by Scott Clark 

The domain industry has grown so fast in the last couple years it's hard to imagine. This is a compilation of facts and opinions, along with some tips and tricks to help you gain a footing in this very competitive industry. 

What About the "Other" Domains (.us, .to, .cc, .tv)
So you've gone through the list of available domains, using all the search engines and keyword tools, and you can't find anything decent. You've been wondering about all those supposed "new" TLDs you've heard about, such as .tv and .cc. First, they're not new TLDs, they're country code domains. Now that that's cleared up, what about the value of such domains? 

The "experts" will tell you that the only domains that count are the .com domains. A couple of years ago, that was probably true. These days it's all about branding. Of course, it all depends on your site's primary business or concept. Anyone could pretty much figure out what scifi.tv would be about, same with music.tv. But what about ballsandsticks.tv? Or AmericanIndustrial.tv? It's not readily apparent what you would find at those sites. 

What about all those other country code domains and the .us domains? Again, branding. If you have sufficient resources to publicize the fact that your business is at mybiz.to, then you stand a chance. If the site will only be listed online, and you won't be advertising on the TV or radio, you can probably get away with using a country domain, including a .us domain. Keep it simple, and try to retain your own brand, whatever that may be. 

Domains, Then and Now
In May of 1985 there was only one .com domain registered (think.com). In October, the second .com domain was registered. By October of 1991, there were 165 .com, 22 .org, 20 .net, 285 .edu and 3 .us domains registered. Two years later, there were approximately 600 .coms registered. By 1995, the number of registered domains was at 6000, and two years later the number topped 22,000. Now, fifteen years after the first domain was registered, there are more than 12 million domains registered. 

Registrar Politics
Until 1999, NSI held a monopoly on the domain registration business. In June of that year, several companies were granted registrar status, among them Register.com and CORE. CORE passed the accreditation down to many smaller companies, which at that point could themselves register domains through CORE (i.e. they become CORE accredited registrars). By January of 2000, there were over 80 ICAAN accredited registrars, and about 100 additional CORE "Reselling Members" registrars. 

Are All the Good Domains Taken?
There are still a lot of great names out there! One of the ways you can find these domains is to use searching tools and services which look for domains that are on hold. You can also use fee-based newsletters that tell you about newly available (i.e. recently dropped) domain names each week. 

Another approach is to use "wizards" which let you choose a name based on several keywords. There are several such tools available, including DomainNotes' DomainWizard, WhoisUltra.com. 

Also, don't hesitate to use good old fashioned whois tools to look up common names--every once in a while, you'll find a great one that for some reason is available. And if you want to be able to grab the good ones that come along, you must also keep up with the latest domain news to stay informed about the latest trends (such as the introduction of 63 character domain names, the availability of the so-called "dirty domains," the availability of domains with foreign characters, etc.). You can also go to Whois.net and use their "dropped domains" search tool. You'll want to use the advanced version. Using this tool, you can search for dropped domains using wildcards. Spend an hour looking up some terms and you'll find at least one or two really great domains. 

Domain Registration Prices
In 1985, when NSI (Network Solutions, Inc.) took over domain registrations from SRI (Stanford Research Institute), domain names were free to register. In 1995, NSI started charging $100 per two year period of registration. In 1998, they lowered the fee to $70 per two year period. Then in 1999, when several alternative registrars were granted the rights to register domain names, the price started to vary from registrar to registrar, ranging from $50 per two year period to as much as $100 per two year period. 

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