Feb 25, 2008

Dot Asia, an opportunity or a bust?





If you haven't really heard about it yet, well the dot Asia extension is about to come out in a few weeks. You can see some of its release and details here:

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/tlds/asia.asp?tld=asia&ci=10002

In short, similar to dot com, dot info, dot net, dot org, etc. Dot Asia is supposedly something that's specifically made for "Asians". My guesses in why they did that is they kinda figured that the rise of GOP in China would mean a new breed of internet users coming onto the internet. Not only will they come to the internet, the domains that will be acquired by the Chinese will be in growth exponentially. I believe that, however what I have a problem with is how much they've hyped the dot Asia deal to the effect that it'll be "THE" solution to it which is completely BS to me.

The idea behind obtaining good domains is in the fact that people sometimes don't go through search engines to type in a name of a domain. Some people actually make a living through utilizing these types of techniques by obtaining good named websites and let the profits from advertisements make them money without any work from their end ever with these sites. For example, I may want to search for computers and instead of going to Google for a search I might just type in computers dot com instead. If the domain is parked and I happen to click on an ad per say, both the company that parked the domain as well as the person who owns the domain make some profit as a result and they share it together.

This idea of making money in domain parking as I have addressed in my blog previously. (you can read them here) is all calculated through probabilities. In another words, the probabilities of you going into a site with the name computer dot com is a lot higher then a term that's unpopular like zyx dot com or something similar.

Dot Asia is just a solution these dot moguls came up with in hopes to lure audiences primarily from Asia I'm guessing to jump into the world of domains and owning a piece of internet property. Honestly, do you think that would be the case? Most of the sites outside of the us uses various different prefixes. China for example uses something in the nature of dot com / cn and Japan would be / jp in the back. To literally try to change all of their domains overnight is a joke. Not now, not ever. If it's hard to comprehend, just think of it as a dot North America. Do you think people from Mexico, Cuba, etc would just jump in?

I just don't believe on it and be real cautious if you are looking to jump on with the bandwagon. Honestly, Dot Asia is a bust in my humble opinion and in a way comical to say the least. -Swapw


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Might be worth buying a couple of good domain names just to sell later?

Swapw said...

To be quite honest, just take a look at some good domain names with dot info. How much are they selling for? Not much right? Remember, we don't even know how long the owners have held them.

I think acquiring a couple of domains really is a lot more investment and gamble from your end versus the possible outcome. I didn't mention this in my blog, but the minimum commitment for each domain purchase is two years which doesn't make it more attractive either!

-Swapw

Anonymous said...

Good point

Anonymous said...

Well, you can always point your dot asia to your website without changing your website. But I do agree that it s potential value is questionable, and yet it seems that there is already an aftermarket. On the one hand it s alot! of hype and big bucks to the registrars. On the other hand, it might be better to have dot asia rather than dotjp.

As you suggest, it is similar to eu. But it ain't no dot com. The problem is that it creates a situation where website owners feel they must purchase it if only to protect their existing sites. And the registrars are certainly aware of that, and feeding off it big time. If there's an asian company that happens to be 'ibm', now they have a chance to have dot asia since the dot com is taken. But my guess is that international business machines already scored it based on their trademark.

Anonymous said...

There may be money to make short term but I have got a feeling .asia will perhaps end up like .tv and .info. to many domains extensions out there at the moment. Perhaps changing the way google searches is the real answer??

Anonymous said...

But you forgot to think about serps catching it. A person who is on jp.google may type "bonus code" in google jp , but bonuscode.asia might be at top of their serp in their country. So thats where the value is.

Anonymous said...

There is loads of potential in dot asia so I disagree with most of your comments. The volume of registrations are starting to prove the direction the extention is heading.

Professional development of domains will play a big role in just how successful it will be.

Dot com has held a monopoly for far too long in my opinion and it is time for something to give it a run for it's money. Dot asia may or may not be the best candidate for that, but I believe the potential is there.

But yes, give it 18-24 months and we will all have a better idea. Until then both sided opionions are just opinions. I wouldn't like to be the one telling people not to buy though becasue if it turns around and becomes a winner than that advice has not been in the readers best interest.

I remember reading something 12 months ago that there will never be any profit in 4 letter domain names. At that short time ago there was still plenty available and I did not buy based on that comment. Now there is none and you are flat out buying one from a reseller for under $500.

Plus the dot asia names I have purchased at Godaddy has only been a 1 year commitment.

All the best to you though. We all have different directions we go on the net just as in life.

Anonymous said...

I think that a huge point has been missing here.

.com has always been north america and .eu is working it's way into europe. I believe .asia will do the same one day.

The true value in regional domain names can be seen in two ways:

1) Search engines, as mentioned, will push these domains higher since a regional domain name usually means a bigger site with more appropriate results.

2) If I live in Canada and I know I have to move for work to manilla for a month, most likely I will type in http://www.ManillaRentals.asia since I wont' have a rats ass what the country suffix is. People are starting to do direct type in's more and more these days because most of domains are being directed to something associated.

My two cents.

Raffaele Della Peruta