Is the world running out of www domain names? The best common website domain name extensions ending in .com, .info, .net, or .org are probably taken. New 2013 www name options opened up in September will help site owners concerned with the dwindling supply of relevant www names.
ICANN, or the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers, is the worldwide non-profit authority responsible for coordinating assignment of www domain names. Since the original group released in 1984, new extensions have been created for generic as well as country or industry specific entities.
The new gTLD (generic Top Level Domain) extension options announced by ICANN earlier this year are scheduled to begin release in September 2013. These include commercial domain name extensions listed here alphabetically and ending in:
ads • agency • associates • booking • business • career • careers • center • ceo • company • corp • ecom • enterprises • farm • forum • gives • gle • global • gmbh • inc • institute • insure • lifeinsurance • llc • llp • ltd • ltda • management • marketing • new • news • ngo • partners • press • sarl • services • solutions • srl • studio • trade • trading • ventures • wiki • xin
Our advice is beginning your strategy now to acquire certain domain name extensions like .corp, .inc, .llc, or .ltd that are related and match your corporation or trademark brand. Get in line now to avoid problems later.
For example, in the USA business owners may incorporate by state, so it is not uncommon for multiple companies to have the exact same corporate name. Don’t put off your strategy if you want to register [your company name].inc or .corp as soon as it becomes available.
GoDaddy Support of Registration Phases
Our advice for business owners looking for an approved registrar to register a new gTLD on their behalf is ordering through GoDaddy. They have created a watch list option for gTLD release dates, so you can get notification alerts during the rollout period. Here’s a summary of the registration phases:
Each registration phase has a defined date for acceptance and processing.
Pre-registration lets you submit a registration request ahead of its date. GoDaddy collect pre-registration requests and holds them in a queue until it’s time to submit (at the opening of Sunrise, for example).
Sunrise is a registration period specifically for trademark holders.
Landrush occurs after sunrise. It’s a premium registration opportunity for those wanting an early, non-trademark registration.
General Availability is first come, first served registration. It’s open to the public but subject to registration requirements (like membership to an organization, for example).
Source: GoDaddy gTLD Extensions Page
Be sure to explore the left navigation options on the GoDaddy link above to browse more of the 100’s of new gTLD extensions by category.
If you’re a business owner, yes… you should care. The new gTLD extensions provide a unique way to promote your brand. The time to ac