I ran into this problem a few weeks ago when I wanted to register danielfoster.com, but found it was taken. The first alternate extensions that came to my mind were .net, .org, .info, .biz, and .us, and .name. In any circumstance, I would pick .net over all the others. I ended up doing this, but if my site could possible fall under the “goodwill” category, I would have opted for .org. If I had an American company, I may have settled for the .us ccTLD. In the UK, the .co.uk ccTLD would have been a no-brainer or in Germany, .de. Under no circumstances would I have registered a .biz or a .info.

The domain extension you register says a lot about your site. It appears in search engines, directories, and advertising– and is often the only part of your website people ever see. So make it good, really good.

According to ICANN, the answer is 280. Of these, 248 are country-code names, 11 are in testing, and 20 are generic TLDs. Finally, there’s one extension, .arpa, that is used exclusively to run the Internet’s DNS system.

With the introduction of the new gTLD system next year, expect to see a large increase in the number of extensions.

Photo | ICANN

Such is the case with .aq, the ccTLD for Antarctica. Barring the extensions of a few Communist countries and islands, it is probably the least-used suffix. In order to apply for a .aq, the registrant must have a physical presence on or be geographically close to the continent.

Because of this harsh registration criteria, .aq is only available to a large population of penguins and a few scientific outposts. One notable exception is Australia’s Heard Island, which is far enough south to qualify for the name heardisland.aq. A number of organisations promoting conservation and biodiversity on the continent also use the extension.

In short, feel free to register a .aq, but be sure to pack your parka!

ccTLDs also saw similar growth, increasing by 1% this quarter and 14% since this time year year. The most popular domain by far is still .com, however. Next in line is China’s .cn extension followed by Germany’s .de.

It will be interesting to see how the new gTLDs affect the growth of current TLDs and ccTLDs. It could lead to a decrease if the system catches on, but my guess is this won’t happen. It will probably have little if any impact on current extensions, for now, at least.

Photo | vilen001

As of this writing, there are some 36,000 .cat domains registered and 80 million Catalan pages indexed in Google. The extension is so successful that it is preferred by speakers of the language over .com.

Catalonia is an autonomous region in northern Spain. There are 7.7 million Catalan speakers worldwide, mostly in Spain and southern France.

The success of .cat will likely aid proponents of other regional extensions like .nyc and .bayern.

The second-level name can only be used by hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and the like. Part of the reason for launching the extension is likely to prevent fraud. If New Zealanders know only legitimate health sites use the extension, they are much less likely to be scammed. As Ryall put it:

The .health.nz domain will improve confidence in the credibility of web-based health information and will enable members of the sector to be easily identified in online communications

The only downside I see to this is the length of the extension. Why couldn’t the country have settled for something shorter like .med.nz?

Source | Domain News

Why is this important? It’s all about brand protection. Someone once registered the .net version of my site’s domain, for example, and threatened to set up a competing site unless I paid him a small sum of money. Thankfully, the person quickly realized his idea wasn’t a good one and I bought the name from him for its yearly registration fee, but I wished I had owned it in the first place.

Domains are very inexpensive, and the brand protection owning one or two extra TLD provides can save you quite a bit down the road. Some registrars will even offer discounts on the name name under multiple extensions. I recommend owning the .com, the .net, the .co.uk, and possibly the .org. These extensions may not be available, but if they are, do yourself a favor and grab them before someone else does.

Photo | annaOMline

Many of these domain registries are afraid to do so because of ICANN’s ties with the United States government. Many also misunderstand the requirements for joining. According to Vika Mpisane, head of the Africa Top Level Domain Organization (AfTLD):

Some African ccTLDs have kept away from the ccNSO because of the whole controversy of the ICANN Joint Partnership Agreement with the U.S. government. I get a sense there’s a slowly growing discomfort amongst some African governments with the continuing U.S. oversight over ICANN.

Compared to the rest of the world, Africa’s domain registration system is far behind. Most of its ccTLDs do not have an automated registration process, and may be subject to intervention from government officials. As more and more people from this region connect to the web, however, things are sure to change.

Photo | unseenob

Such is the case with a group of LGBT (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender) organizations who want to create a .gay gTLD. According to the organizing spearheading the initiative, DOTgay, the domain “will help to connect the gay end user and those who try to reach out to him.”

Considering there are 15 million gays in the United States alone, a market for the extension definitely exists. I see no reason why ICANN wouldn’t approve .gay, but the California non-profit will likely take some heat from conservative groups for doing so.

One consequence of the gTLD system is ICANN will now not only have to deal with complaints from domainers and registrars, but also political groups when it reviews applications for new extensions. This could bring unwanted attention to an organization that for all of its existence has stayed out of sight from the public eye.

Source | Pink News

Photo | Flickr

Victoria Harris, Chief Executive of Article 25, talked about the problems of .org:

Lack of regulation has meant that commercial entities, individuals and even professional criminals have been able to register websites with .org suffixes quite legally, with no check on their identities or intentions.

The consortium will submit an application to ICANN next year for rights to the extension. If approved, only genuine charitable organisations would be allowed to register a .ngo name.

When it was created in 1985, .org was meant for non-profit entities. Since then, it seems to have forgotten its original intended purpose. Anyone- individuals and companies included- can register a .org domain. As a result, only a very small minority of the TLD’s registrations are owned not-for-profits. Many charitable organisations also register.coms.

Via | Third Sector