A URL (uniform resource locator) is arguably the most important part of your online marketing and branding.  It’s your business card, an ongoing advertisement and the doorway to your company all in one. If it can, it should be the name of your company or an abbreviation, if it can’t be either of these it should be able it should sum up your service or draw interest at the very least. Choosing it isn’t always easy though, especially when you have to be clever (groan). We’re a couple decades into this internet thing and there are several million websites, some of the best names for service providers, distributors or products have been taken long ago by companies themselves or by opportunists who buy up domain names and sit on them waiting for the highest bidder. But often times these names will expire, and many business owners don’t think to check when that will be. Hunt for the perfect URL and get the right extension for your site. If you have to wait for one to come open it can often times be worth it. Or if you can use a similar name without risking copyright infringement, and use a top level domain extension this is also smart. Search sites like www.godaddy.com or www.whois.net to see when a domain name is going to expire and keep in mind that over the past several years new domain extensions have been opened up to the public; with this comes opportunities and risks however. Take for example Uk.co. While many sites, most sites, in the UK have the .uk.co extension a .co extension would be the top level domain for the country of Columbia.

The extension .cm remains one of the most popular extensions for scam sites and spreaders of malware; it’s the country code top level domain (ccTDL) of Cameroon. So make sure you put that o in your .com! Some commonly used TLDs that have become specific to industries are in fact country code top level domains (ccTLD), these are referred to as vanity ccTLDs. The increasingly common .tv extension is in fact a ccTLD for the island nation of  Tuvalu but it is used for the television (“TV”) / entertainment industry. The country code extension for the Federated States of Micronesia is .fm and is frequently used by FM radio stations. Businesses in Los Angeles have become fond of using the .la extension, which is in fact the ccTDL of Laos. So before you give up on your dream URL because .com or .net is taken don’t be afraid to look at the alternatives, but be aware that some extensions can have negative associations, such as .cm or .cn (China) China is apparently looking at ways to crack down on abuse of its ccTDL by cyber scammers. In a way that’s incredibly hypocritical though isn’t it?

On top of country codes which have been used as vanity domain extensions there were several extensions offered in the early 2000s. Some of these have been successful while others have fizzled. Growing out of the the  generic top-level domains which originally consisted of  GOV, EDU, COM, MIL, ORG, and NET,  several new domain extensions became available. Four of the new TLDs (.biz, .info, .name, and .pro) are unsponsored, meaning they are less stringent as to who can claim them. The other three new TLDs released along with them (.aero, .coop, and .museum) were sponsored. Then again in 2003, ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) the body responsible for overseeing and regulating domains introduced six new TLDs (.asia, .cat, .jobs, .mobi, .tel and .travel) these TLD extension were sponsored, as are .edu and .gov etc. Meaning there is a body of regulators that oversees authenticity of those claiming to belong in these domains or wanting inclusion in them. Someone homeschooling their kids in small town USA will not likely be approved for a .edu domain name, reserved for colleges and universities,  while a survivalist militia group in middle of nowhere USA will also likely not be given a .mil extension no matter how militant they may become. That is reserved for official military only. But hey, you can always try.

So before you go out looking for a URL with .ca or .net or .com know that there are dozens of extensions available now and more to come. the Dot Eco domain .eco has been slowly simmering for the past couple of years and once made available to the public (if you your company is an environmentally responsible or sustainable operation) this domain extension could be invaluable to you. Visit here for more info on this domain extension. Some domain extensions may fit your business better than others, and they are an extremely important decision for any company to make. For more information of TLDs or Generic Top Level Domains visit here. To contact Thirdi go here.

After receiving a phone call from one of the founders of Vancouver BC’s Big Room, I’m happy to revisit my previous post concerning the competition now surrounding the .eco gTLD bid that will be finalized hopefully by this 2010. Okay, here are some refinements to the post.

According to Jacob Malthouse, co-founder of Big Room, they actually started the exploration into .eco before the Dot Eco boys in Hollywood did, and they had made it known. So it more accurately has stuck in their craw (still don’t know what that is) especially since, according to Jacob, Big Room did in fact make efforts to connect with Dot Eco to discuss things proactively; There was no reply from California. So now that we’ve cleared that up, here’s why Big Room is better suited for this in my humble bloggerpinion than Al Gore and his camp:

After talking with Mr. Malthouse, I really get the sense that this is a passionate attempt to create something that will get environmentalists, NGOs, everyday contientious consumers, and business up to the next level of ecological responsibility and utility through the next level of networking and communications possibilities that this domain will create. Profitability aside. And secondly as a believer in free market economics I believe that nothing will benefit green business philosophy and environmentalism more than making it profitable and attractive to invest in. So for this post I go out beyond the usual realm of interest (ecommerce, seo, technology etc) and get a little philosophical. Now back to business.

An array of free services and features are planned to create further value to the .eco TLD that goes beyond the cultural cache of the suffix itself. And the Big Room .eco idea apparently didn’t begin as a TLD, which likely explains why the array of services and features they have planned come embedded in the proposal as it is developing. To paraphrase Malthouse it will essentially become the largest database on the planet in which to find and connect to information and services offered by companies who strive to practice environmentally responsible if not proactive practices. And for those in a community of thought that at times have had a startling array of discontinuity in methods and approaches, considering they’ve had such common aspirations and values in my experience, that sounds pretty useful. My only criticism now is that it’s difficult to ascertain these qualities about the Big Room bid from their site and from what little else I’ve been able to read in other blogs and articles. Yeah it sounds good…but explain to me now why it sounds good to me. Luckily in my case I actually got a phone call that did just that. The details are equally as intriguing as the big picture, for one who is interested in both web developments and the environment.

It will basically foster a huge increase in the efficiency one will find, exchange, and build upon information by anoyone interested in using and exploring the services that will come with this TLD. And it will be good for Vancouver SEO companies and the web industry in Vancouver in general if Big Room gets the bid. Which is something I’ve felt from the beginning regardless of how playfully cynical I may be and sound at times . So where’s my rebuttal phone call from Al Gore…I’m waiting.

So just when Al Gore goes and tries to re-invent the internet some Vancouver internet upstarts issue a global press release that sticks in his craw. I don’t know what a craw is and I don’t care to google it, but imagine that you wanted to spearhead an initiative to have a generic top level domain created to save the planet and then someone else came and stole your thunder; and power point presentation. The storm is around the .eco domain, a proposed hot designation for any company hoping to capitalize on greening its image and making those eco-bucks. And much like .edu there will be stringent standards you must live up to if you wish to be knighted with this rank. So now on one side we have Al Gore and a bunch of fancy Californians and on the other we have David Suzuki, the World Wildlife Fund and Vancouver start up Big Room. And the battle is getting fierce.

Both sides are threatening to donate massive proceeds from the .eco venture to environmental causes; eye to eye in a mexican showdown of global proportion while the ice caps melt. Aaaaand as the planet slowly cooks and chokes both sides are threatening to open the door to massive ecommerce and web hosting changes that will possibly save the planet. And lastly, both sides are betting on one big IF. That companies, and people will be flocking to .eco in a show of support, zeal and fervor for this new designation. And unlike .biz .mobi . and my favorite .info, that it will stick. Can you hear the pitch now directed at countless companies? “We can save you millions on your marketing campaign. A dot-eco domain will only cost you 50 bucks” If they care so much about saving the planet (which According to Al Gore we can’t wait any longer to do, mired in our apathy, and/or maybe legal battles) maybe they’ll meet somewhere between Vancouver and San Francisco and go on some camping trip to reach an important consensus regarding this monumental gTLD. Maybe there’s money and power involved? That seems to make men fight once in a while. Anyhow, best of luck to both of them. May they both win. And maybe everyone else who wants a top level domain will see the floodgates open too. And if so I’ve decided to start a .art TLD and I alone will be the judge of whether your art is good enough to garner this soon to be coveted suffix. Gentlemen, start your crayons.