New Domain Names Are Finally Coming!
| Category: Domain Names | Date: 2001-08-20 |
With the recent announcement that new domains names will arrive early next year, now is the time to start thinking about how these names will impact small business owners on the Net, and whether you need to take any immediate action.
, lets review a few facts:
There are currently three generic top-level domains (gTLDs) in common, global usage. These are .COM, .NET, and .ORG. There are also over two hundred country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs), such as .UK (United Kingdom) and .DE (Germany). Because the demand for gTLDs, .COMs in particular, has been so great, there is a general perception that all the best names have gone. For this reason, some of the country-code domains are now being marketed as alternative global domains. For example, .TV (Tuvalu) is being touted as the name to own for television related web sites, and .WS is now being promoted as Web Site rather than its original use, serving the people of Western Samoa.
So just what are the new TLDs to be introduced early next year? Here the confusion begins. Whatever you may have read, there have been no announcements from ICANN (http://www.icann.org), the body which controls TLDs, about which domains are to be introduced, or indeed how many. Applications are currently being accepted from parties interested in sponsoring new TLDs, and the identity of the new domains should be know by years end.
There are two main reasons why you might want to register a name in one (or more) of the new TLDs:
1) To stop a competitor from getting it. If you already own YourName.com, and .BIZ or .SHOP are announced as new TLDs, then you might consider it important, even vital, to register YourName.Biz and YourName.Shop.
2) Because all the best .COMs are taken. Perhaps you have been using MyShoeShop.net up till now, and have your eyes on Shoe.Shop - certainly looks appealing, doesnt it?
Whatever your reason for wanting a new name, the question on everyones lips is: how do I maximize my chances of registering a new name before someone else? Exit stage left: Confusion. Enter stage right: Total Confusion.
As I stated earlier, it has not been decided which new TLDs will be introduced, but that hasnt stopped a cottage industry growing up surrounding the pre-registration of these names. I put the term pre-registration in quotes because in technical terms, pre-registration of domain names, doesnt actually exist. It is really just a marketing term coined by parties eager to cash in on the boom. Many of the sites offering pre-registrations are scams, pure and simple.
Be wary of any pre-registration site that wants money from you up-front. At least one site is taking $20 up-front per name, and then another $20 if the registration is successful - thats $40 to register a domain name, which is very expensive considering there are sites such as http://www.SharedNIC.com or my own site, http://www.DomainGuideBook.com, doing domain registrations for $15 or less. Even if these sites do make a legitimate attempt to register a name for you, remember that people all over the world have the same idea, so your chances of registering Shoe.Shop are somewhere between slim and zero.
Therefore I dont recommend that you get involved in this pre-registration circus. Your time would be better spent developing your business in other ways. But if you are intent on getting that name you always wanted, at least wait until the identity of the new TLDs is known, and then find a reputable registration site to pre-register the name for you.
About the author:
Lee Hodgson is founder and owner of DomainGuideBook.com domainguidebook.com a firm which specializes in helping small businesses choose and register the best domain names for their web sites.
To subscribe to the Domain Guide Book newsletter, "Your trusted source for domain names news", just send a blank email to DomainGuideBook-subscribe@listbot.com
:To contact see details below.
lee@domainguidebook.com
http://domainguidebook.com
, lets review a few facts:
There are currently three generic top-level domains (gTLDs) in common, global usage. These are .COM, .NET, and .ORG. There are also over two hundred country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs), such as .UK (United Kingdom) and .DE (Germany). Because the demand for gTLDs, .COMs in particular, has been so great, there is a general perception that all the best names have gone. For this reason, some of the country-code domains are now being marketed as alternative global domains. For example, .TV (Tuvalu) is being touted as the name to own for television related web sites, and .WS is now being promoted as Web Site rather than its original use, serving the people of Western Samoa.
So just what are the new TLDs to be introduced early next year? Here the confusion begins. Whatever you may have read, there have been no announcements from ICANN (http://www.icann.org), the body which controls TLDs, about which domains are to be introduced, or indeed how many. Applications are currently being accepted from parties interested in sponsoring new TLDs, and the identity of the new domains should be know by years end.
There are two main reasons why you might want to register a name in one (or more) of the new TLDs:
1) To stop a competitor from getting it. If you already own YourName.com, and .BIZ or .SHOP are announced as new TLDs, then you might consider it important, even vital, to register YourName.Biz and YourName.Shop.
2) Because all the best .COMs are taken. Perhaps you have been using MyShoeShop.net up till now, and have your eyes on Shoe.Shop - certainly looks appealing, doesnt it?
Whatever your reason for wanting a new name, the question on everyones lips is: how do I maximize my chances of registering a new name before someone else? Exit stage left: Confusion. Enter stage right: Total Confusion.
As I stated earlier, it has not been decided which new TLDs will be introduced, but that hasnt stopped a cottage industry growing up surrounding the pre-registration of these names. I put the term pre-registration in quotes because in technical terms, pre-registration of domain names, doesnt actually exist. It is really just a marketing term coined by parties eager to cash in on the boom. Many of the sites offering pre-registrations are scams, pure and simple.
Be wary of any pre-registration site that wants money from you up-front. At least one site is taking $20 up-front per name, and then another $20 if the registration is successful - thats $40 to register a domain name, which is very expensive considering there are sites such as http://www.SharedNIC.com or my own site, http://www.DomainGuideBook.com, doing domain registrations for $15 or less. Even if these sites do make a legitimate attempt to register a name for you, remember that people all over the world have the same idea, so your chances of registering Shoe.Shop are somewhere between slim and zero.
Therefore I dont recommend that you get involved in this pre-registration circus. Your time would be better spent developing your business in other ways. But if you are intent on getting that name you always wanted, at least wait until the identity of the new TLDs is known, and then find a reputable registration site to pre-register the name for you.
About the author:
Lee Hodgson is founder and owner of DomainGuideBook.com domainguidebook.com a firm which specializes in helping small businesses choose and register the best domain names for their web sites.
To subscribe to the Domain Guide Book newsletter, "Your trusted source for domain names news", just send a blank email to DomainGuideBook-subscribe@listbot.com
:To contact see details below.
lee@domainguidebook.com
http://domainguidebook.com
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