Defining Your Website with Top Level Domains
With a host of new domain name extensions now available in the marketplace, webmasters are now able to more effectively define their websites to communicate their brands better to well-targeted visitors. Domain searchers today have more flexibility in their choices for the domains that specifically define their businesses, thereby allowing net users to find the exact information they are looking for online.
In the past and even to-date, domains are commonly associated with dotcom extension, and many people today still believe that all sites have dotcom suffixes. But for the educated ones, they are already aware of the new top level domains that are now available online.
From the suffix alone, people can now have a short glimpse of what the site is all about, even without reading the contents yet, and even if the domain name is totally unrelated to the site content, as in the case of some brand names. Therefore, webmasters should be constantly updated on the new TLDs that are now in the in the marketplace, as well as in the pipeline, in order to immediately grab the opportunity to get the domain names with the right extension, which defines their businesses better. Here are some of the new TLDs under different categories.
Travel Suffixes
- -.games
- -.travel
- -.photo
- -.bike
- -.fashion
Lifestyle TLDs
- -.luxury
- -.fun
- -.baby
- -.club
- -.community
Shopping Domain Extensions
- -.shop
- -.coupons
- -.deal
- -.forsale
- -.buy
Technology Suffixes
- -.tech
- -.cam
- -.app
- -.technology
Services Extensions
- -.plumbing
- -.solutions
- -.marketing
- -.wedding
- -.insure
Geographic TLDs
- -.global
- -.paris
- -.melbourne
- -.madrid
- -.tokyo
Hobbies Suffixes
- -.games
- -.fashion
- -.photo
- -.bike
- -.travel
Dawn of TLDs – The Launch Cycle
The availability of new TLDS goes through a launch cycle process. New domain extensions are not immediately available to the public. Instead, there is a limited availability phase that allows trademark owners to get a first hand grab of their trademarked names with the new extension. This is also done to minimize and avoid numerous legal issues ahead with retrospect to others registering trademarked domains with the new TLD. In any case, it is worth knowing the launch cycle for a better comprehension on how domains are made available to the public. This is greatly helpful to those who are involved in domain trading, as well.
Creating Your Wish List
The first phase is the wish list. This is the time where webmasters make their list of domain names that they want to register. This involves a lot of things that include but not limited to domain search and Whois lookup, among others. The process may entail usage of domain name tools and url checker tools.
Dawn Stage
The next stage is the dawn phase. This is when trademark holders have the first-hand opportunity to register their brand names with the new extension. In essence, this is a limited availability phase that is extended only to trademark holders.
Land Rush
This is it! The Land Rush stage is the time when the new TLDs are made available to the public for domain name registration. Just like in gold rush, there is rush registration of popular root domains with the new suffix.
Public Availability
This is the last stage and the infinite phase of the launch cycle. This is the time when the new domain extension is available to the general public for registration and for auction. Depending on the suffix, root domains are usually already sold. Although, root domains can still be purchased in auctions, but usually they are priced higher.
In a nutshell, the availability of new TLDs opens another window of opportunities for webmasters and business owners alike to grab the perfect domain name that more precisely label their brand names. On the other hand, net users are more able to find the right site well suited to their search queries based on the TLD alone. Therefore, conducting a domain or Whois lookup is an important stage that must be done prior to domain name registration.
