So folks, it looks like the next stage of the internet domain names gold rush will be the registration of currently unregistered four letter .net domain names.
It appears that around 50% have been registered so far and I must admit I am tempted to add to my modest holding. I have to say that even though four letter .nets are a longer term hold I am actively looking for any decent unregistered domains.
The hottest topics on the domain name discussions forums concern 3 and four letter domain names and the hype surrounding 4 letter .nets gets ever more frenetic.
The forum Namepros.com now has a short domain name section covering domains shorter than 5 characters such as “LLL, LLLL, L-L-L, 2c, 3c, acronyms, etc”. The LLLL.net countdown thread can be found here and a more sober appraisal of the market for LLLL.nets is being discussed on DomainState.com, here.
There are also a number of bloggers reporting on the LLLL market, such as GFNB.net, the LLLL.net countdown website and QuadLetterDomains.com . Also worth having a look at 4letternoob’s blog.
If you want to find out more about LLLL.nets you may find this article from DailyDomainer.com is worth reading .
People who missed the LLL.com, L-L-L.com and LLLL.com gold-rushes want to get on the bandwagon. So do those who did well out of previous goldrushes and who want to repeat the experience with LLLL.nets.
However, not all domainers feel that way and a fairly large note of caution is required here. The demand for LLLL.net domains is different to that for LLLL.coms. If someone is looking for a four letter .com domain for their business, an alternative for that person may not be the same domain in a .net. What I mean is that a business called UKGB, which wants to buy UKGB.com but cannot because it is too expensive or in use already, may not see UKGB.net as a preferred alternative. For example, they may feel that a dot com is more memorable for their target market and if they use UKGB.net they are sending traffic to the dot com version. For them the preferred alternative may be ‘UKGBClothes.com’ or ‘UKGBProperty.com’ or whatever, depending on their business.
As I have said before I think LLLL.nets do have a market and news of some profitable sales to end users have been encouraging. The lure of a short memorable 4 letter domain in any extension will be too strong for some end users and so LLLL.nets will sell. However, in my opinion, in general, they need to be considered as longer term holds rather than a way to make quick money.
I think we should expect to see a modest increase in values as soon as the last LLLL.nets are gone. But when might we expect decent returns? Might we be looking at 6 – 12 months before the last ones are gone? After that there could be years of only modest price appreciation. Also, bear in mind that .nets have sold for 20% - 40% of the equivalent .com.
So this is a long term investment and in my opinion only jump aboard if you are prepared to invest five or more registration fees for each name held, over the next five years before having even a chance of satisfactory returns.
So what do you think? When will the last .nets available to register run out? Are they going to appreciate rapidly, modestly or not at all? Are you jumping aboard or not? Tell us why.
