Perhaps you already know that it is possible to get a free
domain name. However, have you ever wondered how a country
can afford to give away its domain names for free? Why
would a country just give away its domain names instead of
charging for them?
1. Free Domain Names from Dot TK
It is possible to get a free top-level domain name from
Dot TK (www.dot.tk).
According to their website, "Dot TK is a joint venture of
the Government of Tokelau, it's communication company
Teletok and Taloha, Inc., a privately held company. The
Government of Tokelau has appointed Taloha, Inc. as the
exclusive registration entity."
Of course, for free .tk domains, ownership remains with
Dot TK. This means that you can't sell it. As well, there
are other restrictions and disadvantages of free .tk
domains, including:
* You can register only a maximum of three free domain names;
* You need 25 visitors within a ninety day period;
* You need to have existing web content somewhere so that your dot tk name can be forwarded to it; and
* Dot TK uses frames to show your website. This being the case, you may have issues with navigation (bookmarking or finding specific pages) and search engine friendliness.
For serious business use, you might want to pay the
nominal cost for a domain name.
2. Why Do They Offer Free Domain Names?
Still, it is free. Why would they do this when they
could make money from the sale of domain names?
According to their website: "Why does Dot TK give away
free domain names? We believe that the Internet was
supposed to be 'Free'. Meaning no charges, payments or
expected return favors."
3. How Can They Afford to Give Away Free Domain Names?
This logically leads us to our next question: How can
they afford to give away free domain names?
Dot TK makes money from paid domain names, including
some special and trademarked names.
To help support Dot TK, you can optionally have an ad
displayed on your website. Thus, they do receive some
advertising revenue from this. However, the big money
would be in the sponsorship by large corporations.
4. Other Free Top-Level Domain Names
By the way, this is not the only ccTLD (country code
Top-Level Domain) that gives away some domain names
for free.
As just one example, cg is the ccTLD for the Republic
of Congo. Each of its citizens and lawful residents
are allowed one free .cg domain name.
5. Free Subdomain Names
Additionally, subdomain names are also available for
free. For example, eu.org states on their website
that their goal "is to provide free subdomain
registration to users or non-profit organizations
who cannot afford the outrageous fees demanded by
some NICs, especially in Europe."
As well, nr is the ccTLD name for the Republic of
Nauru. You can receive a free subdomain name from
co.nr. Thus, your domain name could be something
like yourcompany.co.nr.
Why do countries give away free domain names? They
want their citizens and others to be able to enjoy
the benefits of domain name use without cost being
an issue. It can also be a promotional method
designed to get the word out about their ccTLD.
How can these countries afford to give away free
domain names? Advertising revenue and the sale of
paid domains are two ways of funding free domain
names.
RESOURCE BOX:
J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years.
For profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit: http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/
For more information about domain names, visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/domain-names.html
.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Post a Comment