The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog: RicksBlog.com – Home of The Domain King®

Morning Folks!!

Can the New gTLD's Have a Domino Collapse? That is a very provocative question but does not delegitimize me asking it? At what point does the weight of other extensions that have not done well weigh so much on what is coming that the entire thing collapses like 1000 dominos lined up. When you add the weight of dozens of .mobi's and .travels. When you add the weight of all the gTLD's that have already been canceled. When you add the weight that even a GREAT gTLD could be tainted by the loss of the others.

Does it matter if .mobi has 1,000,000 domain registrations? Does that make it a better investment or is it still a loser as it stands today? Who cares if they make money at the registry level? They are no factor in domain investing or even domain flipping. It has NOTHING to do with YOUR LIFE!

And I don't mean to pick on .mobi but that is without doubt the clearest example so far. With great fanfare. They had their moment in the sun.They make $$$ with the sunrise and all, but face it, domain investors got caught holding the bag. And that is ok. That is what speculation is about. But other extensions DO have a more active aftermarket. .TV, .INFO, .ME. So there are lessons to be learned.

So in the event that the first 100 new extensions came to market and fell flat, what exactly would that spell for the other 900? It does not help their efforts it hinders their efforts. Even a winner could be weighed down by the sinking of others. And some are gonna sink right to the bottom.

So in that event, I would think some would be forced to even further delay a new extension rollout as they could go down with the tide. Let me be clear, I am not saying this will happen. But I do see it as ONE of the possibilities. Who goes FIRST could play a huge part in how this all unfolds. What if the first 5 rollouts are DOGS?

Food for thought. Never discount things that are possible until that threshold has been passed. .Mobi did not make the cut. Tebow did not make the cut. Both were surrounded by excitement and all the rest. But at the end of the day, the road has yet to lead either where they "Intended" to go. Tebow is still alive, .mobi is not alive as a domain investor extension today. So who cares how many are registered. They are not being used commercially and that is the KEY to value. No billboards, no TV, No Radio, no ADVERTISING DOLLARS at the end-user level. That's the KEY to growth. Not a bunch if domain investors buying TULIPS! If you don't know the Tulip Story, go LEARN IT right now!! RIGHT NOW. I sure have talked about it enough over the years. THAT is the most likely scenario at best.

Need, want desire. If nobody needs, wants or desires an extension and the few they sell are to investors looking for the 2nd coming and few if any are used commercially in advertising, how exactly does it get the oxygen to survive? Especially for investors. In OUR LIFETIME!?

.Com took off for a reason. The value of .com took off for a reason. How much did end users spend promoting .mobi last year?? THAT is where the value STARTS!

Reasons are missing in this new equation. They are just missing. And when you try to copy a recipe and the main ingredients are missing, what exactly do you have?

990 or more extensions could be very disappointed with their results regardless of their aspiring intentions. Some may not matter because with many new gTLD's then collectively they can operate and make money. But that is a different business than we are in.

.com did not happen overnight even with millions of registrations and many advertising the extension and little competition. A success on a new gTLD could take 10-20 years or more to manifest itself. Some folks think they can't plant a seed in the morning and have a tree in the evening. Maybe. 3 real or FAKE stories like that and the sheep will come a running.

But not to consider these things? Come on! This is MORE than possible given the evidence we already have. So those who have not thought about this scenario.....are they REALLY prepared? My question being in sales and marketing for so long is why would you not EXPECT it to happen? So if you don't expect something that is a possibility and that possibility arises and you are caught SURPRISED.......what happens then?

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Talk about a SCATHING article about the new gTLD's. this baby is a blockbuster!!! How many of these "Weddings" are going to end up in death as they die on the vine? Or, maybe open up shop and be served with 100 or 1000 different lawsuits claiming this or that and as a corporation you are compelled to answer each and every one of them? How do you spell "Can of worms"? Well here is a batch jumping out of a can just as we are getting to the altar.

Mike Berkens uncovered a WHALE of a story by the NY Times yesterday and I am compelled to post about it here as well. It is stunning. It is a rebuke of what is to come. The Clusterf*ck as I have been describing it since day one. But Clusterf*ck sounds mild when Ester Dyson says it is "contributing nothing" and others use the keyword CONFUSION! Gee where have I heard that word before. Confusion. Let me think. Maybe 100 posts of mine!

"The proliferation of these suffixes seems fraught for both consumers and companies. It has the potential to confuse online searchers: .car or .cars? baby.toys or toys.baby? It could also prompt companies, at great expense, to register bunches of new brand sites defensively as a way to pre-empt cybersquatters, spoofers and fraudsters."

Some technology veterans and trademark experts view the domain expansion as largely unnecessary.

“You are creating a business, like derivatives on Wall Street, that has no value,” says Esther Dyson, a technology investor who served as the founding chairwoman of Icann. “You can charge people for it, but you are contributing nothing to the happiness of humanity.”

She went on to say,  “You are creating a business, like derivatives on Wall Street, that has no value,”.

THESE ARE VERY STRONG WORDS COMING OUT. Taking a stand like this in public is not an easy thing to do. She is courageous for saying them and it would be even more courageous to heed them.

And perhaps the biggest warning comes from  professor, Jacqueline Lipton, from University of Houston Law Center.

“The Internet address oversight body may not have considered deeply enough the larger linguistic and societal ramifications of setting off a land grab for new virtual real estate like .love or .home “It’s a private body, that is dabbling in this very delicate balance of commerce and expression online that is fraught with pitfalls.”

The entire article is here

Morning folks!!

So with 1900 new extensions coming to market which will be the top 10 Domain Investor Extensions?

Once you discount the .Brands, you will have maybe 1200-1500  generic extensions. Which are your favorite? Which has you LOL? Which ones do you think can eventually breakout over the next TWENTY years? Post your list.

Let's assume 10 could potentially break out of the 1200-1500 generics. 10 winners and a lot of losers. Guys holding the bag and there ain't much in the bag. But in with all the crap are a few gems. Which ones? Even a die-hard .com guy like me knows there may be ONE worth looking at. One? I would love to have an opportunity to repeat. I don't see it happening. But I would not fight it if it did. I would embrace it. But first I need to see 3 elements that are NATURAL. Need, Want, Desire. Now everyone goes blank the moment I mention these 3 words. Scares the daylights out of them.

Personally.....Need, Want, Desire is THE radio test for me. But folks are scared of those words when they NEED to embrace those words. You can instill.....Need, Want, Desire. That is what SALES is all about. But it NEEDS a basis. So what 10 would fit in the Need, Want, Desire category? What 5? I will continue to state that without the domain investment community most of them will die on the vine. But some will bear fruit. Which ones?

So if you are one that has a new extension coming, this is the time to start telling us the real benefits we will see as an investor or an end user and what they plan to do to educate folks about something few will even know about for YEARS. And we should make a note of those that shun domainers as they will eventually rethink things but will be way too late. There are some HUGE marketing pitfalls to come complicated by hundreds of other .whatevers that want to clean tour clock and out you out of business.

I really can't wait to see this fiasco. The likes of which we have NEVER seen in history of mankind. An invented need to invent $$$$. How many of them will open their doors and sell NOTHING other than friends and family? But for the HUNDREDS that sell squat, there will be a few that market right and create a Need, Want and Desire.

And Branding?? Well branding happens all by itself. Register 10 million names and you are branded. Mass usage is the best and purest branding. When folks come with their own Need, Want, Desire and it is your product or service they Need, Want, Desire. That is branding.

So who will break out? I have not even studied the list. It is overwhelming. Which ones have the best chance? Which ones have no chance?

At the end of the day it will be up to 3rd parties to embrace what is coming. But it will be the domain community that truly picks the winners.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I am very excited about an emerging niche. For the first time I am excited about gTLD domains. Very excited. I can see it clearly now. But not in the form of .whatever. I have yet to be convinced or won over yet. But I always keep an open mind.

What I am excited about is gTLDForum.com at no reserve and gTLD.org with a $1000 reserve. Both will be up for auction at TRAFFIC. What I think interesting is some folks don't think these domains have any value. Ok fine, we are all entitled to see what we see. The market will speak.

These are instant businesses. Pure and simple. A new multi-billion dollar business is coming whether it works or whether it collapses. They will still be investing and spending BILLIONS. You can make a fortune with gTLD without ever investing in a .whatever. The Last General Market before they hit the hills with their picks and shovels.

So far the ONLY thing that has excited me is the opportunity in gTLD is gtld domain names ending in .com. An emerging niche. Selling picks and shovels to the new miners. History repeats itself. Here are a couple of clear opportunities to duplicate what has already been done.

Most will disagree and they are all entitled to do that. Let's measure the degree of disagreement 5 years down the road. That is the difference in viewpoint and how far into the future we look.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I would not like to be Rob Hall today. This was going to be a comment over at TheDomains.com but decided it was worthy of a stand alone post.

After reading the comments, Why is everyone so positive on something (either way) that there is no way to know how it will unfold?

“So why wouldn’t you sell your generic .com’s and use the money to fund new gTLD’s”

Let me remind Rob Hall that 'dotcom' is the single most used word in the world today. Unless somebody develops something new and better and more useful, that will likely not change in most of our lifetimes. And where did he make the leap that you would have to SELL your dotcoms to fund a new gTLD?? What the hell does one have to do with the other? His logic is flawed in this respect. However he does make a good point as he asks Mike about Stuff.com but agan LOGIC is missing as I will explain.

“So would you rather own Stuff.com or .Stuff for $185K?

“If you owned the TLD don’t you think you could sell 10,000 registrations a year at $10 or make $100K a year.”

Maybe you would sell 50,000 registrations a year and now make $500,000 a year and that would be an annuity in perpetuity.

“So why wouldn’t you sell your generic .com’s and use the money to fund new gTLD’s”

This is a different mindset because it is not as a 'Domain Investment' it is as a business venture. But he fails to ask the next LOGICAL question. Would .stuff want stuff.com? And the answer is you bet your sweet ass they want and NEED the domain. But it does not matter if Mike sells Stuff.com and you can ask the folks at Anything.com who has XXX.com. Worth less???? Are you in your right mind? Worth less???

That said it does not mean there won't be 'Opportunity'. But don't confuse opportunist with opportunity. There may be plenty of both. So while I don't agree with Rob Hall on domainers selling their dotcoms, there are other things he says that may have some validity. So let's pick it apart a bit without the knee jerk and emotional reaction. Maybe a few FACTS.
Opportunity comes in many forms and lots of people make millions on failures.
Relying on the domain investor community to buy into 1000 different extensions is not going to happen. However it will draw those that missed the last domain rush into wasting most of their money on something that won't be a success for 20 years if ever. Most will fail out of the gate on their own weight and lack of knowledge.

It's all about the advertising and who does that advertising. CNN branded 'Dotcom'. As I can remember, they were the first. All day, All night, when it meant nothing to 99% of folks. So without that type of distribution, it is going to be a very uphill battle for 99% of all new extensions.

Wishful thinking won't work on either side. Hard facts and how it unfolds will.
Humans are very adaptable when they see a direct benefit to themselves. So never say never. But also realize how long it takes to change a foundation. You have to eat TODAY. Some of these new 'Roads' may not be traveled in our lifetime. They are building interstates but if they go nowhere and lead to nothing it won't matter.

The bottom line is it always comes down to the idea. We will never run out of domains, but we sometimes run out of ideas that just don't copy what already is.
The internet is like LIFE and will and has become destination based.

As a consumer I could care less about the extension. I just want what I need and want. Problem is when the average person tells others, the confusion with dotcom is HUGE!

For example. There is a big thing going on about being 'Topless' for women. So they have a site at 'GoTopless.ORG. Would you like to know how much traffic the .ORG is LEAKING?? Right now to the tune of 2000 visitors a DAY as I own GoTopless.COM.
Now I like .org. I believe it is the #2 extension and have stated that for about a decade now. BUT, folks MUST deal with this issue or they are FOOLS. Period. How do you ignore that??
Now if you ran a business and you lost 2000 customers a day having something other than .COM maybe an intelligent businessman would figure out it is costing them a lot of lost business. And if I were their competitor, I would be eating their lunch and owning THEIR customers. That leak can sink a ship. A person could make a living off a 'Leak'. Can make a FORTUNE off a LEAK.
So get .whatever and the dotcom version goes up 10 fold or 100 fold by ACCIDENT! I just proved it. The dot com owner is YOUR MASTER! Want to be freed of your MASTER?? That takes $$$$$$ to buy the dot com.

ANYONE that thinks a company can get a .whatever and not have the dot com and not lose is just closing their eyes to PROOF! If a guy on Madison Ave gets a .whatever for his client without the .com, he screwed over his client BIG TIME! PERIOD!

But with all that said, there will be BILLIONS of dollars thrown at .whatever and that alone is something that should give everyone reading this a little pause. Not just a knee jerk reaction. Just remember those BILLIONS will ALL need the dotcom counerpart.

I am THRILLED that most in mainstream will disagree with me. Most are looking for the second coming and 1 or 2 out of 1000 just might happen. THEIR success is OUR success. Not the other way around.

Be Loyal to what you believe and what matters. This will bring a tear or more to your eyes and make you pause for just a moment. Nothing to do with domains, everything to do with life.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Hey Domain investors, aren’t you sick of getting used and abused? Whether it's ICANN as Konstantinos wrote about yesterday or is registries, registrars, auction houses, Mechanical Valuations, PPC companies, Google, Yahoo or anyone else, DOMAIN INVESTORS will always get the shaft. Ya know why? Because they can, and we aren't organized. Like I have said there is NO DOMAIN INDUSTRY! There are just thousands of soloist renegades that can't see past today. They party like drunken sailors regardless of the leaks on the ship and the threat at hand.

You know what the worst part is?? We are the ones that enriched these people. We are the ones that helped grow their companies and gave them the power they have. We are the ones that have been taken advantage of at every stage.

We are not the bad guys. We are not cybersquatters. We are the capitalists that create wealth and opportunity for us and others. We are the people that invest our time energy and money into something selfish, but that’s what opportunity is all about. But this selfish opportunity is very widespread. It's a worldwide opportunity. Why don’t they look at a person in Nigeria that had perhaps no chance at a decent life and he’s making his fortune on the Internet. With domain names. With many domain names. It’s a passport out of the wilderness and into the mainstream. Why would anyone mess with that??

The Internet has probably lifted more people out of poverty than every governmental program in history combined!! It's so obvious. Why mess with that??

The Internet and domain names have been the greatest equalizer the world has ever known. Never before in world history have so many benefited so quickly. As bad as things are there has never been more opportunity worldwide than there is at this very moment. NEVER!!

As domain investors we created an ecosystem that many companies have made a lot of money with. I believe without what we did as investors and risk takers the entire picture would have looked quite a bit different than it is now. We made people very rich!!

Now, unfortunately, there’s a lot of bad apples in what we do that go over the line and abuse the privilege of what they have. Like I have said many times, some people can be put in a diamond mine full of diamonds for free and they’re still steal something or do something that’s not right or otherwise abuse something that shouldn’t be abused.

I am proud to be a domain investor. I’ve never ever been ashamed of it for a moment. I did something that was taught to me all of my life: become successful. And many of us have found that same success. And of course in time they would want to take that success away from us. They did that in American history, it’s nothing new. They've been doing it in Europe for centuries. Governments seize land that it wants. That's valuable.

Of course this will be happening with domains I saw that. the day I got online. I’m just shocked and surprised that it took a quarter of a century. Thank goodness for that!

But that’s also why I’ve been very conservative with domaining. To me, it's like "Musical Chairs". The music will eventually stop. Those that are overextended will be destroyed.

See what happens, you are flying along and then SMACK! You are dead meat. You owe a lot of $$. You had a fantastic year. But then after the income stops, the tax man cometh. Many have been destroyed cuz the good year was followed by a terrible year and they can never dig out of that tax debt and what they owe on cars, mortgages and toys.

So expect to get it up the arse as time goes by and prepare. We did have a lawsuit at one time that may have prevented this fiasco, but it was not supported and eventually we had to give in. That's what happens when an industry has no organization and has no purpose. And it's even worse when there is no industry to fight back and make their case.

The price of pigeon shit farming is about to go up so maybe time to focus on prime domains. Remember, 10 really good domains make you a domain investor. 1000 silly names, will make you go broke and you are a pigeon shit farmer. The only good thing, farmers will ALL be washed away!

I got into this when domains were $100 a pop. If they go back to $100 so be it! All I know is for $10 you can be worldwide in a moment and change your destiny forever! It's the greatest bargain the world has ever known. It's the greatest opportunity the world has ever known. It's just amazing!

BUT!

In my STRONG opinion, ICANN is a corrupt racketeering organization. It's a crime syndicate that advances interests of a few insiders at the expense of the masses and the general good. They have abused their power and their role.

Racketeering refers to crimes committed through extortion or coercion. A racketeer attempts to obtain money or property from another person, usually through intimidation or force. The term is typically associated with organized crime. The law defines 35 different offenses that constitute racketeering in the U.S.

I think ICANN and each member should be investigated FULLY and I would go back to the origins of the new gTLD program. The demolition derby of corruption. ICANN leaders profited from their conflicts of interest, and they never did it for the purpose they were chartered to do. They abused their leadership roles and profited PERSONALLY many millions of dollars. To me, that is corruption at the worst!

Is ICANN Corrupt??? Many think so! Count me in that camp!

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

Many of you know Danny Pryor. Yesterday he left a comment on another post. But it deserves its own post along with my reply. It's not often you get to study history when it comes to the domain industry. Schwartz vs Schilling is now 5 years old. Don't you want to know the ending? It was a mystery back then, but much of the story is written today.

See what the landscpe looks like 5 years later. Nobody got it all right. What was said then and how it dovetails after you fast forward 5 years is priceless. It will make you money because it will calibrate all the things you have ever heard into a new form and formula.

Some of the comments will be absolutely mind blowing when you listen to it today. You will laugh your ass off.  Are you brave enough to go back and listen or are you an ostrich? Scared of history? You may hear what you want to hear. On both sides. Maybe you won't. Probably cut both ways. But if you are not brave enough to watch, you may leave some important knowledge out there that might have helped you starting right now.

Monte talking about .Tickets is kind of funny looking back. https://ntldstats.com/tld/tickets

Frank has some whoppers. I have my own.

Really, some of this stuff is hysterical looking back.

Danny said: "Perhaps it’s time to revisit a couple old videos, those original “debates” on the new gTLDs, as they were rolling out in 2013. This is TRAFFIC at the Ritz Carlton in Fort Lauderdale, by the way, so it’s nearly five full years since this event, which was dubbed “gTLD Madness”. Part I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYug6bPnDHU and Part Deux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsxteuqhv8. Enjoy! ;)"

My Reply: "Danny, I don’t think those invested in GTLD’s have the stomach to watch. See what was said THEN, and see how it dovetails with NOW! That my friends is how you STUDY history and don’t RUN and HIDE from history!!!"

Let’s see if ANY watch and see how many things they predicted actually unfolded.

Domains with value are like Gas stations. Gas Stations go on intersections. Intersections with traffic. They don't put many gas stations where there are no people in the middle of a swamp of an unknow town with no population.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Go brew a pot of coffee, this is going to take a few minutes. What started as a simple equation blossomed into all types of adventures and mis-steps and examples in real-time that absolutely support my equation. An equation that may be all but lost in the clutter of events that just had great timing and so here we are. I think the word "Clusterf*ck" is just going to be more spot on with every passing day. I thought it would happen in very slow motion, but it is accelerating even faster than I would have imagined and I suggest there will be popcorn to replace the coffee by the end of this post.

We all see what we see and we all know what we know.  I come to conclusions early based on certain elements that fit in my personal equation. This equation filters out CRAP, HYPE and NOISE. It filters out the losers FIRST and spotlights the winners NEXT. That makes my job easier and pisses off the ones that don't win and/or don't count as much. Those folks have a tougher job to convince me and other people whether domainers or end users to buy into their vision.

Each new gTLD has or SHOULD HAVE a separate vision.  Is that not a reasonable assumption? I have learned many do not as stunning as it sounds. So is it my fault for asking about the "Vision" thing?

I have been writing this blog post for over 2 weeks now and I have been deciding whether to post it or not. Meanwhile I just keep working on it and whether it sees the light of day will just depend on who knows what. But events just keep unfolding that dovetail with what I have been saying.

I have written extensively about the new gTLD's EARLY to be on record and to be REAL and that showed a vivid difference in how and WHEN  I view the world compared to many others. And in my view of the world, nothing happens until a sale is made and I did my best to explain that. And while people throw around invisible sales numbers without actually ever making a sale, well, that is a MAJOR red flag to me. I know how hard sales is. I know how hard sustaining sales is. I know how hard growing sales is. I also know the difference between a solid sale and a weak sale. A sale that will survive and a sale that will collapse or end up being a loss.

I see things early for a reason and it is based on an equation.

I have gotten several emails about Moniker.com and their problems this week and folks want me to write about it. Well I did, 3 YEARS ago when I transferred all my domains out. It was not my first post on the subject as you will see. The Moniker mess happened 3 YEARS ago but the train wreck happened last week. Folks had AMPLE opportunity to heed the warnings. I still have about 14 domains there. Mostly .tel. But thousands were moved away. 

There will be a lot of elbows flying in gTLD land as we have seen with the firestorm of last week with Negari and Network Solutions, that just continues and now the plot thickens as Berryhill, Corwin, Negari and the ICA join others in the industry for a circular firing squad.

The skirmishes will intensify and broaden as there are a lot of competing interests. There are a lot of ponies in this horse race and the rails on either side are not enough to contain them. So you are going to see a vivid example of some raw nerves between other gTLD operators develop. You can't see this coming? Really?? REALLY????

Why is this a sure bet???

SALES BABY! SALES! They NEED sales. They are drowning without sales. They are choking for cash as it is in many cases. That is THEIR reality.

Not only that, but If you play in a game you set up with no rules, then don't complain when somebody breaks the rules or extends the boundary lines. Where does HYPE turn the corner and become DECEPTION? There are the nuances that are in play here. The debate is wide and the fallout is still in progress. The answers are murky. Deal with it. It's just part of the clusterf*ck that will play out in time.

I also understand that many bloggers are under a lot of pressure from different camps to write positive stories about them or gTLD's in general. Some have just about lost their entire credibility. Even Howard is pressuring me not to post things I am about to say. But I could give a rats ass about getting another sponsor or not. I won't sell my soul for that. If they can't figure it out, so be it. I will say what I BELIEVE and not what my FRIENDS want me to say.

Hats off to those like Konstantinos Zournas, MIke Berkens, Ron Jackson,  Kevin Murphy and others that report whatever facts they can find and I know for a fact that the pressure these bloggers are under is IMMENSE. And they are getting it from both sides. 

Sales have to be created and WE and everyone else has a RIGHT and a DUTY as well as an obligation to be skeptical if you are a serious investor.  You should EXPECT to have you feet held to the fire. Especially since we already had prior evidence that only a fool would ignore of how previous tld's have fared in our short history.

How do you create a sale?

You start with NEED, WANT and DESIRE. And in our case you can add SUPPLY and DEMAND. Other variables as well as you are about to see. And there are even more obstacles than I am going to discuss that is why I wrote so many posts coming at things from various ways and all of them had huge pitfalls. These are compounded obstacles and I am not sure any can survive them all. Especially when they are blind to them.

That said......

How do you create sales when you don't start with NEED, WANT and DESIRE from the right party and the supply is unlimited and the demand is almost non-existent and self-made??? And keep in mind, over 80% of all registrations are by domainers and the Registry's themselves or closely held companies. aka, Bag of smoke. Some say 90%. They say 33% and that is just laughable.

How do folks KNOW they need something they don't even know exists to begin with? This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exponential. Many icebergs because everyone at least gets hungry. Of course business may suck if you are a hamburger stand setting up shop at a vegetarian convention and you have no veggie burgers.

Hold on to your horses, it will all make sense soon to anyone that can have a warped thinking process like me.

This is NOT bashing gTLD's. It may as well be zoombibie stands. The RESULT would be almost the same.  What's a "Zoombibie stand"? A Zoombibie stand is as foreign and unknown to you as gTLD's are to the end-user.  Got that? Do you need one??? How long have you lived without a zoombibie?? Really?? Whose job is it to sell you that Zoombibie that you don't know about and probably could care less about? What color is yours? What happens when a competitor comes in and they have to SPLIT the zoombibie market?? Are only distributors buying zoombibies and they can't resell to the end-user?

The commodity you have does not matter. Coffee shops, hamburger stands. Lemonade stands, pizza joints. You name it. The thing with gTLD's, they are exponentially harder and few want to take the time to truly examine why.