The top level domains (or tld) has become a important facet of life on internet. The extensions of top level domains such as .com, .org, .net have become one of the defining points of the internet and website addresses and creating a new website or internet businesses. With .com being the gold standard and other tld’s created by ICANN the international organization that handles web address being of lesser importance.ICANN has recently this month opened up the possibility of creating custom TLD for organizations, groups or companies. So instead of having a site like Facebook.com you would have “Mysite”.Facebook. Under their custom top level domain you could have several individuals or groups signing up with the host company for their own custom .facebook web address.

The reason behind this is for companies to keep control over their brands. By approving companies that meet their guidelines by giving them the .(company TLD) extension the parent company can allow the companies they want and meet their standards. Also companies can charge for use of their custom TLD’s and thus gain additional revenue by renting out web addresses under their own domain.

Note that the approval process for companies will take from half a year to a year and a half. And the projected cost to register a custom TLD per company is at least $100,000. So you more than likely will not see these new extensions until the start of 2012. With increased growth at the end of 2012 and onward.What does this mean in regards to hosting and TLD? The exact requirements are uncertain because while the option is open no company has yet went through the process. And there are still questions on who will manage the custom domains (will it be ICANN, the Businesses,or 3rd party contractors). But some general steps can be taken to get ready.

If you are planning to register your own custom domain it would be best to look at a hosting company that could handle hundreds of
sites. You would look for business class hosting with their own programming staff (to make changes as needed for your custom LD). And you would want a company which has direct control of their own sections such as Domain Name Services (DNS). That way they could quickly change settings as needed.For those who are looking to get a site that would be listed on one of these new custom domains they should be looking at some aspects of their hosting account to increase their chances. First look at a business level account for appearance sake and features that a personal account would not have. Second make sure your site it set up to be immaculate, from layout to graphics to style. Having a hosting service that has professional templates, graphics and if need be support to help you with this is needed.

If you have a site that sells products it should have a professional shopping cart and a ssl certificate to show it is secure for e–commerice. It should have at minimum for a business/nonprofit an email system for contact. And supporting sites like a well maintained blog would add to your professionalism.

The new world of custom Top Level Domains is now here. By the end of the year you should start noticing .Facebook along with .com.There are steps you can take with hosting and your site that will allow you to take advantage of this new aspect of the internet. Get ready for the future and the opportunities this could open up for you.

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