agree with the above

now im not a big domain buyer and sometimes buy random names on go daddy auctions, but .london i dont think will take off at all.

the big one i toyed with for weeks was "thequeensplace.london" thinking that could be worth something to someone, but i would have to take pics, build it up, give history and could take 6-9 months to get it "useable"

you need to take any name buying ideas into time frames to get them useable/sellable

 

maybe should re look

https://flippa.com/3257974-sex-in-london-over-37-000-000-monthly-searches

 

Localisation is the trend today and most of the search engines including Google
- give more importance to geographical nearness to the user and give preference
to search results. Therefore, the potential consumer reach of a famous city TLD like .LONDON
has both more trendsetting potential as well as buying power than many of the ccTLDS.

 

It depends on who is buying domain from you and where are you selling it.
in my opinion the first domain name what you mentioned above IS GREAT! it will grow its value beacause of touristic interest in London...there is a lot of hotels and a lot of hotel owners will be willing pay you 200- 500 punds and more fot that!...
I suggest you to start selling this on FLIPPA in domain section! when you upgrade your listing on that site you will get a big advantage and big probability to sell this domain name for much much bigger price.

 

Don't listen those who say to stay away, it's all down of what you do with it. got a .club domain and getting already 200/300 visitors daily in less than a month, with search queries on google

 

The poster has indicated they will be selling the name and wont be developing it

 

I think that there still isn't a lot of familiarity with the new gTLDs; many people don't know that they exist or can exist. But as soon as some of them takeoff (such as .amazon, once the dispute over that is sorted), users will become more familiar with them. Still, I'd imagine that (for many use cases), Google search rankings are probably more important than the domain name itself or what g or ccTLD it uses.

 

Keep in mind that .london are restricted to londoners only, so the market ain't that big compared to some of the other extensions.

 

Not true actually. After the initial release there was a 3 month period where londoners received priority in registering such names. After that period there are two types of people who can freely register .LONDON domains - either the ones with physical presence in the city OR individuals/companies who, in good faith, declare an interest of business in the London area. Key here is "in good faith", meaning that even you and me can declare such interest without even having such and freely register such an extension.

 

So you will actually be the owner if you declare "good faith" ?

 

Indeed, as far as I know.

 

And when someone complains about a domain aren't used for running a business in the London area? It sounds to risky to consider any larger investments that way. Nevertheless the extension is still limited to those with interest in London.

 

Well I think that such vague requirements basically mean that there are no requirement. Even if my business is not London based how can anyone prove that it is not London related. Even if I have a couple of clients from that area I can safely state that my business does benefit the actual city. Plus, who would pursue such a case anyways?

Another reason I believe that the registration is practically free for all is because I also visit some domain forums and there are domainers from all over the world that invested in such domains and later sold them to other individuals and companies. The same also goes for .BERLIN where the registry were having such promotions that they were practically giving a lot of them for free and anyone could participate. When you think of it ANY global business might want to increase their popularity in a certain area so even if they are not physically present there, they do run their business there too. Bottom line is that unlike most ccTLDs with their strictly different policies, .LONDON .BERLIN etc. are gTLDs and even solely because of that fact any restrictions will be very debatable.

 

Not saying it will happen but there is a risk factor to consider. Especially if the terms states that you should run a London based firm and that could be proved fairly easy by whoever that wants that domain. Knowing domaining you know that people do whatever to steal other peoples domains every day. Reading the terms is the only way to be sure really all we can do is to guess otherwise.

 

In principal this is exactly right. However I started this little argument exactly because of the way their Terms are structured. Taken by the FAQ of the dotlondondomains site:

"Who can buy a Dot London domain name?

Answer: Dot London is a global domain that is open to everybody who is interested in London either because they are based in London or because they have an affiliation with or an interest in the city."

Reading this part shows pretty well of how open the registrations really are. Still, I dug around some more registrars and the fullest explanation I saw was:

"Individuals and entities either with a physical address in London (comprising the City of London and 32 London Boroughs); -OR- who in good faith declare that they have an affiliation with or interest in London, such as to provide information, or offer products, goods or services, relevant to London or Londoners."

Again, this pretty much says that even if I like London as a city or may want to one day build a London-related/London-oriented website, then I am free to do so, regardless if I've ever even been to London

 

Thanks that clears things out