"www.LEFT.RIGHT left, right, left, right, left."
Here’s another of Danny’s pre-written posts. I think it’s going to make him a few enemies. Oh well, probably about time he got some thicker skin. He’s really just too damn nice. ;-)
Brutal…but nice.
Rick Schwartz
By Danny Welsh
JointVentures.com
What happens when 1800 extensions spawn
100,000 marketing campaigns using a cutesy www.whatever.whocares that we all
know will leak traffic to www.whatever.com?
Some "brands" extensions, some "geo" extensions, some "generic" extensions...each will have DIFFERENT consequences, but all will leak for a LONG time.
If you know that, what must happen down the line? Can you profit from it? Sure, many newbie domainers will. Stay away from trademarks and make some money down the road maybe. For guys that hand regged dot com's 20 years ago I personally just don't see it as a smart use of time or resources UNLESS:
1. They own the registry-- so they sell volume. Hey, Rick's on record saying "anything can be sold" and I agree.
2. They own www.RIGHT.com matching for all www.LEFT.RIGHT's that get registered-- so they profit from the leak.
All I'm saying is Rick has given this more thought than any thought leader I personally know. And I see human nature being the BIGGEST factor.
Drive.BMW is an example of a .brand extension, right? Those marketing campaigns will send some traffic to DriveBMW.com-- for many years-- every time it's used in mass advertising. Don't be surprised when it also sends traffic to Drive.COM
So if the big branded company marketing a domain name in the next 3 years like "www.LEFT.RIGHT" does their due diligence they will own FIRST:
www.LEFTRIGHT.com
www.LEFT.com
In the case of the brands like BMW turning their company name into a .brand TLD, they'd of course for the most part already own www.RIGHT.com.
Except let's not forget about the Nissan.com's of the world. :)
Ladies and gentlemen… it ain't gonna be pretty.
Whoever owns UDRPLawyer.com and DNAttorney.com and so many more descriptive domains for an emerging service sector better be prepared for the onslaught of interest in needing to hire anyone who can help, and who will companies turn to but those that have credibility within the world they purport to have (i.e. the operators of generic legal domains pertaining to domaining law).
Whoever has experience and a track record doing domain name law from both sides of the table better be prepared for the onslaught of clients you can grab in an exploding sector of law. Because you’ll be among the biggest winners in a field full of losers as everybody gets on the 1-800--WHOCANISUE.com merry go round of real life business in the 21st century when 1800 .crap extensions try to create a second miracle and fail.
Who will be safe from lawsuits with a precedent of decisions where the domain owner WON against all frivolous complaints and has a generic investing intent to point to? Who will make more money than every before? Who will be labeled a visionary when it all shakes out and who will be labeled a cybersquatter?
These things are all human nature. Sure, many folks are bitter that the “500” own the very best .com domain names in the world. Hell, I was one of them. But everybody likes an underdog story, and it’s all in who the storyteller is and how the story is presented.
Victors write history.
Domains that look like these types -- GENERIC.com, SOCIAL.com, PRODUCT.com, SERVICE.com, NOUN.com, VERB.com, GERUND.com, ADJECTIVE.com, COUNTRY.com, GEOBIGNICHE.com and a few others will STAND OUT increasingly as time rolls on.
And the guys and gals who saw the value of Hotels.com or *any* CATEGORY.com value domain names before the masses…before the advertising agencies…before the media…before the academics…before the ‘psychics…and before every single “hotel” or “category” company on that planet themselves…
Will be in a position to tell the story of struggle, frustration, patience, income, increased valuation, public acceptance and increasingly triumph after triumph in what guys like me will point to and say this is one of the greatest “underdog” stories ever told in the history of capitalism.
Trademark UDRP's that increase in the next few years BECAUSE of 1800 “.brand” and similar new domain extensions are going to hurt ONLY .com domainers that have made money on leaks from big companies for years. Expect the rush of .whatever to bring a huge # of ".com" decisions where the company claimant WINS. DriveBMW.com is irrelevant to this discussion. All trademarks are. The smart investors in domains don't buy trademarked domains and most never have.
Every lawsuit and trademark UDRP is going to HURT ONLY .com domainers that have made money on leaks from big companies for years. We call those folks cybersquatters.
Expect the rush of www.whatever.brand extensions being marketed to bring a huge # of "whateverbrand.com" or "brandwhatever.com" decisions where the company claimant WINS.
DriveBMW.com is irrelevant to this discussion except as a specific TYPE of extension (i.e. .brand) where if you think it through you can PREDICT what is likely to happen and how they'll leak.
Many .brand companies that have trademarks and mass market whatever.brand domain names are going to leak to .com's that are registered by cybersquatters and never should have been allowed to be registered in the first place.
Yeah, I said it. If you registered something like DriveBMW.com it’s theft unless your business idea is different from the company that matches whatever the “brand” is, and their products and services.
How many used Lamborghinis does the manufacturer sell? Probably zero. Manufacturers can’t control the after-market sales of their products in a resale market. So “UsedBrand.com” is going to be pretty safe (Rick…you can remove the last two paragraphs if you disagree…leave this note in here if you want…my research indicates these are true statements but you may want to amend with your superior insider knowledge)
The smart investors in domains don't buy trademarked domains and most never have.
So what happens when the media covers a growing trend over the small cybersquatter that owns ABCBrand.com being sued and LOSING? Let them compare that to the domain investor that time and again WINS with PRODUCT.COM or SERVICE.COM when a greedy company tries to steal it. Give the media time and they'll figure out the difference between generic investor VISIONARY and a cybersquatting thief eating their fill on scraps that fall from the rightful table of a big company.
Follow the line of thought from beginning to end game…
If you expect that these things WILL happen…and they will…
What does that do then to the value of every PRODUCT.com? To the value of every SERVICE.com? To the value of every CATEGORY.com? To the value of every SOCIALGROUP.com?
Think it through. Think it all the way thru the roof. See if you come to the same conclusions Rick and I have for what's going to happen in the next 36 months.
I say if already successful “.com” domainer folks want to dabble in “.whatever”, well…whatever.
( ASIDE: notice how even the guys selling it can't help but use that "catchy" phrase ".whatever" which they really shouldn't because it's pretty derogatory and positioning is the name of the game!)
(ASIDE #2: I’m not and very likely never will but if *I* were building a company selling “.whatever” domains I'd do it from www.leftright.com and I'd set up shop at www.left.right). I'd educate the end user about what an extension IS (because trust me, they don’t know…the average guy knows .com and that is IT…in his mind “www.” and “.com” ARE the same as that thing called the ‘Internet’).
So if you want to speculatively invest and buy .whatever domains, go for it. I don’t have time for it. It'll take the few of them that catch on less time than it took for .com to catch on because the few of 1800 new extensions that end up surviving can leverage .com's wind for 20 years...but it's still gonna be an uphill battle! Good luck.
Maybe you as a domainer hand register a PRODUCT.whatever in 2013 and your children's children will get a chance to do with those what guys like Rick and others in the 500 can do RIGHT NOW with .com's from registrations 20 years ago. Hey, somebody's gotta win the lottery, right? But that’s a game for a new wave of domainers. I simply cannot see one of the top .com domain name owners in the world caring and it’s odd to me that any would try with the exception of only a handful that are rich enough to simply hedge their bets.
Set all the trademarks aside and .com's that are generic will go up in value.
Faster and faster.
The next 3 years will witness the telling of one of the greatest underdog stories in the history of business…I wasn’t there for the beginning of the journey with the 500, but I’m here now to tell the story.
And tell it I will. And when I tell you that the world of business will march to the beat of the 500’s drummers before the fat lady sings...It’s true.
The 1800 www.Left.Right Domain Name Imitations coming to market can “Left, right, left, right, left, right” and try to create a new drum cadence in the market all they want.
For anyone seeking a GREAT domain name to give their business a chance to Succeed.com, who opens their eyes and ears and does their due diligence…it will become increasingly clear in the next few years that there is only ONE “Right” choice “Left” standing for any SERIOUS BUSINESS that has SERIOUS AMBITION to make a name for itself globally online.
Long live “.com”!
Danny Welsh
JointVentures.com
