How applicants selected their fresh top level domains

Here’s how fresh TLD applicants decided which strings to apply for.

Some fresh top level domain applicants picked one or two domains to apply for. Others applied for dozens.

It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when these firms debated regarding which ones to apply for. From talking to many applicants, I’ve discovered a number of approaches they took to creating and finalizing their list.

The data junkie

I crunched existing domain name, search, and marketing data to come up with the most promising top level domain strings. Emotion and intuition were out of the game. It was pure numbers.

The game theory strategist

I’ve got my list of possible strings, but I’m going to take into consideration what I think other applicants are going to do. Sure, .app is my top pick, but what if 13 other people apply for it? (They did.) I’m going to pick the strings that I think will have the most potential but weight that against how much competition they’ll face.

The personal experience

I got a PhD in agriculture, and I’m a chicken farmer, and I know there are a lot of chicken farmers out there who will register domains. So I’m going to apply for .chicken. Others may not see this as a big market opportunity, but I know the chicken industry.

The WTF guy

I’m applying for so many strings that I don’t need to worry regarding one or two oddballs. So I’ll apply for something really out there, like .WTF.