Get Ready For The New gTLD’s

Internet navigation and marketing is about to change in a big way. This year, businesses can apply for their own gTLD’s, and the coveted .com web address won’t be as sexy as it used to be. gTLD stands for “Generic Top Level Domain” and they come right after the “dot” in a web address. You know about .com, .et, .org, .biz, .gov, and .edu, but soon, there will be hundreds, maybe thousands more. To name a few you may see: for generic commerce (.shop, .site, and .web), for geographic identity (.africa, .california), for branding (.walmart) for media (.film, .music), etc. The possibilities are endless: .art, .auto, .vacation, .resort, .flights, .baby, .dating, .faith, .car, .dog, .religion, .pet, .gop, .flowers, .doctor, .lawyer, maybe even .god. You get the picture. The plan is for the New gTLDs to be available for use by January, 2013. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is taking applications now. It will take awhile to see how this all shakes out and whether the result is more clarity or perhaps more confusion.