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About Top Level Domains
Top level domains refer to the suffix at the end of a URL or web address,
such as; .com, .org, or .net. Excluding the international domains that are
assigned to each geographical location, only the three mentioned TLD's are
available to the general public until now. With the growth of e-commerce, the
web is quickly running out of desirable addresses, creating the need for new top
level domains.
What are the new top level domains?
To alleviate the domain name shortage, ICANN, the Internet Corporation for
Assigning Names and Numbers announced on August 16, 2000 that new global
top-level domains would be released. These new names will allow for unimpeded
growth of the Internet. In the process, many great names will be made available
to the public.
Seven new top level domains have been released: .biz, .coop, .museum, .aero,
.info, .name, and .pro. These top level domains work just like .com, .net, and
.org and will be recognized by all search engines. Released in the summer of
2001 are .biz and .info, while the others were released soon thereafter.
Some of the new domain extensions are reserved for specific services while
others are open to public registration. Here is the breakdown of who is eligible
for each extension: .aero for air-transport industry, .biz for businesses, .coop
for cooperatives, .info for unrestricted use, .museum for museums, .name for
registration by individuals, and .pro for accountants, lawyers, and physicians.
Where do I get one of the new domain names?
There are basically two ways that you can get a new top level domain name.
There is the registration method for names that have already been released, or
else you can sign with a preregistration service for names that are yet to be
released. The rush for registration and preregistration has already begun to get
these valuable domains and trademarks.
Registrars offering preregistration services basically offer to "stand in
line for you" to reserve your domain for a small fee. Software developers
have been working hard to create programs to make their preregistration service
beat the others to the punch. When preregistering your domain be aware of these
offers and choose your registrar accordingly. Beware of stand-in-line offers
that promise to you get you your desired domain name and offer no money-back
guarantee. With the great amounts of registrars and technical issues involved in
the rush for names, it will be hard for preregistration services to make any
guarantees.
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