If I understand this article correctly, ICANN is planning on allowing organizations to apply to create and manage new TLDs. If so, then that’s an interesting idea.

Imagine having a domain with a .blog or .tech extension, or .bowling or .design. Instead of worrying about the lack of .com domains, the generic TLD would become a thing of the past. You could just get a domain with a topical TLD, and have a short, memorable domain without having to spend too much time trying to find something that’s available.

Of course, there are problems with this idea. You would end-up with duplicates, for example. Suppose you had a website about design at example.blog. Other people could have sites at example.design and example.whatever. The cybersquatters would have a lot of fun with that… And then you have the whole issue of people automatically typing “.com” (or not recognizing it as a URL because of the lack of “.com”).  Be prepared to use Google a lot more, since you’ll be forgetting sites’ TLDs right and left.

There are plenty of implications going through my mind right now, and I imagine there are a lot more that I haven’t even thought of yet. On one hand I like the idea, but on the other hand…

What do you think? Is it a good idea to ave an infinite number of TLDs, or should ICANN just introduce a new generic TLD once in awhile?

Last month, I asked what type of domain you have. Only twelve people voted, which seems rather small compared to some previous polls. Thinking about this, I realized a bit of a problem with the polling service I’ve been using: RSS readers generally don’t display JavaScript. I should probably use WP-Polls, or something of the sort, so the poll will show-up in the feed.

Now, moving-on to the poll results.

17% (2 votes) say they have a keyword-filled domain with a .com TLD (like Webmaster-Source.com).

17% (2 votes) say they have a short, brandable name like Yahoo.com.

17% (2 votes) say they have a Del.icio.us-style domain, making use of country-level TLDs and subdomains to end-up with an easy to remember domain.

17% (2 votes) say they have a misspelled domain, like Flickr.com.

25% (3 votes) say that they have a domain with an alternate TLD, like .net, .org, or .biz.

Your domain name is the most valuable part of your website, aside from the content. Do not lose it.

Today’s Quick Tip is set your domain to auto-renew.

Most registrars will, if you choose, renew your domain automatically before it expires. 1and1, the company where my domains are registered, does this automatically. Not all registrars do, though.

Plenty of people have lost their domains to cybersquatters when they failed to renew on time. One example is children’s book author John Scieszka, who’s domain ChuckleBait.com was lost to a domainer because he hadn’t set it to auto-renew.

Don’t let it happen to you!

Your domains are arguably the most important part of your website. Without domains, well, let’s just say that search engines would be even more essential then they already are (you’d have to type IP addresses otherwise).

What type of domain do you have? Do you have a descriptive, keyword-laden domain? A misspelled domain like “Flickr.com”? Do you use a .com TLD, or do you use an alternate one? Answer the poll.

Don’t have a domain? Get one. They’re only $6/year. Before you go out and register a domain, be sure to read about naming your site and picking a domain.

Looking for a domain? It sure can get frustrating when you enter 375 different ideas into a WhoIs service, only to find that they’re all registered.

While Tabeze can’t help you come-up with more ideas, it can help you check their availability easier.

Tabeze is a domain availability checker that allows you to, with the press of a key, open as many search boxes as you want. Type a domain (including the TLD) into a box and press enter, and Tabeze does the rest. You can open more search boxes so you can check more domains at once, or you can do it so you can leave positive results onscreen for later reference. There are many ways to use this innovative feature.

My biggest complaint is that, unlike normal WhoIs services, it doesn’t show alternate TLDs that are available. If I search superwebmegasite.com on WhoIs.net, it will let me know if it’s available, and mention whether superwebmegasite.net and superwebmegasite.us are available. Tabeze doesn’t do that.

To optimize your search rankings, you should decide whether your URLs should have the “www” in front of them or not.

This is a topic everyone has been arguing about lately. There are advantages to both.

Reasons to use WWW

• Non-tech people need something to tell them “this is a web address.” The two things that tell them that are www and .com. If you don’t put the www in, then people rely on there being a “.com”. In an age when there is a shortage of .com domains, do you really want to reinforce the association between URLs and “.com”? You could use “http://” but do you really want to put that horrible-looking thing on your business card (or whatever you’re putting your domain on)?
• It adds balance to the URL. The three characters (plus a dot) even things out, as you have “.com” (or some other TLD) after the domain.
• When I want to go to Webmaster-Source.com, I type “webmaster-source” into the URL field and press CTRL+Enter. The browser adds the “www.” and “.com” into the URL. If you don’t use the WWW in your URL, then I have to wait an extra 3 seconds for the redirect to the www-less URL.

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What if you decide to go in a different direction with your blog? It happens. What if everyone hates your blog’s name? Is your blog’s name too long?

It’s okay to rename your blog, but be sure to think it through. First of all, why would you want to rename it? Do you have valid reasons…or are you just bored with your blog? Don’t go through the hassle unless you have a need. For example:

• You’re going in a different direction than when you started your blog, and the name doesn’t quite fit.
• People are complaining about your domain being too long. If that’s the case, consider just getting an add-on domain and redirecting it to the normal one.
• Your old domain has a bad reputation with search engines (which is common with “previously owned” domains).

There are plenty of reasons why you don’t want to change the name: (more…)