Savvy domain registrars are planning to get involved in the landrush for generic top-level domains, but the release of hundreds of new domain extensions can be confusing to the average website owner.
Here are five domain providers who are educating their current and prospective customers on what to expect out of the new TLDs and how to get involved.
The most widely known domain name provider on this list, GoDaddy is collecting pre-registration requests from users and holding them in a queue until it's time to submit. Website owners can search extensions on the GoDaddy website and watch the extensions they like. It should be noted that interested parties will need to login using their GoDaddy credentials or sign up for an account in order to create their watchlists. GoDaddy will then alert them when registration starts.
U.S. Unique Visitors per Month (Compete.com): 7,581,439
Europe's leading Web host has perhaps created the most buzz surrounding the new TLDs, from its U.S. TV and print ads to its pre-reservation portal and TLD suggestions (by category or keywords). More than 2 million 1&1 customers have already pre-reserved their new domain extensions, with 1&1 reporting the top extensions on their site to be: .web, .online, .shop, .app and .blog. To pre-reserve a new TLD, users will need to sign into their existing 1&1 account or create a new one.
U.S. Unique Visitors per Month (Compete.com): 385,331
With more than 3 million domain names under their virtual belt, 123-reg counts itself as the largest domain provider in the U.K. Internet professionals can register their interest in new TLDs with 123-reg who will then let its users know as soon as they can pre-order gTLDs.
U.S. Unique Visitors per Month: UK data unavailable on Compete.com, which was used for the rest of the domain name providers. Alexa.com ranks 123-reg.co.uk 148th in the United Kingdom and 4,127 globally.
A fully accredited ICANN domain name registrar, Name.com is giving its customers the option to stay informed about new TLDs when they sign up for its new TLD Watcher. Users pick the TLDs they are interested in, and Name.com will email them information as soon as it is available. Its website states, "When all those shiny New Dots are available for registration, you'll know exactly what you need to do to get in on the action."
U.S. Unique Visitors per Month (Compete.com): 41,995
Launched in 2000, Domain.com offers domain name registration and Web hosting services. The company is helping its customers get in on the gTLD action by allowing them to sign up to receive information about the new extensions as soon as they have it. Obviously not as robust as the pre-registration features listed here, Domain.com is still keeping its users up to date on the latest news, which is more than dozens of other domain name providers are doing.
U.S. Unique Visitors per Month (Compete.com): 54,696