On Monday, I had the opportunity to again catch up with Greg Brown from the Gold Coast. For those not aware, Greg would have to be Australia’s biggest individual domain name investor – his portfolio sits at somewhere around 30,000 domains.
We sat down and had a “recorded chat” about all things “domains”. This runs for about 45 minutes, so it’s something good to listen to in the background as you do other work.
Some of the issues we address are particularly relevant to newcomers – though of course there is plenty for seasoned veterans as well.
Hope you enjoy! If you have any questions or comments, they would be welcomed.
Thanks to my son Luke for working his technical magic on the recording!
Ned O’Meara – 16th November 2016
Thank Greg and Ned.
Mailman does redirect.
I laughed to hear you had sold some domains to Fairfax.
Great interview.
Greg that’s an a amazing portfolio gold mine you have worked hard to build. Congratulations.
auDA, ausRegistry and your domain registrar of choice must be very happy to have made such profits from your huge investment of 30,000 domain names over the years. They owe you a Christmas card at least.. you have probably paid to cover the cost of a few of their staff members over the years so I hope they listen to this podcast also and consider your views on things.
Interesting point raised about hand registration profit still being available today and I agree with this also…. If you hand register a name today for $20 ( onlydomains.com etc) and then sell it for a $hundred that’s a great return on the investment of $20. from 2017 with 1 year registrations you could possibly invest just $10 and even further profit. or monetise and develop the name and easily get back that investment.
It might not be a sale for $ thousands but the actual profit % is massive compared to most other investment opportunities. You will not get that from share, real estate or anything I know of which is legal in the same time frame.
Not every hand registered name will be worth thousands but a majority may be worth a few hundred at least on the wider retail aftermarket.
Also good to hear someone with so many years global domain name experience concerned like many others are about the un needed push by some to force into the market another Australian domain name extension and the fact many .net.au version of .com.au are still available for anyone to register.
I support the views there is no need for another competing Australian domain name extension such as “direct” .au which would conflict with .com.au and .net.au. It has failed in the UK and failed in NZ as both country registrar bodies statistics and 2015/ 2016 published year results prove. (Nominet United Kingdom and DNC Domain Name Commission New Zealand).
.com.au is still the best option for Australian’s if they cannot secure the .com version. It needs greater support and promotion from auDA and AusRegistry. If they need policy changes such as FREE COR, reduced wholesale pricing, taking out any required substantial connection etc this will help it flourish and grow even more. The auDA policy red tape is what’s holding it back and making it not as easy as a .com to register or sell.
Direct .NZ and .UK domains haven’t caught on, different from failure.
It’s quite hard to convince people to switch. That doesn’t mean .AU should not allow direct .AU registrations. Should have been that way all along.
The registrars don’t want you to switch.. They want you to have to register both and pay twice the registration costs and twice renewal costs… the winner is …them!
Both official yearly reports from UK and NZ say failure ..no use sugar coating it…. “have not caught on” = failed
This is fairly clear.
2015 /2016 Worst year ever for New Zealand domain name registrations and renewals. 1 year after direct .nz came in.
https://www.dnc.org.nz/sites/default/files/2016-08/Domain Name Commission – Annual Report – .pdf
“The dip between February and March 2016 reflects the one-year anniversary of the end of the preferential registration and registration period – an important part of the registrations direct at the second level change. It appears that some registrants, having exercised their preferential registration rights, have subsequently let the shorter version of their name drop.”
The real winners are always the registries and registrars. Consumers and businesses outside the domain industry never benefit.
According to these stats .co.uk regs going down. While .uk regs going up.
http://www.nominet.uk/news/reports-statistics/uk-register-statistics-2016/
Not clear why, could mostly be defensive regs.
Thanks for sharing info on .NZ. Hey .NZ is still crushing .KIWI, unsurprisingly. 🙂
you are spot on ..they are just defensive registrations of .uk with the corresponding .co.uk evidenced by the deeper stats.
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I have spoken directly to Nominet UK and DNC New Zealand and cross checked. They do admit a decline in overall registrations, renewals and increased drop off and non pick up by a new registrant and this is on the record. There are so many 1 word direct generics still available for hand registration it is amazing.. people are not registering them.. why not… too many extensions are being flooded into the market by registries and supply globally.
There are now 3000 domain name extensions available! Crazy. People have gone back to the most globally well known. .com, .co.uk, .co.nz and we will have .com.au remain as our best well known trusted globally recognised solution for Australia.
NZ/UK bodies and “supply” admit they have have not had the demand uptake they had earlier expected or claimed would occur which was the reason for needing to add the additional .uk extension. ” The False massive Demand needs another extension claim.”
The “shorter .. sharper” marketing spin is just B.S. at least New Zealand admits it hasn’t worked and people are defaulting back to the .co.nz and dropping the .nz. They write this clearly. This is a warning to Australia and auDA, auDA board, policy makers as well as Ausregistry.
Real facts reports, domain name registrant feedback, registration / renewal and drop off statistics are what auDA, Policy makers and the auDA board needs to be looking at. Not fantasy delusions and false claims of “demand” need another extension option.
Making .com.au and .net.au better now is what the focus needs to be. More Free add ons of value, better pricing and commitment from auDA, Ausregistry etc to promote what we have as the best.
Sorry Ausregistry / Neustar it may look like a great spin for your USA stock market values, investors and auDA member supply registrar / reseller /staff voters but you will never get another additional 3 million domain names from Australia with a population the size we have and our solid .com.au global status. Be realistic NO country has had a 100% increase in domain name registrations with another direct extension added ever and they have spent $millions trying! UK growth is 0.3% and New Zealand is Minus % growth after they added the direct extensions. It has backfired for them and caused major issues for business etc in both countries.
Great advice and talk.
New domains suck in Australia, America, and everywhere. 🙂
David
The funny thing is when you think you are dealing with a Hillbilly trying to get a start in the internet space only to be hit with a multi-page sale agreement immediately after you finally agree on a price
Great to hear you two legends of the industry discuss the current state of it.
@Robert – flattery will get you everywhere. However, we are only “legends in our own lunchtimes”. 🙂
Great interview!
Good to hear your story Greg. Thanks for sharing your insights and lessons learned.
Terrific tips for newbies and veterans alike.
Well, it took an entire lunchtime to listen to you legends – LOL
Thanks for sharing –