This is a guest blog post written for Radix by Brett McKay, Digital Marketing Specialist at Dynadot.

It’s undeniable that the domain industry has seen drastic changes throughout its existence. From new regulations and policies being introduced to digital communication and e-commerce forever changing the Internet as a whole, domains have cemented their place as a powerful multi-use tool that creates diverse opportunities for both individuals and organizations.

One of the major changes to the domain industry that is still making waves is the large number of new gTLDs being available for public registration, which started to see momentum in 2013. This new gTLD push had major effects on the domain investing industry that can still be seen today, creating new branching opportunities for investors to customize their investment portfolios in ways not previously seen. In this article, we’ll cover five ways in which the availability of new gTLDs has changed the domain investing industry.

#1: Removing Pressure from a Saturated Market

While there are almost limitless investing opportunities available for domain investors, it is difficult to deny that amazing domain investing opportunities have become challenging to discover under certain legacy TLDs without spendings hundreds or thousands of dollars in the domain aftermarket. Great domains under legacy TLDs usually maintain their ownership via renewals, making it challenging to add strong brandable or industry-focused domains to one’s portfolio under these older TLDs.

Luckily, new gTLDs came at a great time to relieve the pressure. With each new domain extension comes new opportunities to acquire a wide variety of interesting, memorable domains certainly not available in older, well-established TLD markets. Gaining the ability to register domains that are available through traditional hand registration opens avenues to expand investment portfolios into directions the individual investor wants, instead of building a portfolio based on names acquired solely because it was one of their few options available in the aftermarket.

Without these new gTLDs, these legacy domain extensions would have even more acquisition pressure, which would make building a diverse domain portfolio less accessible as a whole for almost all investors.

#2: New Affordable Opportunities for Investors

Domain investing can be an expensive endeavor, both from a monetary perspective and a time investment perspective. Between registering new domains and maintaining a portfolio through renewals, costs can add up quickly. This is even more true when an acquisition occurs through domain marketplaces.

One of the many benefits of new gTLDs that have risen in popularity is the lower registration prices. These lower costs directly affect how accessible registering and holding domains can be for an investor.

Being able to register two or three new gTLD domains for the cost of one legacy TLD domain name allows investors to register more domains for less, further diversifying their portfolio. When combined with a smart investing strategy, this can increase the chances of acquiring a domain with potential long-term value. Investors also get to mitigate risk without overspending due to these lower entry costs. For example, depending on where investors acquire their domain, they could get 4 or 5 .Site domains for the cost of a single domain on one of the older domain extensions. While this does vary depending on which gTLD is being registered, the ability to choose extensions that fit the investor’s budget can play a key role in domain acquisition.

The investor still needs to act intelligently with a strategy in mind regardless of the domain extension they choose, but they can now cover a wider array of domains and potentially profit long-term as more individuals and businesses continue to expand into the new gTLD space.

#3: Narrowing Niche Targeting for Industry-Focused Investors

It’s not uncommon for domain investors to target a specific industry vertical for domains they want to invest in. After all, interest and knowledge of an industry or topic niche can greatly assist with making smart investments to help gauge/predict potential future value.

Newer domain extensions have given investors a new set of tools to further personalize domains into specific spaces, which in turn has allowed investors to tap into these industry and/or topic niches in a more deliberate manner. The issue with many older TLDs is that they have broader use cases that don’t help classify what the domain is for, especially for non-descriptive, brandable domains.

Meanwhile, utilizing certain extensions (such as .Store or .Press) allows the end user to understand the type of content to expect on the website. This can be helpful for organizations or businesses when it comes to ensuring the right audience is getting the expected content. Using various extensions allows investors to tailor and target their investment domains to align them with specific envisioned sellers, which has evolved the domain investing industry’s niche targeting capability overall.

This also goes hand-in-hand with the fourth way the newer gTLDs have expanded the domain investing industry, as described below.

#4: gTLDs Promote Creativity

Domain investing, in general, requires a good amount of creativity and imagination to see success. Blindly registering domain names in hopes of landing a big sale can easily be a huge monetary sink without the likelihood of making any profit. Having a strategy for both brainstorming and acquiring domains can make all the difference in a valuable domain portfolio.

Newer gTLDs have evolved the creative approach investors can apply to build out their portfolio beyond older TLDs. Not only do they open new opportunities to target niches creatively, as previously mentioned, but they also allow for unique branding and wordplay combinations that aren’t commonly available for legacy TLDs.

One example of this includes utilizing ‘domain hacks’, a term for combining the domain extension with the domain name to create a fun and interesting phrase or word with the domain itself. An example of a domain hack could be the Italian/Spanish phrase ‘numero uno’ and turning it into a unique domain name: numero.uno, or turning the word ‘website’ into web.site.

There are many ways to mix and match domains with various domain extensions, many of which boost one of the key components for determining investability/value - memorability. The more memorable a domain name is, the higher the chance of it appealing to potentially interested buyers. By utilizing unique domain extensions combined with a creative edge, it becomes easier for buyers to envision the value that a certain domain can provide, which ultimately makes it more lucrative for the investor to acquire.

#5: Expanding Brandability through Diversification

A brand (be it corporate or SMB or personal) utilizing multiple domain extensions is not an uncommon occurrence. The number of use cases and benefits domain names can provide an entity has certainly expanded as the Internet has matured. These common uses for a domain go beyond general website usage and can include: advertising strategies such as microsites or dedicated link shorteners, specific SEO strategies that include descriptive domains, dedicated email addresses for customer communication, internal company communication, spaces for cloud storage, and much more.

How does this relate to investing and, more specifically, newer gTLDs? Well, each chance to expand a brand or digital toolset allows domain investors to predict domain usage and integrate it into their investing acquisition strategy.

While registering known brand names in other domain extensions is not wise and frowned upon, intelligent investing decisions to register future brandable domains in alternative TLDs based on how corporations are currently diversifying their use of domains can help investors anticipate trends - ultimately to acquire domains that hold long-term value. For example, if an investor has a great, unused brandable domain name, it could be a wise decision to register it under other popular TLDs such as .Store, or .Tech if they predict future buyers may be interested in those additional domains as well to expand their content.

The option of expanding one great domain name into many under multiple TLDs is a newer opportunity that is only really an option for investors due to the rise in popularity of gTLDs on the web.

Conclusion

As the domain industry evolves, oftentimes, the domain investing industry evolves alongside it. Investors are frequently adjusting when, how and why they register domain names to stay ahead of the curve, as it can often be a time and trend-sensitive investment market.

New gTLDs by themselves have shaken up the domain investing scene, opening new opportunities for portfolio diversification and creativity while also allowing new investors to jump in due to affordability. Beyond this, they’ve also allowed investors to specialize even more into industry niches due to certain gTLDs fitting naturally into specific verticals, all while taking the pressure off of certain legacy TLDs that have limited hand registration availability. As the gTLD market continues to expand, you can be sure that the domain investing industry will be adjusting and evolving with it.