I found that someone snatched .org and .net extensions of the name I wanted to use years back. I had hoped that the person would forget to renew them... Well, he didn't.
I thought of contacting him, and asking him what he's planning to do with the names, and whether he'd be willing to give one of them up...
To make sure I had a contingency plan I did some more research and found the following extensions that sound even better:
.art
.club
.family
The provider says that a plug-in is required for these pages to work...
Are there are other disadvantages with such extensions?
Further, is it possible to have subdomains?
eg. name.bwphoto.art?
Where bwphoto.art is the registered domain.
One last thing: are there any domain services you'd recommend?
Thanks a lot for your replies!
Contacting the existing owner of a domain you want is one idea; but the moment a domain owner gets a whif that someone wants a domain that they own they would be seeing pound signs (I know I would ;) and you'd probably end up worse off.
Further, is it possible to have subdomains?
Once you "own" a domain, as long as the ISP you have gone with allows you full DNS (domain name service) control then you can setup as many subdomains as you wish.
Where could I do further research on these new TLD's?
My current web design is pretty inconsiderate of older PCs. My clients insist on minimum resolutions of 1280x1024, and don't mind if the design blocks out certain surfers. They're after a high end market, and set that out proper hardware as a prerequisite.
So, I don't think that .art extensions will cause them any grievances... The latest versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape should support those new TLD's, right?
BTW: I'm planning to use a custom built server on a private DSL line to host the sites...
Any suggestions are welcome!
Another question: is Registerfly.com recommandable as a domain manager?
Thanks!
The latest versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape should support those new TLD's, right?No. The domain name system is completely independent of browsers and user platforms. It's not a matter of newer or older PCs at all, it's not a matter of hosts or connectivity.
The unofficial TLDs are outside the "real" system. To use a coarse example, suppose I paved a walk in my backyard and named it "Choster Street." I couldn't simply start accepting deliveries at my shed at "#10 Choster St.," Airborne and UPS won't know where that is because it's not part of the official postal system. So I can either 1) try to get this personal street network integrated into the official network (get through ICANN's process for approving new gTLDs), or 2) hand out maps to everyone, just in case they one day become a FedEx worker dropping off a new lawn mower (i.e. distribute a plugin that resolves addresses in the alternative system). Good luck either way :-).
It doesn't matter whether my house is on a paved highway or a dirt trail, it doesn't matter if the mail truck is a rusted old relic or the snazziest new postal roadster, and it doesn't matter if the shed has a state-of-the-art loading dock and logistics center. I'm not going to receive nearly as many packages correctly than if I'd just said "1234 Main Street, deliveries in rear."
You can find the official list of generic TLDs at [icann.org...] (many of them are restricted) and the official list of country code TLDs at [iana.org...] (some restricted as well). You could also try using various "domain explorer" sites/tools to find a combination of names which might be available.
site:.art -dfssgfs
site:.com -fdsdsds
Notice any discrepancies there? Doesn't appear that our friend gBot recognizes that TLD.
So, under which circumstances though can an .art extension work?
I did a couple searches recommended by PatrickDeese and found only two .art sites, which both don't show up...
And I'm using AOL (don't worry, I'm on vacation and this isn't my equipment) with WinXP and IE 6...
I personally think the new .name extension (should be opened up next week) is weird. The .info TLD is another option - damn, but that's already "taken" as well.
Thanks!
I would serious put a little creativity into your domain search -
for every widget.com that is registered there is always an "ewidget.com" available.
I have come up with tons of creative .com domain names just in the past few months.
The problem with a "non-traditional" TLD is that there will always be a percentage that will accidentally type the dot com version.
I will always spend the extra hour thinking of .coms just to avoid registering a .biz or whatever.
The main advice I can give you is to avoid cutesy word play domain names - if you can't tell it to someone over the telephone without spelling it out, it is better to avoid it.
For instance (aside from legal implications) I would never use a domain name like YaWho.com, due to the very obvious confusions that would arise due to another domain with a similar sounding name with a different spelling.
But you are talking to a "brander" - the keyword domain name contingent would disagree with me, I am sure.
keyword domain name contingent would disagree with me, I am sure
Most people choosing keyword domains are hoping for search engine rankings, and the unofficial TLDs tend to do poorly. They CAN be indexed through the registrar's domain, e.g., myfun.club.example.net (where example.net is the registrar), but from what I can tell Google hasn't liked these very much either.
I had some choice ones, & I let 'em go a year or two ago. Doesn't look like anyone else has picked 'em up, either.
Later on I read that only the following ISP support those LTD anyway:
Tiscali
EarthLink
Prodigy
NetZero
Juno
Tutopia
If I can't access it via AOL dial up or Qwest DSL, nobody can...
Alright, I'll get creative and think of a untaken .com address...
One last thing:
is there any disadvantage with using .net?
Were't the .nets for ISPs initially?
If this is going to be a commercial site, meaning you are trying to sell something,try for a .com. That is because it is the most common. If not then you can use .info or .biz and not worry too much about it.
robert
