NEW gTLDs


rely heavily on a community usage. In this group, you’ll find .eco (ecological community), and .gay (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender community).


Causes


A handful of new gTLD applications are targeting funding for causes, such as supporting non-profit organisations, or raising funding for specific causes. In this category are .ngo (non- governmental organisations) and .hiv (funding for HIV/AIDS research).


With this perspective on new gTLDs in mind, the next step is for companies to consider which, if any, of these new gTLDs has a bearing on their online strategy.


Aligning company goals with new gTLDs


A simple rule about the new gTLDs that all


brands and companies should keep in mind is that, for the most part, new gTLDs are not meant to compete with .com domains. It is a completely generic name at this point and tells a visitor nothing about a site’s content. So it will not be necessary for a company to register its brands and marks across every new gTLD.


What your company should consider is how it communicates its online presence, and which new gTLDs will help promote that online presence. For some companies, there will be obvious synergies. For example, companies in the hospitality industry may have an alignment with the .hotel TLD, and vineyards would see the benefits of registering a .wine domain. Conversely, companies should consider what new gTLDs would be a poor fit for their online mission: a .bank domain would be useless to an architecture firm, for example.


Cause-based domains could help companies communicate corporate social responsibility, such as a company making efforts towards good environmental practice promoting its work on a .green domain.


Most promising of all to corporate marketers are geographic TLDs, which not only provide valuable keyword inclusion in domain names, but also point consumers to a site with local ties. Does your company have multiple offices? Consider adding the localised TLD for your company name to your portfolio.


Developing new domains


Once you have selected the relevant domain extensions to add to your portfolio, the next step


62


“THE SUCCESS OF ANY NEW gTLD WILL BE DETERMINED BY USE; IN THE PAST, MANY DOMAINS HAVE BEEN LAUNCHED AND THEN IMMEDIATELY SATURATED BY SPECULATIVE


BUYERS WHO NEVER DEVELOP THEM.”


to register .coop domains defensively, “.coop domains are allotted only


to cooperative


organisations, so they are not a candidate for purely defensive registrations”.


“We did initially have some organisations that tried to push us on this. In almost all cases, these potential registrants were not eligible cooperatives and were, I assume, trying to test our verification process. So they were rejected because they were not eligible,” she said.


is to develop those domains into working sites. Te success of any new gTLD will be determined by use; in the past, many domains have been launched and then immediately saturated by speculative buyers who never develop them. To maximise the investment of expanding your domain portfolio, you should plan to develop those names, in line with the purpose of the TLDs. Consider the boost to search engine ranking for domains that


contain relative


keywords to the right of the dot, directing leads and customers to a company’s targeted website.


Just as companies now incorporate social media into their online strategies, in the future they will need to incorporate a place for new domains. If you purchase a .eco domain, you can build content promoting the ecologically-friendly practices of your company. Assigning a purpose to each new domain is a key part of developing your online strategy.


Defensive registrations


Opponents of the new gTLDs have frequently stated that the programme will force companies to register untold numbers of new domains to protect their brands and marks. But the structure of


ICANN’s programme makes it clear that


this will not be necessary. For one thing, the establishment of a Trademark Clearinghouse is designed to protect the rights of trademark holders. And second, many new gTLDs will have restrictions on who can register their domains in order to meet their objectives.


According to Carolyn Hoover, chief executive of dotCOOP, the registry for .coop domains, launched in 2002, when asked if she had encountered any issues with companies looking


Trademarks Brands and the Internet Volume 1, Issue 2


However, if you identify some new gTLDs that your company does not want to be associated with, a defensive registration may make sense. Te Huffington Post and Te Washington Post both had their names cyber-squatted aſter the launch of the .xxx domain in the last quarter of 2011. While the merits of blocking a .xxx domain are obvious, companies should examine the list of applicants to ensure that they don’t overlook any domains that they may want to keep out of the hands of third parties.


On the surface, the proposition of hundreds or thousands of new gTLDs could be unsettling, but by taking a measured approach and analysing the options available you can prepare for these changes and their impact on your domain portfolio in advance. As with any business asset acquisition, researching the options is an important step in the consideration process. Having a strategy in place in advance of the new gTLD launches will be a major advantage for any corporation. 


Kate Hutchinson is the marketing and social media manager at United Domains (www.uniteddomains.com) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She can be contacted at: kh@ud.com


Kate Hutchinson is an experienced marketing professional with a background in direct and online marketing, specialising in social media and communications. She received her MBA from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts.


www.worldipreview.com


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