Do You Know That 200 New Domain Extensions Are Available Right Now?

No matter what your industry, 2015 is the year of a permanent change in the worldwide web landscape. ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the regulatory body that governs the Domain Name System (DNS) known as gTLD, or Generic Top Level Domains, will introduce 1000+ new domain extensions, yes, over one thousand!

What does this mean for website design in Trinidad & Tobago? It means less of having to use ‘tt’ to make usable domain names when your preferred .com is already taken. Now there are new extensions like .church, .lawyer, .marketing, .pizza, .plumbing and more. Unfortunately, .doubles, .rumshop, .rotishop, didn’t make the cut 🙂

Believe it or not, some of the new extensions were launched in 2014 without fanfare (except to people like me) and if you’re learning of this for the first time then it should tell you how revolutionary and earth shattering the development is, which you can see it hasn’t been.

Generally there hasn’t been a stampede which some might expect, instead it’s been pretty ho-hum and muted. Nevertheless, like I opened with, it does represent a permanent change to the internet. Some advantages are:

With hundreds of thousands of sites worldwide competing for the perfect .com name (because who really wants the .net or .biz except the desperate?), it was always a high probability that the name you wanted for your website was already taken. And I’ve observed for new websites in Trinidad & Tobago, that was usually the case, hence the .tt slap-on that was the instant fix.

The new extensions has opened up the naming options by industry and removes the competition for the same extension and having to use the full name. Now Kareema’s Boutique and Kareema’s Catering can use kareemas.boutique and kareemas.catering.

That’s a simple example, and you’ll see the effect with all the other extensions: cleaning, clothing, dental, furniture, photography, that open up the possibilities. Remember, I said it’s 1000+ new extensions when all is said and done. Get the picture? Yes there is .picture too!

That goes without saying, as the extension indicates the nature of your business in no uncertain terms. It will help in driving qualified traffic to your site, i.e. the visitor more likely to become a customer. Faced with a choice to click on a .construction or .boutique website, there is obviously something right there to make up one’s mind.

Not getting your preferred or perfect name because it was already taken has never been a sticking point for Trinidad business owners. We never cried about it, but instead shrugged our shoulders, stuck ‘tt’ on it and carried on.

These new extensions, having opened up the naming options gives businesses an opportunity to build brands around their domain names that would roll off the tongue well in conversations, plus they will be more memorable. Every little bit helps.

I’m reluctant to name this ‘disadvantages’ because they are only temporary till worldwide use gains traction and acceptance.

Nothing will scream ‘I’m a brand new Trinidad website’ like using a new extension. But I doubt that will be a big disadvantage, on the contrary it may be an advantage as Trini’s would like nothing better than macco a new site. I know I would!

I’ve personally purchased the domain ‘ttonlinestore.directory’ for $16.99 USD (more about that website in a news update, but interesting eh?), and that price is around the general price for domains these days. But I’ve seen some as much as $69.99 USD and more.

Because some extensions are for ‘premium’ industries, .mortgage for example (only financial institutions will buy these), I guess that pricing across the board were set to such a formula. No telling if the cost structure will come down eventually, but the present pricing may cause some Trini companies and individuals to think a little more before they purchase, especially given the future renewal fees.

More domain extensions will be rolled out during the year, among them: .college, .studio, .school, .news, .charity, .grocery, .spa, .taxi. You may check the list to see if your preferred one is among them.

Of the 1000+ there are many that are not relevant or do not apply to Trinidad & Tobago, like international cities, and those in foreign languages. But that’s negligible, as the the vast majority are absolutely relevant and available.

I for one am glad for these new extensions and more-so that there are so many. It remains to be seen how the pricing structure will eventually settle as it’s till very early days yet. Like anything new, give it time, and by the end of 2015 we shall be able to see how things are headed.

In the meantime, I would still advise my clients to invest in at least one year of their domain with the new, relevant extension.