Blog – Page 2 of 4 – Developed NYC

NYC domains are selling – I just broke even!

Earlier this year I wrote about my 4 year experience investing in .NYC domain names. I described my annual quest to reach the $15,000 mark, at which point the profits from my domain sales would equal my renewal costs. Since the launch of the .NYC domain extension back in October 2014 this had been a difficult, yet expected challenge. There were (and still are) so many great .nyc domain names that my domain portfolio swelled and still grows each year. There was also my additional investment in registering available domain names and in 2017 I snapped up about 50 premium .nyc domains as they became available (in a day I spent $12,000+ on those names). As with most investments, a return isn't made overnight. It takes time to bake! Many of the premium domains that I paid between $265 and $600 for did receive decent offers, I just felt they weren't at fully cooked prices. If I'd have accepted them, I may have broken even for the year but would definitely have left money…

.NYC Best of Boroughs 2018 Winners

This morning I attended the .NYC 2018 Best of Boroughs celebration at Neustar's offices on Park Avenue. Here's what I was told to expect: Live announcement of the 2018 .nyc Best of Boroughs winners! FREE breakfast Swag bags and giveaways for all attendees City and borough representatives Fellow .nyc changemakers Event photographer and press Although a free breakfast usually gets me out of bed, I was very excited to hear who the winners of the Best of Borough's competition were and to meet others who have built their brand on a .nyc website. .NYC website owners were invited to submit websites before the submission deadline on September 19th to be in with a chance to win $5,000 + borough bragging rights + inclusion in marketing campaigns. The submission period was followed by public voting along with judges considering the story behind the submission, the website experience and the value to local community. Today the winners were announced and they…

.NYC’s 2nd Annual Best of Boroughs Competition

It was September last year that Neustar and the City of New York Launched the “Best of Boroughs” Contest and it was such a success that they brought it back this year and started a yearly tradition. .NYC's Best of Boroughs competition celebrates the city's diverse and innovative businesses and organizations across the five boroughs that are building their future on .nyc domain names. This is an exciting opportunity as all of the businesses and organizations will get to showcase their work and one special entrant from each borough will be crowned as the "Best of Borough". Along with the title the winning entrant will receive special recognition and $5,000. Last year's Best of Boroughs winners were a diverse bunch: Bronx BoB winner: New Day Church (NewDayChurch.nyc) Inspiration: “The vision of crossing social boundaries inspires New Day Church… We are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender, queer and straight. We confront racism, sexism and homophobia wit…

NYC Domain Name Registrations – July Review

This is the seventh in a series of monthly articles highlighting patterns and trends in recent NYC domain registrations. Each month I scan lists of recently registered .NYC domain names and after removing the hard-to-make-sense-of domains I'm left of a group I call the notables - this also includes highlighting any premium purchases (registration prices above the standard $20-30). Honestly, it's getting very difficult to place some of the names in categories, for example "freshcocina.nyc" is two words, partly in another language, it's most likely a business that's a cafe... so please take the categories below lightly. So here goes. July 2018 NYC Business Domain Registrations Total .nyc domain registrations added: 778 This is a big jump from the 629 NYC domain registrations reported last month. View the full list of July 2018 NYC domain registrations here. The 39%:61% (org:indiv) ratio is a departure from the 50%:50% even split last month. Prem…

An Investor’s Experience with NYC Domains for 4 Years

Whenever I read an article, tweet, forum post or listen to a podcast that generalizes the death of the new TLDs I switch off. Not because I'm a big fan of all (or even many) new TLDs, but because: I have experience of new TLD sales, and a side of the story that isn't being represented as part of the new TLD discussion. I'm cynical that the author has an ulterior motive in protecting a .com portfolio or even in some cases the critic doesn't know how to seize an opportunity and so they become an opportunity killer. Today, I will share some information about my own .nyc domain name sales as well as my perspective on new TLDs. Maybe this article will provide a little balance or at least hopefully present information on sales in a geo-TLD niche and why we shouldn't group all new TLDs together. While I'm waiting for my car to be worked on for its inspection, I visited a Panera Bread to grab lunch and write this article. On entering I had to do a double take at their recruitm…

NYC Domain Name Registrations – June Review

This is the sixth in a series of monthly articles highlighting trends and patterns in NYC domain registrations - this month we focus on June NYC domain registrations. If you've read the previous monthly reviews, you know how this works. I've scanned lists and removed the hard-to-make-sense-of domains leaving me with a list of domains I call the notables. Domains that were sold for a premium price are also separated out and all names are placed loosely into categories. Here goes. June 2018 NYC Domain Name Registrations Total .nyc domain registrations added: 629 This is a drop compared with May's tally of 650. View the full list of June 2018 NYC domain registrations here. The 50%:50% (org:indiv) ratio evens out from the 53%:47% from last month. Premium .NYC Domain Registrations in June 2018 The following names were domains originally reserved by Neustar (the .NYC registry) and later made available at premium tiered pricing. The prices shown, are a…

NYC Domain Name Registrations – May Review

This is the fifth in a series of monthly articles highlighting trends and patterns in NYC domain registrations in May. By now you may know the drill. I've scanned lists and removed the hard-to-make-sense-of domains leaving me with a list of domains I call the notables. Domains that were sold for a premium price are also separated out and all names are placed loosely into categories. Here goes. May 2018 NYC Domain Name Registrations Total .nyc domain registrations added: 650 This is a significant drop compared with April's tally of 778. View the full list of May 2018 NYC domain registrations here. The 53%:47% (org:indiv) ratio is a switch from the 48%:52% from last month. Premium .NYC Domain Registrations in May 2018 The following names were domains originally reserved by Neustar (the .NYC registry) and later made available at premium tiered pricing. The prices shown, are an estimation of sales price based on tiered pricing I observed at several …

NYC Travel and Tourism Domains Auction Results

Almost 1 year on from the Technology themed NYC Premium Domain Auctions, the Travel and Tourism themed NYC Premium Domain Auctions were completed and the results show that awareness of .NYC still has some room to climb. Firstly, there was the news that BroadwayTickets.nyc was snapped up before the auction began for the price of $25,000 by Broadway League Inc (Broadway.org). This sale wasn't publicized and if it had happened a month before the travel auctions maybe there would have been an effect on the final auction prices. Below are the final results from the travel and tourism themed auction: Domain Name Price Sale Type Sale Venue Date Registered boattour.nyc $555 Neustar Auction: Travel (#4) Sedo May 10, 2018 broadwaytickets.nyc $25,000 Negotiated Pre-Travel Auction Sedo May 8, 2018 concierge.nyc $750 Neustar Auction: Travel (#4) Sedo May 10, 2018 flights.nyc $500 Neustar Auction: Travel (#4) Sedo May 10, 2018 gui…

NYC Domain Name Registrations – April Review

This is the forth in a series of monthly articles highlighting trends and patterns in NYC domain registrations in April. After scanning lists of recently registered .NYC domain names and after removing the hard-to-make-sense-of domains I'm left of a group I call the notables. Domains that were sold for a premium price are also separated out and all names are placed loosely into categories. So here goes. April 2018 NYC Domain Name Registrations Total .nyc domain registrations added: 778 This is a significant drop compared with March's tally of 848. View the full list of April 2018 NYC domain registrations here. The 48%:52% (org:indiv) ratio is similar to the 44%:56% from last month. Premium NYC Domain Registrations in April 2018 The following names were domains originally reserved by Neustar (the .NYC registry) and later made available at premium tiered pricing. The prices shown, are an estimation of sales price based on tiered pricing I observed at…

BroadwayTickets.NYC sells for $25k – Travel themed premium NYC domains

Although the 25 travel themed premium NYC domains that were announced last month to go to auction included BroadwayTickets.nyc, this gem was snapped up (before the auction start) - for $25,000. It's another great sale and further demonstrates the strength of .NYC almost 4 years after it launched.

Quick note: if it's before 1pm on May 10th, when you're reading this, you may still have time to grab a premium travel themed .NYC domain at Sedo.

I recently wrote about the premium travel themed domain auction highlighting the 25 names that are up for grabs and I did a follow up article called, "Premium NYC Travel Domains without the Auction". In this case it seems as though at least one person wanted one of the names scheduled for auction - without taking part in the auction! The company that bought BroadwayTickets.nyc is Broadway League Inc. and their main website is broadway.org. The sale of BroadwayTickets.nyc was in good com…

Premium NYC Travel Domains without the Auction

Earlier in the week I wrote about the upcoming premium travel related NYC domain auctions. The list is definitely worth a look and I'd advise everyone who lives and works in the five boroughs to get involved and potential grab a great name at an unbelievable price. But it got me thinking - can I find other available premium NYC travel domains without the auction! Here's a recap of the names that will be auctioned starting May 3, 2018 at 1pm: boattour.nyc guides.nyc shows.nyc boutiquehotel.nyc hotelguide.nyc showtickets.nyc broadwaytickets.nyc limos.nyc shuttle.nyc bustour.nyc lodging.nyc sightsee.nyc carrental.nyc museum.nyc theaters.nyc citytours.nyc pedicabs.nyc ticketbroker.nyc concierge.nyc reservation.nyc tour.nyc flights.nyc see.nyc visiting.nyc getaways.nyc A nice feature of the Auctions.nyc website is that along with the promotion of the 25 premium travel related domains on auction (s…

NYC Travel Domain Auction – Opens May 3, 2018

Following on from the success of the real estate, fashion and technology themed NYC domain auctions, Neustar and the City of New York are preparing to roll out the premium NYC travel domain auction in their fourth themed auction on on May 3rd. “I can think of no more fitting tribute to kick off the summer travel season than with these travel-related web addresses,” said Nicolai Bezsonoff, General Manager, Registry Solutions, Neustar. “Reaching those in-market travelers with a unique domain that signals they’ve reached a legitimate travel business based in New York will go a long way to engender the kind of brand trust that will keep customers coming back again, and again.” Businesses, organizations and people who live and work in five boroughs of New York City are all able to participate in the NYC travel domain auction. The auctions open at 1pm EST on May 3rd and the auction concludes at 1pm on May 10th, 2018. Bids in the final stages of the auction may extend the auc…

NYC Business Domain Registrations – March Review

This is the third in a series of monthly articles highlighting patterns in NYC business domain registrations in March. Each month I scan lists of recently registered .NYC domain names and after removing the hard-to-make-sense-of domains I'm left of a group I call the notables. Any premium purchases (registration prices above the standard $20-30) are highlighted and all the domains are placed loosely into categories. Keep in mind that many of the domains could go into different categories and would therefore change the %, but I made decisions quickly on where to drop the domain and this month, I even consolidated groups (geo / address / real estate / construction). So here goes. March 2018 NYC Business Domain Registrations Total .nyc domain registrations added: 848 buThis is one more domain compared with February's tally of 847 although March did have a few more days. View the full list of March 2018 NYC domain registrations here. The 44%:56% (org:indiv) ratio …

Get off my NYC Domain Name! Generic Coincidence or Domain Trademark Infringement

While walking along W 34th Street, under the Empire State Building, I had to do a double take. At first my eyes were drawn to the massive Super Dry logo - my colleague has a Super Dry jacket and I never really understood the name - but then my eyes were hooked on the first NYC domain name that I won back in October 2014, Kids.nyc. Is this domain trademark infringement, a harmless coincidence, or something else? Even though it's been sometime since I posted at Kids.nyc, did that really give this store the feeling that they could move in on my turf! I did a little research and found that the store wasn't there back in August 2017 as shown in Google Street View below: I had a similarly shocking, yet less worrisome feeling when I saw my domain being used in an illustration in the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks after bidding on the domain back in 2014. The article was called, "The Gold Rush is on for Dot NYC Domains" and I remember feeling validated that …

Eras of the NYC domainspace

While researching February NYC domain registrations for the monthly review, the number of people registering multiple variations of a domain name caught my eye and made me think that we're entering a new era and that the NYC domainspace is maturing. If we're to separate the growth of the .NYC TLD I'd say we're entering "early maturity". We've left the "birth" and "infancy" eras. Post-It Note chronology Also there are a few more themed auctions to come: Below is a more organized description of the chronology along with some thoughts on .NYC's evolution. Era: Birth [May 5, 2014 to Nov 6, 2014] Sunrise Periods: (1) Trademark holders [May 5 to June 20, 2014] and Founders Program [applications May 5 to June 13, 2014 - decisions by July 15, 2014], (2) City Affiliates [June 25 to July 31, 2014]. Landrush [Aug 4 to Oct 3, 2014] (pre-general availabil…