It’s always interesting to travel back through time, and examine the lifecycle and events of a trending topic, especially when it relates to domains.
Now having been entrenched or involved with domains for the last 7-8 years, I find that the domain industry is not an exception.
There have been a number of trends — blockchain, crypto, bitcoin, 4L .coms, numeric, and emoji domains to name a few — that have come, gone, returned, and left once more.
Out of the aforementioned topics, emoji domains is the most intriguing for a number of reasons.
It’s been over two years since emoji domains burst onto the scene thanks to an DomainSherpa interview with Matan Israeli and Jon Roig.
Because of the attention garnered from DomainSherpa as well as Coca-Cola’s emoticons campaign, emoji domains caught fire.
A small group of domain investors and hobbyists took to keyboards all over the world in hopes of riding the next domain land rush as a emoji movie, tv show, and memorabilia saturated every nook and cranny known to man.
With .ws leading the way and ballooning to nearly 22K emoji domain registrations, other ccTLD’s — .to, .fm, .ai — attempted to cash in by allowing emoji domain registration via their very own emoji domain search engine.
As I watched emoji domain registration numbers balloon, I couldn’t help but to wonder how emoji domains would fair once the ole’ renewal grinch came knocking, especially for non single character emoji domains.
This tends to be the lifecycle of such domains in general. They’re hot one minute, and not the next.
But here we are two years later, and I was reminded of the emoji domain rollercoaster ride when discovering DomainSherpa’s latest hour long episode: Emoji Domains — ROI, Tech Updates & More — with Matan Israeli.
If you’ve tracked with the emoji domain journey, then some of the information discussed is likely not going to be new.
One of the unknown updates mentioned was the ability to right click Chrome’s address bar from a desktop and select “Emoji & Symbols”. This is in addition to selecting “Emoji & Symbols” from Chrome’s Edit menu.
This feature is a new and improved action from having to remember Windows and Mac keystroke combinations to trigger emoji keyboard.
Nevertheless, the interview touches on a number of thoughts and events occurring over the past 2 years that catapulted both Matan Israeli and emoji domains from obscurity into prominence.
And while I’ve conversed with Matan a number of occasions, in my humble opinion, DomainSherpa’s latest interview fails to truly substantiate the ROI of Matan’s emoji domain investment with real numbers. Matan states he has realized over 200 emoji domain sales, mostly single .ws emoji domains, and has earned a six figure income doing so.
Of course, everyone has their right not to “show and tell”. I’m not saying Matan hasn’t realized emoji domain sales, but six figure income doing so… that’s where doubt creeps in for some strange reason.
After all, DomainSherpa has interviewed a number of domains investors — Logan Flatt, Mark Levine, and Josh Reason to name a few — that revealed their strategy as well as details behind their 5- and 6-figure sales.
If total sales were mid 5-figure, then I likely wouldn’t question simply based on data from NameBio.com, DNAcademy, and from what I’ve witnessed verifiable end-user and auction sales for emoji domains to ring in over the last two years.
.com enthusiasts are likely to claim this is nothing but a publicity stunt to prime the pump to pad Matan’s pocket. Others are likely to claim this is a fake news moment hoping to reignite and relive the glory days of the previous two years.
No matter where you stand — right, wrong, or indifferent — I personally think emoji domains have likely had their day in the sun, although I continue to hold the handful of single .ws and .to emoji domains I’ve purchased out of novelty and for occasional use via social media.
In full transparency, I almost pulled the trigger on purchasing 🔑.ws a few weeks ago, but then decided to purchase a few quick-flip .com domains instead.
Now I could be completely wrong and emoji domains turn the corner, becoming the go-to marketing tool of what remains in 2019 and beyond. If so, I’ll eat crow and say so!
However, with the latest emoji domain registrations for .ws falling below 1,200, this doesn’t spell comeback or the brightest of bright futures at all in my opinion, especially knowing that less than 9% of registered .ws emoji domains are single character (the most valuable of all emoji domains).
Doubles, triples, and combos have long been dropped or dropping at the very moment as the emoji domain renewal grinch forces domain investors and hobbyist to rethink their emoji domain investment strategy.
In closing, time itself will unveil a story of whether or not emoji domain investments were worth their price of admission and renewal. I’ll certainly keep documenting the journey and sharing my thoughts…
For now, all emoji domain investor eyes are eagerly on 🐞.ws as it sits awaiting its moment in the sun as an expired emoji domain auction.
As always, perform your own due diligence to increase the likelihood of realizing a profitable domain investment, no matter what genre of domain. 😉
Thanks, and that’s all for now.
Emoji domain sale report.is here
https://www.dnacademy.com/emoji-domains
alvin…can you give your backup for the 1200 number.. is that per month.?
i have no reason to doubt Matan’s numbers, nor him personally. and his buyers may not want all sales public. nor do i as a buyer want more buyers in the market. chasing illusory short term gains.. as u shared if your stepping back and emoji domains dont fit your acquistion profile..you shouldnt buy. cheers and good luck
From what i know he has done six figures…im still in 5 figures but about 50% of my sales have been at wholesale or value prices.
page
Hi Page – 1200 is a “best guess” based on list via i❤️.ws marketplace. As for emoji domain sales figures… I know that Matan has realized sales, but my point is that if a show is truly about “ROI”, then why not share or substantiate the claim with detail, right?
ok 1200 being what, registration per month?
or are you someone saying you think only 1200 registered?
that was my questions, what does the 1200 represent?
“However, with the latest emoji domain registrations for .ws falling below 1,200, this doesn’t spell comeback or the brightest of bright futures at all in my opinion, especially knowing that less than 9% of registered .ws emoji domains are single character (the most valuable of all emoji domains).”
page
Thought emoji fans might be interested, https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/22/now-at-google-facebooks-former-teen-in-residence-launches-new-social-game-emojishot/
Hi Alvin, just curious as to why you were too lazy to send me a message or just call me if you had any doubts, questions, or concerns. Selling numerous 5 figures and mid 5 figures made it happen. At the first Namescon in 2017 I introduced the concept to over 900 people. I have attended almost 10 conferences\exhibitions and close to 100 meetings with investors and decision makers. You can claim they bought out of FOMO but I worked hard and thanks to me emoji domains have become the latest innovation in the domain industry after the appearance of Ngtlds.
First off Alvin is a good guy, don’t come at him, secondly most domain investors think emoji’s are stupid and certainly are not an innovation. Congrats on your success but not too many people having that success or even care about emoji domains.
Dear VR, of course that I know that Alvin is a good guy, I know him in person
Hi Matan – No offense taken at all here. I’m not dismissing your emoji domain efforts. I’m simply sharing “one” perspective and train of thought in regards to the DomainSherpa show itself. If the show is going to reference “ROI”, then it’s only right to share such details — if not, in my humble opinion, then the show could appear to be a bit “bait and switch”, which I know that is certainly not what you or DomainSherpa desire to achieve. If the show were titled “Emoji Domains – Tech Updates and More – with Matan Israeli”, then I likely would not have shared my thoughts. But the title as is communicates to me that greater detail would be discussed and revealed. Regardless, no matter what anyone thinks and says, it is you Matan that sold emoji domains at numerous 5 figures and mid 5 figures… and your bank account should certainly dismiss me and anyone else’s perceived thoughts – right, wrong, or indifferent. I wish you continued success in domain investing.
Hi Alvin,
Thanks for making your point much more clear now.
Also you can keep in mind that if I was trying to promote something, I was saying that I am brokering the best emoji domain ever in existence. which is the Jet emoji .com http://✈.com
https://www.emojiurl.com/jet
we clearly doubt that these sales have occurred
Will the upcoming auction of o.com draw worldwide attention to domains and domain values? Big money generates big interest, and surely Verisign hopes to position advantageously to leverage the attention. For the rest of us, single-character domains such as emoji or IDN could be good vehicles for profit. My preference is within .com where there are tens-of-thousands of Chinese, Japanese, symbols, and other language single-character domains; only 29 single-character emoji .com however. The emoji (or any domain) can be a shortcut forwarding elsewhere or a permanent home. But somewhat like vanity license plates – some love ’em, some people get irritated back in the exhaust.
I can’t speak to the aftermarket or investment side of things, but income from I❤️.ws has dwindled quite a bit. (It was never really a huge money maker, let’s be honest, but it was a nice little side thing for awhile.) I’ve always felt like emoji domains were one weird ad campaign away from being, like, a thing… but so far, that hasn’t come. It’s a little like waiting for aliens to arrive… we stand at the ready, waiting to support communication, when it happens.
From my perspective as Developer, the “opening back up” of emoji domains to the general public is a good thing. I don’t begrudge speculators doing their thing or whatever, but I do sometimes wonder what might’ve happened if a lot more of those two character domains had ended up in the hands of end users…
On my side our side of things, we’re still casually working the marketing world in the PHX area, talking about emoji domains and whatnot. There’s still a huge untapped / unaware market out there. I got a little buzz for emoji domains when I released https://☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️.ws… but there’s still a lot of unrealized potential.
The general public has no idea that emoji domains exist. If someone somewhere flips a switch and Chrome supports emoji domains, it’ll be a different story, but for now, there’s some hope of using the “underground” appeal…
I intend to do my next project on an emoji domain… I just dig ’em, that’s why I got involved.