The .edu domain is very popular among educational institutions and carries a strong sense of authority. Some SEO professionals even believe that links from .edu sites carry extra weight on Google. With this in mind, doesn’t registering a .edu domain sound like a smart idea?

Unfortunately, .edu registration is heavily restricted. Only American post-secondary educational institutions are eligible to register on the .edu TLD. Universities outside the United States are not eligible to apply.

While such a restrictive policy is unfortunate for domainers, the .edu registry has been able to keep the quality of its extension high. As a result, thousands of universities in the United States pay hefty renewal fees every year for their .edu names.

Continue reading: Who can register a .edu domain?

It’s always great when sites launches new features. Of course, this might not be the case with a site like ChatRoulette. The company announced this week the launch of new ChannelRoulette and LocalRoulette sub-channels. Unfortunately, it forgot to register the relevant domains.

Two domainers registered ChannelRoulette.com and LocalRoulette.com several months ago before the ChatRoulette announcement. Maybe the company didn’t want to pay the asking price for these names? ChatRoulette is going to lose a lot of traffic without them.

Another potential loss of traffic is the creation of subdomains on the site. Users can now access the site regionally using geographic subdomains, such as london.chatroulette.com. Clever typosquatters are sure to get a hold of typos like londonchatroulette.com.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: ChatRoulette caught in domain mess-up

Few people outside the domain world have ever heard of .jobs, but if TLD operator Employ Media gets its way with ICANN, things could soon change. Against much opposition from some in the webmaster community, the company is seeking approval to allow the general public to register generic names on the TLD.

If given the green light, the company also plans to register domains for itself. Right now only companies can register their names on the .jobs TLD (nike.jobs, google.jobs, etc.). But with the changes, Employ Media hopes to register thousands of geographic and career-specific names and use them to create job forums.

Owners of career-related websites are unsurprisingly very upset about this. Allowing Employ Media to follow through with its plans would create a serious conflict of interest for the company. A domain registry should not be in the business of taking over its target market. The official comment period regarding the proposal ends tomorrow, so speak up and tell ICANN to squash this idea.

Continue reading: Employ Media seeks to open up .jobs domain

If you live in the UK and are starting a website, you have many domain extensions to choose from. The most popular choices are .com and .co.uk. Which one should you pick?

Both are good choices and cost about the same to register on a yearly basis, although .co.uk requires a two-year commitment. Which one you pick is really a matter of your target audience. Pick .com if you are targeting an international audience, especially if your site sells good or services. Internet surfers abroad are often leery of buying from foreign sites. Americans in particular are most comfortable with the .com extension.

On the other hand, UK web surfers prefer .co.uk names. If your target audience is the UK, stick with a .co.uk domain. Britons feel the same way about .co.uk as Americans do about .com. Of course, you may be stuck with a .co.uk anyway if the .com name you want is already taken.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: .Com vs. Co.uk

If you are looking for that one domain, you may be wondering how long the search takes. Whether you are buying a name for a business or a personal website, obtaining a quality domain is very important. Sure, finding exactly what you want takes time, but how much time?

Finding the perfect domain can take months, sometimes years. If know exactly what name you want but it is already registered, negotiating a sale with the owner could take quite a bit of time. Compromising on an alternative to the original name you had in mind is the best way to speed up the domain acquisition service.

Other things you can do to find the right domain faster include hiring a brand specialist or brainstorming on your own to generate name ideas and enlisting a third-party to help you negotiate with a domain owner. And of course, money talks. Increase your offer to close a deal quickly or up your budget to make more names available.

Photo | basek69

Continue reading: How long does it take to find the right domain?

New criteria to reject abusive .eu domain registrations has been established by the European Court of Justice. According to reports, a clause for using special characters has been exploited, in particular by Austrian company Internetportal und Marketing GmbH.

Using the “&” symbol, the company managed to register 33 generic trademarks before the three phase period of setting up .eu domains started back in 2005. Internetportal intended to register, and profit from, the registration of 180 generic domain names before general registrations began.

European laws allow for the use of domain names without symbols only, and on one company challenging the registration of a domain name from Internetportal, the court has since revoked its claims to its abusive registrations.

The Court has been establishing what it means to register domain names in “bad faith”, saying of Internetportal:

Continue reading: Changes to .eu domains and use of symbols: domain registrations in "bad faith"

The .pro gTLD is intended specifically for professionals. These days, however, almost anyone in any occupation is a “professional.” So just who can register a .pro domain?

Originally, only engineers, doctors, lawyers and accountants in the United States, UK, Germany, France and Canada could register the names. The registration restrictions have loosened a bit since 2008.

Now any licensed professional in any country qualifies for a .pro domain. There are more than 41,500 .pro names in use. Some 42% of these belong to American registrants. The fee for a .pro is $99 USD at most registrars.

Continue reading: Who can register a .pro domain?

Introduced in 2001, .biz is a gTLD geared towards businesses. It is intended to be an alternative to .com, but so far adoption of .biz has been slow. Should you register a .biz domain?

First off, the good thing is anyone can register a .biz domain. The only requirement is that the name be used for “bona fide business or commercial use.” Homeless shelters and soup kitchens will have to look elsewhere, apparently.

Consider registering a .biz name if you are an entrepreneur or business owner and the name you want is already taken on the .com and .net gTLDs. Keep in mind that .com is still king, however, and many Internet users are still unfamiliar with .biz.

Continue reading: Register a .biz domain

The .ru ccTLD has a long-held reputation as a haven for spam and cyber crime, but recent changes made to the domain’s registration requirements could clean it up.

It used to be very easy for criminals to register .ru names with fake identities. But as of April 1, all registrants have to provide a copy of a passport or business registration papers in order to buy a domain. China implemented a similar system several months ago to clean up its .cn extension.

Will Russia’s actions improve .ru’s reputation? Probably, but by making registration such an inconvenience, many legitimate users will find another TLD to register. And as Rodney Joffe, chief technologist at Neustar put it, “It’s pushing the malicious activity elsewhere. If it’s so much of a hassle, [criminals will] say, ‘Screw it. I’m going to register another top-level domain.’”

Source | PCWorld
Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Russia changes rules for .ru registration

People always want to pay the lowest price possible, so when it comes to buying a domain, everyone always looks for “cheap domain registration.” While you should always look for a fair price, there are just some things you shouldn’t skimp on. Domain registration happens to be one of them.

The domain is the foundation on which a website is built. Trust your foundation to a flaky registrar and who knows what might happen. Why risk reliability just to save a few bucks a year? Shop based on features and customer service, not price. Avoid “cheap domain registration” at all costs.

Continue reading: Why I cringe at the sound of the words "cheap domain registration"

VeriSign, a company which provides .com and .net registration services to all registrars, has announced that it will increase .com prices by 7% and .net by 10%. Because the prices paid by registrars will go up, the added cost will be passed on to you and me.

The new prices will take effect July 1. Those looking to save money can renew their names early, however. It is possible to renew for multiple years and lock in the discount. So if you own a lot of .com domains, it would be better to renew them now and save 7% next year.

Continue reading: Prices on .com and .net domains to increase

1&1 Internet has launched a new domain package feature designed to help businesses protect their brand online. At first glance, it looks like a great deal. It not only conveniently suggests names cybersquatters could pick up, but offers a discount on the registration cost: three domains for $19.99 and five for $29.99. So what’s the catch?

The discount prices are only for the first year. So this is a great money maker for 1&1 in the long run. While registering an extra domain or two preemptively is not a bad idea, the majority of small businesses do not need this protect. Business owners, do yourself a favor and avoid this domain package.

Source| thewhir.com

Continue reading: 1&1 domain packages are a waste of money