New Web Addresses On The Way

ICANN, the international authority that regulates the creation and use of domains on the Internet has opened up the system. According to the new rules, any company, organization or country will be able to apply for a new TLD (top level domain).

A Review:

• Top level domain: .com
• Second level domain: digitalblade.com
• Third level domain: www.digitalblade.com (or something else like “m” which is a popular third level domain for the mobile version of many websites)

Some of the earliest domains that could be reserved for use on the Internet included: .com, .net, .org, and .edu. New TLD’s such as .info and .mobi were introduced by ICANN after a lengthy review process. The new system would allow for an entity to buy a TLD and then sell the second level domains. An example would be the purchase of .perfume. Interested companies would then be able to purchase “perfume name here.perfume” similar to the process of buying “perfume name here.com.”

Personally, I question the value of the new system. The more extensions, the more confusing the system will become. Most users currently assume that an address will end in a .com, hence the value of that extension.

Let’s propose that a company buys a new TLD “.real” for real estate agents. And you, frustrated that “yourname.com” is already registered, register “yourname.real.” What do you think the chances are that a person driving by a listing will think your website is at “yourname.com” by the time they get back home and boot their computer? Better to be creative and register “creativephrase.com.”

A resource I find useful for registering domains is instantdomainsearch.com which does a real time search for domains as you type them in.