Stuck with an awkward Web address that makes your company hard to find? Don’t fret, the new year will bring a big opportunity.
In 2009, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) plans to sell the rights to unlimited, top-level domain names — suffixes like .com. The ICANN is also likely to include domains that are named based on subject matter (.books), business type (.gyms) and location (.nyc). Smaller businesses will be out of their league, as the ICANN plans to sell the most popular of the domain names at prices starting at $100,000 (the $100,000 application fee is nonrefundable).
The most popular domains will go to the bidders with the deepest pockets. But that doesn’t mean the smaller guys can’t capitalize, too. Here’s how:
Companies that end up with the top domains will probably sell the rights to sub-addresses within their domains (.books, .gyms, etc.) for significantly cheaper rates. How much? Experts predict an average of around $50 per year!