We’re all familiar with those top-level domains (TLD’s) that accompany most websites these days:.com,.org, even.net, but how much do these TLD’s really tell us about the website we are visiting? These web suffixes are supposed to tell us about the general sort of location we are going to. Whether it be commercial, an organization, or even a network, TLD’s are there to inform us a little bit more about the overall category.
The problem facing today’s humble businessman, however, is the rapidly shrinking availability of domain names. What with the small amount of 20-some odd TLD’s, it is getting harder and harder to lock down a label that is not already claimed. That diminishing pool also means that the name you finally end up with may not represent your website as much as you would like.
Recently (as in 2014 recent), the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has authorized the public use of many more generic, and descriptive, TLD’s. According to ICANN, names like.photography,.fish,.vacations and over 1000 more options can now be added to your business’ URL.
This extensive addition to the list of TLD’s has thrown the door wide open for companies like Digital Marketing Guru who help with online marketing . Shaping your website’s address into a commercial itself is much more effective now that you can tell the World Wide Web what your business is all about. While there was some worry about new TLD’s being O.K.’d by the government , these names should be integrated into the system over the next few years.
As we see the first few start to seep into our network, business owners are able to up their commercial appeal and draw in more customers. Ping Zine reported on a new customer of.photography, David Stewart, “The new gTLDs allow users, like Photographer David Stewart, to choose a Web address that better reflects their business ….With the help of 1&1 Internet, Stewart was able to register a personal and customized domain, helping increase his business’ credibility and reach to all consumers searching online.”
With the way things are moving, pretty soon all websites will be able to have a TLD that matches their actual business.
photo credit: The Booklight via photopin cc
