Where to register the new Top Level Domains (TLDs)

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This question was answered on May 14, 2001. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

The original crop of mainstream TLDs or Top Level Domains are .COM, .NET, .ORG, .EDU, .INT, .MIL and .GOV.

The intentions of these TLDs were as follows:

.COM = commercial sites

.NET = network infrastructure (Internet related sites)

.ORG = non-profit organizations

.EDU = educational sites

.INT = international sites

.MIL = military sites

.GOV = government sites

What has come to pass as a result of market forces as well as the way most people think of the Internet is that no matter what your site’s content, the .COM version is the one that will likely bring you the most traffic and is the easiest to brand. Most of us, without thinking, will put .COM at the end of an address by habit.

The most visible case in point was when a porn vendor registered www.whitehouse.com and captured all of the traffic of those that wanted to access the government site www.whitehouse.gov but mistakenly put .COM at the end instead.

The overwhelming popularity of .COM domains helped spawn the creation of The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN – <a href="http://www.icann.com" target="_blank">www.icann.com</a>), an international non-profit organization that is designed to help moderate present and future top level domains.

Last November they announced 7 new TLDs that would be available in the third or fourth quarter of 2001. These new TLD’s are: .BIZ, .INFO, .PRO, .NAME, .AERO, .COOP, and .MUSEUM.

Despite claims from many websites, no one has been authorized to “pre-register” these new TLDs. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission put out a <a href="http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/domainalrt.htm" target="_blank">warning about "scam artists"</a> offering services that claim to pre-register these new domains for an up-front fee.

The actual ICANN authorized organizations that will oversee these domains are as follows:

.BIZ = <a href="http://www.neulevel.com" target="_blank">www.neulevel.com</a> - for businesses and corporations.

.INFO = <a href="http://www.afilias.com" target="_blank">www.afilias.com</a> - for information sites such as newspapers, libraries, etc.

.PRO = <a href="http://www.registrypro.com" target="_blank">www.registrypro.com</a> - for professional services such as law, medicine, accounting, etc.

.NAME = <a href="http://www.theglobalname.org" target="_blank">www.theglobalname.org</a> - for individuals' and personal websites

.AERO = <a href="http://www.sita.int" target="_blank">www.sita.int</a> - for companies dealing with air travel

.COOP = <a href="http://www.ncba.org" target="_blank">www.ncba.org</a> - for co-operative organizations

.MUSEUM = <a href="http://www.musedoma.org" target="_blank">www.musedoma.org</a> - for museums, archival institutions, and exhibitions

Frankly, it’s impossible to tell whether these domains will have any impact on the current Internet culture that makes a .COM domain so powerful. I would recommend acquiring the appropriate new TLD(s) more for protection than anything else and pointing them at your current website.

The two that I see having the most impact are .BIZ and .NAME because of their wide applications. Remember, you can share a business name with many other companies in the analog world, but their can only be one when it comes to Internet domains.

The “rush” to register these new TLDs will become headline news when it comes time to activate registration sites, so watch for the buzz in the media later this year for your cue!

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