February 2010 Archives

The saga around China domain names continues with this week's rumour that every .CN website owner may have to apply in person for a web address. Luckily there is another unrestricted alternative, in addition to .CN.COM, suitable for the Chinese market: the generic .ASIA top-level domain.

5 reasons why you should consider .ASIA for your website

• .ASIA is governed by international authorities outside of China. It provides security, stability and is used and commonly known for the Asian region.
• A .ASIA domain can be registered by anybody, quickly and easily without the hassle of documentation.
• Asia is the market of tomorrow. Did you know, that .ASIA domains can improve the search engine ranking for queries relevant to the Asian market? The term "asia" itself is already one of the most popular search keywords.
• The .ASIA namespace is still young so the chances of getting your desired domain name beneath .ASIA are more likely than in the .COM or .NET extension.
• .ASIA registrations help fund community work in the Asian region such as Relief.asia, ISIF.asia (R&D Grants Fund), CreativeCommons.asia, OLPC.asia (One-Laptop-Per-Child initiative in Asia).

In addition to our special offer for .CN.COM domains, we will also run a promotion for the .ASIA extension. All new registrations will only be $14.90 USD from March 1st, 2010. Go and get your .ASIA domain now!

Registering a domain name under the official China country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .CN will not get easier anytime soon. Latest news is that the .CN registry has employed 600 workers to manually check all domain registrations for policy violations such as pornographic content and inaccurate records.

Consequently, we have decided not to offer .CN domains as long as any restrictions are in place. However, if China is your destination market, we would like to suggest two alternative solutions: .CN.COM and .ASIA web addresses.

.CN.COM: An unrestricted domain extension for China

The alternative .CN.COM internet extension is managed by CentralNic, the registry for .LA (Laos) and many other popular second-level domain suffixes such as .EU.COM (European Union) or .US.COM (United States). Domains under .CN.COM are completely unrestricted, enabled for Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), including Chinese character sets, and can be registered by anybody worldwide. This makes it the perfect web address if you do not want a domain name that is heavily regulated.

We have now enabled .CN.COM at iWantMyName with a special introductory offer. All new registrations are only $19.90 USD until the end of April. Please see our domain promotions for further details.

In our next article about .CN domain alternatives we will talk about .ASIA, the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) for the Asian community.

The widely reported recent case of a Tumblr user summarily losing control of a sub-domain and related blog has fanned the flames of discontent amongst users of hosted applications worldwide. The rumblings emerged again last year with Facebook's back down in the face of a user revolt. The more recent Tumblr case also reinvigorates the debate over the subtle difference between a name squat and genuine usage. In any event this incident reminds us exactly how frail the laws of ownership seem to be across the nebulous world of the Internet.

Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Ning or any other service provider, they all have a point in common. You cannot own a web address such as http://facebook.com/yourusername or http://yourusername.tumblr.com because it is tied to THEIR domain name. If the domain (or company) fails for some reason you are not in control of your user-name and your content. Folks invest a lot of time building their online content and a deletion can be horrifying. So how does one go about protecting digital identity?

The domain name system (DNS) was invented in 1983 and .COM celebrates its 25th birthday this year. By 2012 there will be over 200 million domain names in use. Despite its age the DNS continues to provide reliable service to domain owners who enjoy complete control over how they use and manage their own domains. Unlike usernames, a domain is a secure asset whose operation is governed by a universal set of rules that registrars must operate within. The rules not only protect ownership, but also allow for full portability. You can transfer to a better registrar at any time and you can redirect your domain to any online service that you like.

Source: http://www.identitywoman.net/personal-anchors-on-the-web-for-digital-identities

With the full implementation of internationalized domain names (IDNs) and the introduction of new top-level domains the diversity of available domain branding options will continue to grow. Many companies keep a small portfolio of branded domains for future use and to protect their digital identity from being misused. Under the domain industry rules a user may secure their personal domain without any obligation to apply it immediately. If an ownership dispute arises, there are rules governing this as well.

If you think your preferred user name might be controversial, at risk or already taken, why not choose a more generic name and then register a domain to control your digital identity instead?

After the release of bit.ly's URL shortener for your own domain, we have received a lot of emails asking for still freely available 2-letter domain names.

They are getting scarce so don't wait too long to register your own tiny domain! Here's a free list of some nice available short domain names for inspiration:

aj.vg, ap.vg, ay.vg, ez.vg, fc.vg, gi.tc, hq.vg, ia.vg, ia.tc, iu.tc, ix.vg, ja.vg, ol.vg, tu.vg, uc.vg, ze.gd, zo.gd, zu.gd, zy.tc, aa.ht, ak.mu, al.mu, an.tl, an.mu, ao.mu, ap.ht, ap.mu, as.ht, ax.mu, ay.tl, az.mu, ba.ht, ba.mu, bb.ht, be.mu, bt.tl, bu.tl, ce.gs, ci.tl, cu.gs, cu.tl, cy.gs, cy.mu, di.tl, di.mu, do.tl, du.tl, ee.mu, ef.mu, eh.mu, ei.cx, ei.mu, ei.ht, ei.tl, el.mu, er.gs, er.mu, er.tl, fa.tl, fe.mu, fi.mu, ga.tl, ga.cx, ga.mu, gg.tl, gg.mu, gg.ht, gu.gs, gu.tl, gy.gs, ho.mu, hy.gs, if.ht, if.tl, if.mu, ig.gs, ii.tl, ii.ht, je.gs, jo.tl, ka.gs, ke.tl, ki.gs, ki.tl, ku.gs, li.mu, lo.mu, ni.mu, oa.gs, oc.cx, ok.ht, on.ht, oo.ht, ou.tl, ou.gs, ox.mu, pa.tl, pa.mu, pi.tl, qa.mu, qi.mu, qu.mu, qu.gs, ra.mu, se.mu, so.mu, ta.mu, te.gs, ug.gs, wi.mu, wo.mu, ze.gs, zi.mu

We are happy to announce the iWantMyName affiliate program! Start referring customers or blog readers looking for international domain names or domain registrar alternatives and you will get rewarded on each sale originating from your links.

The iWantMyName domain registrar affiliate program is ideal for:

• Bloggers and website owners
• Hosting companies
• Web apps and services
• Application developers

Just place a text link, domain search box or banner on your site. When visitors register or transfer domains using the affiliate link from your site, you get 10% commission on each order for 90 days. The program is also valid for promotional offers, unless marked otherwise.

It's free to join: Become an iWantMyName affiliate today.

• International domain registration for over 80 extensions.
• Friendly and personal customer support. We care about you!
• A simple, fast and uncluttered domain name management dashboard.
• Easy setup for the most popular web apps with your own domain name.
• The best mobile application to register domain names from your iPhone.

Popular URL shortening service bit.ly is launching an open beta of its long-awaited Pro version with custom domain option soon. This will allow you to use your own domain name for a personally branded URL instead of the standard shortened addresses starting with bit.ly or j.mp.

• bit.ly Pro is completely free and has the following features included:
• 10,000 requests / day for your custom short URL
• Access to the bit.ly Pro dashboard with detailed statistics on your branded links
• bit.ly button to allow users share links on Twitter / Facebook with your custom domain

There will also be an Enterprise edition with support for multiple domains, advanced dashboard features, full end-to-end branding and a customer service support plan.

Short URL Domain Name Ideas

We have some domain name ideas for you to find a memorable short domain. You should try to keep it simple yet still readable. Do not obsess to much about the length, 5-7 characters will still work fine. It is not so much the brevity that is important but the recognition value of your brand.

1. Use abbreviations / misspellings
   
   - Company: comp or cmpny
   - YourDesignBlog: yodebl or yrdsgn
   - iWantMyName: iwmn
   
   
2. Play with initials:
   
   - FirstnameLastname: FL or FiLa
   - New York Agency: NYA
   
   
3. Find a domain hack:
   
   - iPeople: ipeo.pl
   - Youtube: youtu.be
   - YourName: yrna.me (domain hack / misspelling combined)
   
   
4. Register a boutique domain extension
   
   - .ME (It's me...)
   - .IM (I'm)
   - .IO (Input/Output)
   - .TW (for Twitter!)
   
   
5. Get creative using Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)
   
   Symbols / special characters: ✪df.ws or 20°f.la
   Upside down domain names: ǝɯɐu.name (name.name) or ʇɹoɥs.com (short.com)
   
   

With iWantMyName you can easily find and set up domains for bit.ly. Start branding your links and register your own short domain today!

Related articles:

• 10 Tools to run an URL Shortener on your own Domain
• The Art of Finding a Domain Hack
• List of 100 Available Ultra-short Domain Names
• Short & Brandable Domain Name List