DomainHac.ks: What’s in a Na.me?
Google surprised the world last month by metamorphosing into Alphabet Inc. to gain more autonomy by moving into spaces such as healthcare and robotics.
It seems reasonable to visit Alphabet.com to find the latest healthcare devices, self-driving cars and other innovations, right? But visitors to this site won’t find a fleet of drones; they’ll find a fleet of BMWs. Alphabet.com is a car fleet management company serving BMW business customers.
Google made a bold move by choosing abc.xyz as their domain name for Alphabet Inc. This lends legitimacy to “domain hacks,” which are domain names that suggest a word, phrase or name by concatenating two or more adjacent levels of that domain. Before Alphabet, many big sites had already taken obscure top-level domains and repurposed them. For example, flic.kr borrows from South Korea and instagr.am from Armenia.
Check out these tips to help you navigate the world of domain hacks:
- Some are selective. If you’re not a part of a government that’s signed the Antarctic Treaty, you’ll need a physical presence south of latitude 60°S to get a .aq name.
- If the domain openly accepts foreign sites, check over relevant terms and conditions, to avoid unfortunate legal situations such as the 2010 confiscation of vb.ly for violating Libyan law, which prohibits sexual content.
- Another thing to watch out for is extra charges for international buyers. For instance, Trinidad and Tobago will double the cost of registering a .tt domain for foreigners.
As this great article points out, the crucial point is that your URL should be memorable and easy to say out loud. Namecheap offers a whole range of brand-new top-level domains. We have sensible options such as .agency, .accountants and .business. We also offer wackier options such as .ninja, .lol and .pizza. Explore the possibilities with new TLDs.
Or, why not pop over to www.domainhack.merand?
