August 2010 Archives

The .NET domain extension might soon overtake Germany's .DE as second largest top-level domain after the market leading .COM web address according to the latest domain name statistics:

Source: Hoster Stats

It's interesting to see how some positions have changed in comparison to the top 10 domain name statistics from last year. While most domain extensions growing strongly, e.g. .ORG grew from 7.7 to 8.5 million names, the Chinese .CN suffix dropped from 2nd into 6th place after having changed the registration rules a few months back.

Another milestone for the domain name industry will be the passing of 300 domain extensions with the introduction of more internationalized country code domains. A number we will likely see increase over the coming years with the introduction of new top-level domains.

Useful tip on the bit.ly blog about how to use your own custom short domain for link sharing via the Twitter Tweet Button in conjunction with bit.ly Pro:

For smaller publishers who cannot cache links on their backend, we are now providing a simple JavaScript wrapper for sharing bit.ly links using the Twitter Tweet Button:

<script src="http://api.bit.ly/v3/twitter_tweet_button.js?login=bitlyapidemo&apiKey=R_0da49e0a9118ff35f52f629d2d71bf07" type="text/javascript"></script>
<div>
<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button">Tweet</a>
</div>

Be sure to use your bit.ly login and API Key (which you can always find at http://www.bit.ly/a/your_api_key) with the code above.

This implementation simply shortens the page URL and then displays the Twitter Tweet Button in its standard fashion. All Tweet Button functionality is maintained. And, since our JavaScript wrapper uses your bit.ly login and API Key, it will automatically return custom bit.ly short domains for Pro and Enterprise users.

Need a short domain name for your own URL shortener? These domain extensions allow 2-letter domain registration.

Do you already own your name as a personal domain name? If not, is it because your FirstnameLastname.com was taken? That shouldn't be a reason to dismiss the idea just yet! Today, we show you five great domain alternatives to .COM for your home base on the web:

1. .ME Domain

.ME has grown in popularity as a personal web address since its launch in 2008. It's officially the country code top-level domain for Montenegro, but what could describe you better online than a nice sounding FirstnameLastname.me for your own website on Flavors.me or Tumblr?

2. .NAME Domain

The .NAME extension has existed since 2001 and was specifically introduced for individuals. Perfectly suited for your personal site, blog or your own email address, e.g. hello@joesmith.name in conjunction with Google Apps.

3. .TEL Domain

Specialized domain to store and share your contact details with others. All data is presented on an easy and clean website that is included with every .TEL domain so you do not need to purchase any additional hosting services.

4. .INFO Domain

Inform people about who you are. Register a .INFO domain to forward it to other online profiles or a family wiki for example. Everything that contains information about you is a perfect fit for your personal .INFO web address.

5. .IM Domain

The Isle of Man's domain suffix can be used as short form of "I am". Many family names are still available so you could set up sub domains in the form joe.smith.im for family members. Another idea is to get a .IM domain as a personal URL shortener using free services such as bit.ly Pro or Droplr.

As you can see it doesn't always have to be a .COM, especially for your individual web presence. Of course you can also register the top-level domain from your country if you do not have any plans to go international with your personal brand. Some countries even have specialized web addresses for individuals such as .ME.UK (United Kingdom) or .GEEK.NZ (New Zealand).

The most important thing is to own your name online and not to rely on a third party web address such as facebook.com/username. Be creative in the choice of your personal domain name and check if it is still available with our domain search.

Afilias, the .INFO domain name registry is currently running their 2010 awards program for the best .INFO websites:

If you own a .INFO web address, this is your chance to win one of the following cash prizes:

1st prize: US $7,500
2nd prize: US $ 5,000
3rd prize: US $3,000

Submissions close on Sep 10, 2010. All further information and entry rules can be found on the awards site.

P.S. Remember that we also run a fun promotion at iWantMyName that could give you a refund on the purchase of your own personal .ME domain.

When you have a look at our domain price list, you will notice that some domain name extensions are more expensive than others. So why is that?

There are three factors that determine our domain name pricing (apart from the fixed costs of running the business):

1. Registry price - this is the price a domain registrar is charged by the registries. What you may not be aware of is that it is not us who are actually holding your domain name but a designated registry such as VeriSign (.COM/.NET), PIR (.ORG), Nominet (.UK) or Denic (.DE). These registries charge a fee per domain to registrars which can vary considerably from one top-level domain to another. Ultimately, it is up to the registries how much they charge. This varies according to their operational cost, whether they are community-driven organizations or regulated by the government for example.
   
   
2. Currency - we usually buy domains in the local currency of a country. Most European country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) are in Euro, while others are not part of the Eurozone e.g. Denmark uses Danish Crowns, the Czech Registry is paid in Czech Crowns, so they can all be subject to currency fluctuations.
   
   
3. Support cost - some top-level domains have special registration procedures, for others you need to fulfill certain requirements for nameservers changes or whois contact updates, e.g. .EU domain updates are handled in a unique way. The world of country code domains is full of exceptional cases which have to be factored as additional support cost into the yearly registration fee as well.

As you can see there are a number of variables that influence the price for domains. We believe transparency is important, so we hope this article has given you some insight into domain name pricing.

.GL Domains (Greenland) are the latest addition to the ever growing list of TLDs (Top-Level Domains) available for registration at iWantMyName.

There are no restrictions or special requirements so anyone worldwide is allowed to register the .GL country domain. Internationally, the domain name goo.gl is probably the most famous .GL web address. Google is using it as URL shortener for some of their services.

The internet extension of Greenland can be registered at $89.00 USD. Buy your .GL domain now.

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mape_s/350700095/