.ORG more popular than .IN ??

[ImageAuthors]

I agree wholeheartedly that there needs to be more development.

Still, I'm not sure why a bewildering number of gTLDs would be competitive with a recognizable ccTLD that can be used by a whole nation as a rallying point. After all, the future of most gTLDs will be dubious; and even those that will survive will have a shadow of failure cast across their prospects by the poor performance of the others. Such uncertainty will drive business owners toward safer options. Let us remember that business owners are taking a risky and expensive investment decision by developing a website. The only temptation toward a new gTLD that I can conceive of would be a low price; and yet the new registries won't be able to survive their initial lean period unless they charge quite a bit for domain registrations -- as the ICM registry did with .XXX.

And these gTLDs, generally speaking, won't help a business identify itself as an Indian business to an Indian audience. Assuming for the sake of argument that .PW became a mainstay of the worldwide web, the majority of .PW websites would be scattered across the globe -- just as .COM, .NET, and .ORG are. An Indian housing appraiser will be overlooked by the Indian audience if he relies on HouseAppraisal.PW rather than HouseAppraisal.IN.

At best, another TLD such as .INDIA could attempt to match the unique identifying features of .IN. But then the new TLD is simply redundant. Frankly, I don't see how new TLDs will survive unless their marketers can outshout the marketers for other gTLDs and convince people that they offer unique benefits. All that shouting for attention by registry marketers will up the ante for the marketers of competing gTLDs -- driving up the registries' advertising costs just as prices go up in any auction format. And who will pay for these marketers? Why, those registering these new gTLDs! In comparison, .IN needs no introduction; so it can remain affordable.

Here in the USA, I know what demographic is involved if I find a .IN website. But if I stumble across .PW, say, then I know nothing. Therefore the new gTLD (.PW in this example) is weak in comparison to .IN because it conveys nothing and is interchangeable with (and liable to be confused with) many other gTLDs.

@ImageAuthors...thanks for your opinion.

I was not trying to imply that .PW is a threat to .IN, rather what I am trying to get across to the many DREAMERS on this forum is that this is JUST the BEGINNING of something enormous in the domain name game. .PW is just the beginning, there will be many thousands of more extensions being released onto the market within the next 10 years, and you can GUARANTEE that not all of them will be as insignificant as .PW!

Therefore IF we do NOT start to establish the .IN extension before the massive marketing corporations start releasing these new extensions, then my friend, we are all DOOMED!

You must understand that just registering or buying a quality keyword .IN name is NOT ENOUGH to see any significant growth in the value of that name anymore, within 5 years there will be dominers owning another few hundred NEW EXTENSIONS on the market with EXACTLY the SAME keyword as yours, and many of these extensions will be used by Indians in India, soooooo WHAT will set yours apart from the others??!

THERE ARE other potential extensions which will be MUCH BETTER sounding than .PW and at least a few of these WILL flourish in INDIA! Its a guaranteed statistical probability that from so many new extensions, a few will definitely survive and succeed in India, especially with the marketing power of multi-billion dollar companies behind them such as Reliance ect.....


We MUST act now and start to DEVELOP! And secure the .IN extension as being about QUALITY and not just parked pages!

 

[Truekumar]

interesting and very thought provoking reply, but I am sure you will probably know that I am going to disagree with you there, I still believe that the .IN extension itself is not assynonymous with Indian users as you would like to think and still NEEDS A LOT MORE marketing too, this can be provided by the registry and possibly the government BUT the way in which we can help is by producing and developing quality websites linked to .IN keyword names which then spread across the nation by word of mouth thereby attaching the .IN extension with quality and usability for end users and customers across India.

But at least I am glad that you agree with me in the fact that we need MORE DEVELOPMENT of .INs and we as investors need to at least develop our TOP NAMES or at least when we sell our names try to sell to DEVELOPERS or people whom are going to be taking the name forward and developing into a quality business website.

So back to my initial preach, PLEASE GUYS, do NOT just sit on your TOP DOMAINS, take then OUT OF PARKED pages and DEVELOP, DEVELOP, DEVELOP!!!!! Or else they will be worth very little in the future of thousands of similar extensions!

 

[Truekumar]

We must remember that .IN is not at the level of usage locally as .co.uk or .de, I live in the UK but visit India a couple of times per year, and I can confirm that .IN is no where near the the percentage of usage with Indians as .CO.UK is with English people or .DE is with German users.

In India, .COM still dominates in terms of usage, I have seen as a first hand experience in major cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, but also in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as well as in villages.

.COM still dominates in India, whereas in the UK and in Germany is does not completely dominate. We NEED to develop more quality .IN sites that can compete with .COM sites and appeal to the local users (INDIANS).

DEVELOP, MARKET, DEVELOP, MARKET, DEVELOP!

 

[ImageAuthors]

Obviously, not living in India myself, I cannot speak on the degree to which .IN is embraced by Indians. You may very well be right.

I guess my point is that .IN (when used) will be used almost exclusively for India, which entails some community branding -- i.e. every developed .IN website is remembered when a person encounters a new .IN site. In contrast, some gTLD like .PW would (if used at all) be scattered worldwide and therefore lack the advantages of country identification. The same applies to .ORG. As a TLD, .ORG is in wide use and definitely conveys its own community brand image; but that image can never be India, precisely because most .ORG websites are unrelated to India.

If anyone on this forum would like to develop a business, I'm willing to team up on something like ForRent.in. Personally, I'm not a solo developer. But I agree that development needs to happen.

We must remember that .IN is not at the level of usage locally as .co.uk or .de, I live in the UK but visit India a couple of times per year, and I can confirm that .IN is no where near the the percentage of usage with Indians as .CO.UK is with English people or .DE is with German users.

In India, .COM still dominates in terms of usage, I have seen as a first hand experience in major cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, but also in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as well as in villages.

.COM still dominates in India, whereas in the UK and in Germany is does not completely dominate. We NEED to develop more quality .IN sites that can compete with .COM sites and appeal to the local users (INDIANS).

DEVELOP, MARKET, DEVELOP, MARKET, DEVELOP!

 

[Truekumar]

Well I am also looking to team up with people to help in my development of my names, a couple of the names I am looking to develop are:

Serials.in
Animations.in
Animated.in

If anyone is interested in teaming up for a really good DEVELOPMENT opportunity then please let me know! Cheers guys!

 

[Truekumar]

Of course .COM will always stay strong for at least another 5-10 years BUT the new extensions are definitely trouble even for the likes of .COM investors, and .IN has no chance if .COM is in trouble. We MUST develop! Please read article below:

Internet domain-name market in doldrums - SFGate

 

[Truekumar]

I am a member on many other non-indian domain name forums too and even .COM domain name investors are very worried about this situation and the new explosion of thousands of new extensions flooding the market, BUT why are we NOT worried? Are we Indian investors lost in some sort of Bollywood dreamworld and thinking we are still going to make millions of dollars by just sitting on our names and parking them???!!

Please guys! We NEED to start WORRYING and think of a different game plan! We can still do well in this game but we NEED to DEVELOP our names into quality websites and increase our page ranks on google and generate traffic and only then will our name be POTENTIALLY worth something but NEVER will the game be the same as it was 5 years ago with .coms, the whole functioning of the web HAS CHANGED and is constantly changing on a monthly basis if we do not keep up, our investments are LOST and our MONEY is GONE!!!

This is a warning to ALL .IN investors on this forum, keep up with the times and don't just purchase good quality names and then park them for a few years hoping that they will be worth millions when you are ready to sell, this will NOT happen! You will lose ALL of your investment and renewal fee money on your portfolios!

DEVELOP NOW!!!

 

[LLL.in King]

TK, i love your enthusiasm and zeal regarding .IN domains, but i feel you are a tad bit overreacting.

1st of all, if we look at domain extensions as real estate(which they are for the most part), then opening up pieces of land in faraway, irrelevant places(new extensions) really doesn't afect the preferred,advantageous locations(.com/well established ccTLDs) by much. Development is always good, but its not the solution to the .IN market opening up more.Its more about consumer exposure.

Consumer exposure in India is what is required more than development. Many indian businesses are inefficiently accepting to not go online, many others are accepting to use inferior or irrelevant domains in decent extensions,and Indians generally DONT KNOW the value of a good .IN domain name. Indians will eventually come around, but this might just be part of the web/internet/technology revolution overtaking this 2nd world nation. Many indian businesses today won't buy solid LLL.INs for $400-$600,but we all know on this forum that at that price, it is well worth THEIR WHILE. We have to give it time, and educate the masses because India's type of masses is huge. how many .greens will Indians buy? what about .irrelevant? why focus on the perceived threat from new extensions when already released extensions like .mobi and .asia still can't do well? as a matter of fact, the fact that some already established extensions can't do well is evidence teh odds are already against most of the new extensions. We have to focus on educating the Indian population about the value of domain names,and tell them not to focus on the price they pay but the value they get. some are getting it, others are losing when they shouldn't,but INdias economy cannt go from gear 4 to 5 without going online enmass AND buying domain names.

finally TK, instead of worrying about .IN development, worry on the quality of internet real estate you hold. Those holding mediocre .IN domains are definitely in bigger trouble because the fundamentals are off. Buy and hold good names and good luck will come to you eventually.Buy and hold rubbish names and no type of luck will save you.

 

[Truekumar]

Hi Warbux,

I appreciate your knowledgeable opinion on this issue and you are correct in many of things you have stated but I still believe that development is the way forward.

You mentioned "Indians generally DONT KNOW the value of a good .IN domain name". So HOW do you propose that we increase Indian people's perception in regards to the value of a .IN name? We need to develop GOOD .IN names into quality useable sites! Right??!

My personal opinion is STILL, develop, develop, develop...and together as a community of investors we can establish a generalised opinion of good quality names based on the .IN exertion and not just a dead extension consisting of thousands of parked keyword names.

 

[LLL.in King]

YOu also make some solid points TK,and i have to admit, i have no magic bullet answer to the question of how do we increase Indians' exposure of .IN domains. But then again, the answer might be as simple as TIME.India needs more time for everything- to grow their economy, realize India's potentials, increase web use, increase .IN domain exposure too. So just be ready to wait it out. But once the action gets hot, it won't stop for a while.

Hi Warbux,

I appreciate your knowledgeable opinion on this issue and you are correct in many of things you have stated but I still believe that development is the way forward.

You mentioned "Indians generally DONT KNOW the value of a good .IN domain name". So HOW do you propose that we increase Indian people's perception in regards to the value of a .IN name? We need to develop GOOD .IN names into quality useable sites! Right??!

My personal opinion is STILL, develop, develop, develop...and together as a community of investors we can establish a generalised opinion of good quality names based on the .IN exertion and not just a dead extension consisting of thousands of parked keyword names.

 

[prettypoonam]

Their is a complete myth between these domain tlds, the .org is good .com is good etc etc...

Practically the domain name is important then the domain tld's, yes its important for search engine but as in india the google.co.in shows .in tlds first,

the .org is may good selling tld, but we cannot underestimate .in tld it is a futures best domain tld.

 

[Truekumar]

Would google necessarily show .IN extensions before .COMs or .ORGs? Does it not depend on a number of other factors too??

Do YOU honestly think that if you have a parked .IN for example Cars.In which is a parked page and then there is Cars.org or Cars.com which are fully functioning quality built websites, then do you honestly think that google would show Cars.In on the first page of results in comparison to Cars.org or Cars.In ??

My argument is that we NEED to develop our names to match against .Org's or .Com's, without development our .Ins will not become recognisable to the general Indian population with quality websites, we NEED to promote .Ins on the tips of the tongues of Indian people! So that when they think of .In sites, they think QUALITY and TRUST WORTHY and not just dead parked sites!

 

[Truekumar]

Here we go again guys, SOME of the new suffixes will fail, but MANY over the next few years will undoubtedly succeed, especially with the financial and marketing backing of these types of powerful companies.

THEREFORE our ONLY way forward is to establish .IN and link the .IN extension with QUALITY websites, start developing guys or else .BHARAT websites (example) may end being on the tip of the tongue for Indian internet users in the future and we don't want that do we?

So stopping SITTING and PARKING your names, get moving now and start developing or at least start selling some of your dormant names to established companies whom will develop them and actually start USING the names to establish the .IN suffix as being a linked to USEABLE quality websites!


Please read link below:

Top Indian companies line up with Rs 1 crore for new web suffixes - The Times of India

 

[the_poet]

Here we go again guys, SOME of the new suffixes will fail, but MANY over the next few years will undoubtedly succeed, especially with the financial and marketing backing of these types of powerful companies.

THEREFORE our ONLY way forward is to establish .IN and link the .IN extension with QUALITY websites, start developing guys or else .BHARAT websites (example) may end being on the tip of the tongue for Indian internet users in the future and we don't want that do we?

So stopping SITTING and PARKING your names, get moving now and start developing or at least start selling some of your dormant names to established companies whom will develop them and actually start USING the names to establish the .IN suffix as being a linked to USEABLE quality websites!


Please read link below:

Top Indian companies line up with Rs 1 crore for new web suffixes - The Times of India

They forgot to add that Indians already have a great alternative to .com before switching to the new TLDs.

 

[ImageAuthors]

MANY over the next few years will undoubtedly succeed, especially with the financial and marketing backing of these types of powerful companies.

I agree that, whereas most new gTLDs will fail, a few will eventually succeed. But there is no "undoubtedly" about it. Powerful companies have backed TLDs in the past and failed miserably. Now the situation will be many companies wasting their marketing budgets to compete against each other for the same limited amount of customer interest. So they have even lower odds of success than .TRAVEL or .TEL did years ago.

We certainly can't predict that a particular new gTLD like .BHARAT will be one of the lucky survivors!

our ONLY way forward is to establish .IN and link the .IN extension with QUALITY websites, start developing guys or else .BHARAT websites (example) may end being on the tip of the tongue for Indian internet users

Surely there are enough Indians visiting .CO.IN and .IN sites already that .BHARAT would be starting years behind in the race! It may catch up, but that's unlikely given the head start of .CO.IN / .IN. Plus, .BHARAT is much much longer than .IN and lacks the clever double meaning of "in" + "India". As an American, I'd find .IN much more memorable and representative of India than .BHARAT. So .BHARAT is useless for marketing to the outside world, which would mainly recognize .IN and .CO.IN.

Yes, I 100% agree that development should be prioritized and accelerated. For that to happen, domainers have to (1) be web designers themselves and develop their own assets, (2) be willing to pay for web design, or (3) team up with other domainers who are web designers and each concentrate on using their separate skill sets for maximum mutual benefit. #3 would involve an honest look at which person has the better domains -- the ones that really ought to be developed first. So egos would definitely get in the way. Most domainers are too attached to their own babies for them to concentrate on someone else's -- even if they'd make money that way!

Since I haven't tested how much revenue an Indian website can generate, I'd be unwilling to start out with #2 -- paying for web design. And, since I'm not a web designer, #1 isn't an option. But I am willing to explore #3, if anybody else out there is interested.

 

[Truekumar]

Thanks ImageAuthors, but I am sure these multi-billion dollar companies have carried out a substantial amount of research in regards to the feasibility of of their particular suffix doing well with potential customers, and due to the vast number of applications which is ONLY in this particular round, over the next 5-10 years many more applications may be made, then it is INEVITABLE that at least a few of these new extensions WILL DO WELL, is it not? Just the law of probability right? Simple statistics?

I was not being specific about .BHARAT, that was actually just an example, but it could be anything at all, .INDIA, .DESH, .HIND, .IND, anything at all!

But I am glad that you agree with my ideas on development, IT IS and HAS TO BE the ONLY way forward for us in this new world of thousands of new extensions over the next decade. Development and establishing .IN as a quality extensions used for quality businesses is the only way we can guarantee that .IN will survive over the next 10 years!

I have started to pay a couple of developers to help me develop my top names, but I would also look at option 3 too if anyone is interested in helping me! We NEED to work TOGETHER on this guys or else our investments will be worthless in the future, ACT NOW and DEVELOP NOW!! Please don't just park your best names. We need to get these names out onto the market so that the general public start using them!

 

[ImageAuthors]

I think the companies backing the new gTLDs expect most of their income to come from (1) defensive registrations by worried companies and (2) domainers hoping to get rich. The registries may make a profit, but it doesn't follow from this that the new extensions will become popular online.

Pretend you're a business. Would you rather be Company.in -- the shortest and clearest and oldest and most recognizable option? Or would you prefer to be ALL of the following extensions: .INDIA, .DESH, .HIND, .IND -- renewing them all every year and letting your competitor be Company.in? Or would you have to register Company.in as well just to be safe? Or would you risk JUST being Company.desh and compete against a long list of other websites: .IN, .INDIA, .DESH, .HIND, .IND?

Of these options, only .IN makes sense.

 

[Rajat]

If .in price will be Rs400 then it'll be good for .in future. Price should not be more than that or less than that.
I have talked to some guys who are small teams(Not web developers or professionals) that want to showcase their team and small place with photos and few words. They prefer .in over .com
So I would say "Slow and steady wins the race".
Comparing to 2009-2010 to 2012-2013 there is so much rapid changes in technology.
As per my calculation .in needs another 5 to 7 years for large growth.
Only way to grow is to provide good internet connection all over India. Not only Cities and large towns, but also in small towns.
And remove the crap service tax.

 

[Truekumar]

Thanks Pupul and you are very correct in stating that we do need a long while for large growth in the .IN suffix, but I am thinking more like 10 years to even come close to the growth that we are all dreaming about BUT our dreams about the .IN extension WILL BE destroyed unless we actually start developing good quality websites.

I don't think that many people on this forum actually realise that JUST registering or buying a good keyword name and then parking it for 5 years WILL NOT increase its value in that timeframe, you guys will just be wasting your money and registration fees, YOU HAVE TO develop it or at least sell it to someone who will do that or work with someone whom is willing to help you DEVELOP the name!

DEVELOPMENT is the ONLY way forward for us now, as I have told many people, the GAME has CHANGED! There is ABSOLUTELY NO money left in increasing valuations of keywords that have been parked for years! This strategy no longer works. If you read the article below, it shows that even Google is changing its algorithms for search results, therefore buying a keyword is no longer the most desirable option for businesses! THEY WANT developed domains which are already generating traffic! And all of this combined with the competition from the new suffixes will create major issues for us, therefore our ONLY option for enabling .IN to survive and prosper is start developing and creating high search ranks for .IN sites on search engines.

Please read this article guys:

Google Warns of Upcoming Exact Match Domain Algorithm Change - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)

 

[domaining123]

In fact, who has some figures to compare the number of .in/.co.in domains parked/not developed, against the number of live websites for these extensions? I think this is the only solution to have a conclusion on this topic opened since months.

Very simple for anyone who has access to the whois database: a select count distinct on the nameserver column. Then, what is the percentage of domains with Sedo, Bodis, ... nameservers?