Tag Archives: .SWISS

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, New gTLDs

.SWISS General Availability Commences 11 January

SWISS gTLD logoGeneral Availability for the .swiss gTLD will commence on 11 January, but domains will still only be available for applicants that have a registered office and actual administrative site in Switzerland as well as a clear connection with the requested domain.

In the Sunrise phase, there were 9,738 applications for .swiss domains with around 7,000 assigned after evaluation.

Successful applicants for .swiss domains once General Availability commences will still be required to meet the basic conditions and new applications will be published weekly on the www.nic.swiss website for a period of 20 days in order to allow comments or rival applications to be submitted. If they are not contested, the domain names will be assigned at the end of this period. Otherwise, OFCOM will arbitrate disputes on the basis of the rules of the Ordinance on Internet Domains. In particular, priority will be given to public bodies and then to entities which exercise a right related to the requested name. Depending on the individual cases, auctions, drawing of lots or an evaluation of the best added value brought to the Swiss community will be used to decide between candidatures which are equivalent in every respect.

There will also be a number of premium domains available that relate to a sector, such as hotels.swiss and watch.swiss. Successful applicants will have to make these domains available to the entire community which it represents.

Each application for these premium sector domains will be subject to a one-off fee of CHF 2900 per dossier, and CHF 360 per annum for its monitoring activities. The applicant will pay these amounts in the total invoice which its registrar will submit to it.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, ICANN and Governance, New gTLDs

Daily Wrap: New gTLDs and SEO Benefits, .SWISS Update And ICANN Blog Public Comments

CARS AUTO gTLD logoWhether new gTLDs provide a benefit when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation has been a subject of debate. “Many in the SEO community debunk the myths that the new domain extensions will have any impact on SEO status, others have proven otherwise.”

Jennifer Wolfe is something of an expert on such issues and spoke to Daniel Negari, the CEO of .XYZ. Negari of course has a vested interest as his company not only operates .xyz but also other gTLDs such as .cars, which will have a registration fee of around $2,500 to $3,000.

The article gives a case study for a boutique supercar manufacturer in Southern California that following its transition to a .cars domain now ranks number one organically in Google and Bing search results, which means they don’t have to buy ads for that premium placement.

“It is paramount for us to ensure a clean and secure namespace in .CARS,” Negari told Wolfe. “We are implementing security scans and monitoring to prevent cybersquatting, phishing, or other malicious activities by bad actors. By doing this we provide a clear signal to internet users and to Google’s search algorithm to trust the .CARS top level domain. This aligns perfectly with all companies within the automotive industry to further their digital marketing efforts.”Dot SWISS logo

The Sunrise phase for .swiss domains ended on 9 November and over 8,000 applications for the gTLD were received [German]. All applications will now be checked for eligibility over the next three weeks with the first decisions on successful applications to be made in December.

The second phase for applications, General Availability, will begin on 11 January 2016. Applications may relate to any type of name, in so far as it originates from a public or private entity which has a base and an actual administrative site in Switzerland. The name which is applied for must have a link with the applicant.

ICANN opened their blog to public comments on Friday. And it was immediately subject to posts from Graham Schreiber, who Domain Incite reports unsuccessfully sued them back in 2012 and has not stopped his tirade against them in social media ever since.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, New gTLDs

.SKI, .SWISS And .TAIPEI Get Going

SWISS gTLD logoWhether you want to ski, or visit Switzerland or Taipei, there are now top level domains to suit you!

On 7 September, the Sunrise period commenced for the .swiss gTLD. The Sunrise is available exclusively for marks registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse, to public authorities as well as certain rights attached to distinctive signs which are protected in Switzerland (e.g. trademarks, business names, PDO). General Availability will commence on 11 January 2016.

And on 8 September the General Availability Commenced for .ski.

The .ski gTLD was created to provide the snow sports community with a new alternative to the convoluted domain space with the opportunity to register short, relevant and affordable .ski domain names. And I know grass skiing is small by comparison, they seem to have forgotten that this exists as a leisure activity!

A couple of things about .ski. Internationalised characters are available, but currently only German language internationalised domains. And anyone can register a .ski domain but must adhere to the .ski domain name policy to maintain their registration.

Then on 9 September the .taipei gTLD will commence General Availability for any business, organisation or individual anywhere on a first come, first served basis. One unusual but sensible rule for .taipei domains is that each domain must contain “at least one Unicode (Chinese)character”.