So you want to make your own .com or .org, and let's say you don't want to make a private one only you can use because that is exhausting (because it is, and adds more complexity). This will be a tutorial on how you get your own TLD, owned, and ran by you. Also, note we use the TLD acronym a lot, and it simply means "Top-Level Domain" and is quite common. The parts of a domain name are subdomain (usually www. or blog.) you also might not see them, the domain name (here is dev), TLD is the .com .org, etc.
Step 1 - Build/buy the backend
The backend means, as defined by ICANN as "The role of the registry operator within the Internet ecosystem is to keep the master database of all domain names registered in each top-level domain"
You can buy one or build your own, but it will be a long process, not to mention very difficult. I would say buy one if you can't put a server in your house or office space.
Step 2 - Wait for the opening
ICANN only takes applicants every few years, so be sure you are not only prepared but you also have a solid $150K to $300K sitting in your bank, as it isn't cheap. The ability for single letter TLDs are either nill or much more expensive, so keep it to 3 letters or more. Do not choose two letters, unless you can convince a country to allow it. They will also most likely take royalties and a good chunk of control. This means to .js, .cs, .bs, .bf, unless it is already a ccTLD (country code TLD) based on the ISO standard, or a country wants it. Sorry.
Step 3 - Fight, bid, and work hard
This can take years, as TLDs like the newly released .gay TLD started their fight in 2012. Now eight years-ish later it is available. There were only four applicants too, some might take more. You might also not be in this step, as most gTLDs (Generic TLD) do not make it past step two as either it is too expensive or they were just rejected.
The process here can also very much differ between circumstances.
Step 4 - Sell
Good job, you did it. You spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and spent several years of your life doing a thing. Good news, people will most likely buy it. I mean people buy things like .moe, .ooo, and many other seemingly stupid ones all the time, so even if it sucks (like .lmnop), someone will buy it because they can.
Top comments (19)
This is the tutorial I always wanted. Congrats. You win the internet. :)
I want someone to create the
.osdomain, imagine it.Whoever made it could sell something like
mac.osori.osto Apple, or make their own operating system and it would look really cool!Not to mention randos buying it too, even though you probably wouldn't get money from people buying domains.. you could just buy it first though, right?
Looks like there was a recent discussion on Reddit about why there is no .os domain:
Lol.
Omg yes please! That would be perfect.
domains are nonsense and this is the best example how centralized the web is, we need to get rid of domains, unique ICONS/QR Codes should replace them.
Bro what the hell are you on about?!?!? Imagine having to browse the internet by clicking on an icon, and scams will become much more powerful as they can use the same icon. Lets say microsoft scams, instead of you being able to read the domain for a scam, you have to look for one pixel that doesn't look right. And with qr codes, imagine having to point a picture at a webcam or get out your phone every time you want to send a damn email. That sounds like
Nobody said that icons should not be clickable🤣
You clearly didn't read what I said, imagine a scam with the same logo of a popular website and instead it has like 1 pixel that is different so now it is even harder avoid, including in higher res images. Think about if you need to zoom in on the icon every time you want to check for a sus link.
Imagine a link text or a button to a website that goes to a different website… nothing new here.
I tried .srs but it seems not to exist yet.
Well get roughly $600,000 prepared, and you might own it!
And why does ICANN charge so much for this and where does this money goes, I mean who are the top level sellers is it a country or something else
I was searching for it and found the results on top of the search results; people buy .page as well, as we bought it for all, an open source for making pages inside.
I liked the content, and yes, it was full of information about having your own TLD.
It's not easy, but it could be not hard to play on; when we decide to get over to it, we may reach with our ongoing efforts, there's never no until we quit.
Best article on dev dot to.
Fancy seeing you here. Nice article!
Well, I been writing here for a while and considering on getting back to it sooner or later
It takes several years to get that top level domain, but if you have got the money then maybe it's worth it.
nice info 😁