Poker.org sells for $1,000,000. and Blackjack.org sold for $298,000.

The .Org gTLD isn't detrimental to domain development desirability and projected profitability!

[Webwork]

On the heels of the recently reported sale of Poker.org for $1 million USD, Ron Jackson, journalist superior of DNJournal.com, has just confirmed the previously unannounced sale of Blackjack.org for $298,000.00 [dnjournal.com].

The market for prime casino and gaming domains is driven by the enormous profits derived from gaming, so the profit motive/potential of these two domains likely explains and segregates/isolates these sales as .Org aftermarket indicators.

But is gaming where it ends for .Org's high-value-in-use? Is gaming the only "big money" game in town, the only market that can support this type of valuation for prime .Org domains? Or are these two sales game changers for aftermarket values for .Org?

Can a .Org Web address "effectively function" for a market such as Poker. . .org? Blackjack . . .org?

Are there are a few other $billion++ industries that might support similar values for other prime .Org domains?

Got .Org?

[StoutFiles]

Pretty sure .org works for casinos because they can market these sites as free poker playing and learning, all the while trying to convince you to go to the .com and play for money.

[Webwork]

they can market these sites as free . . playing and learning <hubs, destinations> . . while trying to convince you to go to <the money-maker>

.Org =/~ education + "industry organization", so .Org "sells education, info, news, etc / sells street cred" . . and education sells . . poker, blackjack?

A marriage of learning and earning . . and a savvy business model?

[edited by: Webwork at 5:48 pm (utc) on Feb 23, 2010]

[webquest]

I think that .orgs have been undervalued for quite some time.

Although they represent a very small portion of my developed sites (and total portfolio), the .orgs I've developed have been surprisingly successful. Not to buy into PIR's marketing, but I think there is definitely a certain level of implied trust that .org brings that is quite underappreciated. This is especially true in the healthcare and crafts/hobbies spaces, imho.

Without a doubt, I am on the lookout for quality one word .org domains and will be making them a larger part of my portfolio in 2010-11.

[Sierra_Dad]

Pretty sure .org works for casinos because they can market these sites as free poker playing and learning, all the while trying to convince you to go to the .com and play for money.

Excuse the naive question, but is there anything that forces a .org to be non-profit? I doubt that most of them are owned by non-profits.

I don't know that there is any governing body that will come after you if you starting selling stuff on a .org - even though it goes against conventions.

[maximillianos]

I've always felt .org's are the second best URL out there and in some cases, they are the best (for health industries, family related info, etc).

I've snapped up quite a few org's over the past 10 years.

[maximillianos]

Excuse the naive question, but is there anything that forces a .org to be non-profit? I doubt that most of them are owned by non-profits.

No, owner's of .orgs are not required to be non-profit.

[ziajunu]

Created On:27-Apr-1997
I wish if I could register some domains at early 90, when I was student.

[Webwork]

What I find is that a solid .Org domain is a development catalyst.

All the usual difficulties attach to developing a prime .Org, but so long as the focus is on user value/experience - and not simply attempting to exploit the address - the .Org address may smooth certain hard/sharp edges of the development climb.

YMMV, but from my POV development needs to track the spirit of .Org to sustain any boost the gTLD may provide.

Blackjack.org? Poker.org? Sure, IF they really dig deep into the education and the reality of the game and industry, whilst going light on the commerce.

If memory serves me, CraigsList.org does very little commerce, yet the staff and the bills are paid . . and Craig also has a bit of personal economic security, too. ;P

[wheel]

I wish if I could register some domains at early 90, when I was student.

It's 2010. What will you be wishing in 2020?

[gethan]

Nice.

I always try to get the trinity - but - have developed my most successful site on a .org (not owning the .com)

Some things to consider when building a brand however are - can I go .org? who has the .com? what's on the .com?

I have one domain I would love to develop two word generic .org - perfect for the niche - but there is an adult site completely unrelated to the topic on the .com :(


I guess this is good news for speculators - .org's may be the 2nd tier domains - and 2nd tier now commands big prices...

[JS_Harris]

Love the high price of domains but still think it's silly because the dot com version is still the primary destination by habit.

[HuskyPup]

but there is an adult site completely unrelated to the topic on the .com

Are you thinking of type-ins going to the wrong domain?

Insofar as the regular SERPs are concerned surely the adult site should be filtered out if you have plenty of good quality content?

FWIW my primary B&M example.com site is both an adjective and a noun and the plural of it has an adult site on it, that is never seen in any of the SERPs however YMMV!

[Silvery]

One reason why .ORGs can be attractive to some is that .ORG sites are frequently more influential in terms of SEO value. They have higher level of trust from the search engines, and so obtaining links from them might be beneficial to search rankings.

So, for industries such as gambling, where it may be challenging to obtain links from existing .ORG sites, perhaps buying one to control the content and give one's self some links, might be a compelling prospect.

[stuntdubl]

Can a .Org Web address "effectively function" for a market such as Poker. . .org? Blackjack . . .org?

One word - absolutely.

Here's why - most domains have a few main values 1. typein traffic (often a myth aside from TOP tier .coms) 2. brandability (you can't build a brand without a lot of traffic, development, and $$$) 3. Value to search rankings (ding ding ding!)

.orgs ARE severely undervalued right now, and you obviously seeing them doing well in the serps. .net's are in the same boat imo. They both serve as a GREAT opportunity for bootstrappers, and make anchor text targeted for link acquisition which has a multitude of benefits. Other tld's don't enjoy the same benefits and have a much higher "trust hurdle"

Caveat is that I'm biased and really love .net and .orgs for their current prices to buy and develop into solid websites that will hold defensible rankings for building legitimate brands. Unless you're planning OTHER marketing channels - these alternatives make a lot of sense for the money. Until you max out the value of search marketing, which most folks won't ever do, you can use a .net/.org for a long long time until having to worry about the "branding detriments".