The new gold-rush: Top Level Domains (TLDs)

ICANN, the overseer of the domain registry system and top-level domains (i.e. .com, .net, .info, .cc, .us, etc) has approved a plan to sell unlimited top-level domains (TLDs) on the open market.

Conceivably, anyone can purchase a new TLD, provided they are willing to shell out the reported $100,000 to $500,000 per TLD.

This number may seem like an astronomical amount, but when one considers the marketing potential for the right TLD, $500,000 could seem like chump change. For example, .com is frequently mistyped by people as .cm or .cmo. Obtaining those two TLD’s could give the potential owner a great deal of leverage to convert the typo into the appropriate .com, but turning themselves into a referral source.

Alternatively, a company could create some serious leverage with branding and trademarking, creating highly desirable TLDs that have a specific connotation, such as:

• .secure - Which is carefully controlled by the TLD owner, and guarantees any .secure website is audited and “scam proof.”
• .bank, .doctor, .law - Just about any market or industry niche could use its own TLD, and could become highly desirable for members of that market.
• .kids, .singles - Just about any market segment, such as “certified kid friendly”.
• .comcast, .ibm, .aol - Companies, especially ISP’s and hosting companies, would definitely want to get on this bandwagon and support customer accounts on its TLD’s.

Without a doubt, the new policy for TLDs will represent a tremendous gold-rush for those companies willing to get in early, make effective use of their new TLDs, and market it properly to create demand and market awareness.