Move over the boring .com and .in domains;in your start-up;s URL and get uber-cool;new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) like;.beer, .pizza, .courses, .cab, .coupons, .money;that literally talk to your customers about;your business, leading to better branding,;marketing, customer engagement and much;more. Aishwin Vikhona, Founder of IT solutions;start-up, Global Websoft, author of ;Sell;Domain Fast;, a book on domain investments;and reportedly India;s top domain investor;shares the guide to gTLDs for start-ups.;

How should start-ups switch to new gTLDs?;

Currently, the awareness for new gTLDs in India is very low, possibly less than;two percent. So, start-ups looking to switch to new gTLDs must make sure that;they makes their customers, users and other stakeholders aware of the change;which otherwise might lead to confusion. For example, I own a gTLD called;property.guide and I created an email ID called [email protected], but I got;many people calling me to verify it whether its not [email protected]. This
can also lead to traffic leakage as your visitors would be clicking on a .com or .in ;link. Let;s say that if you have entrepreneur.media then initially you would lose;visitors who would be going to entrepreneurmedia.com which if in case belongs;to one of your competitors then he/she would be benefitting. So, mass awareness;is required to avoid this leakage.;

When can start-ups look for the change?

They can get a new gTLD anytime they want but they should preferably do;that when they have an existing .com or .in domain. This would help them;avoid any traffic leakage even if visitors don;t know about their new gTLD as;they would be re-directed from .com to the new one. For example, if you own;entrepreneurmedia.com then visitors coming to that website will be re-directed;to your new website called entrepreneur.media.;

Can these new domains boost start-ups; digital presence?;

Absolutely. gTLDs can help start-ups in a very effective pay per click (PPC);campaigns on Google as it describes your business more clearly and hence it;becomes more likely for visitors to click on your link than any other .com or .in
TLD. Suppose you search for real estate developers in Gurgaon on Google and;it shows up parasgroup.com, lotusgreens.com, gurgaondevelopers.realty etc. So;gurgaondevelopers.realty will certainly get more clicks because it shows exactly;what you were searching for and the business that company is into.;

Anything particular start-ups;should look for in new domains?

Start-ups should look for top keywords;that define their businesses, are;easy to remember and are premium;gTLDs like entrepreneur.media;instead of entrepreneurmedia.press or;entrepreneurindia.media or .press which;are nonetheless better than .com or .in.;However, the other factor is of pricing.;While the annual renewal fee for a .com;domain may be around $8.5-10 but for;premium gTLDs it can be very steep. I;pay $500 for annual renewal of property.;guide. So, domain registrars control the;price of these gTLDs depending upon how;premium they are.

Is it good to pre-register a;domain?

Pre-registering can be a great strategy;for start-ups to avoid competition for;premium gTLDs which would be intense
soon. It is like booking a movie ticket, the;sooner you get to the ticket window the;better your chances are to get the seat of;your choice. Premium gTLDs would be;start-ups; assets which can fetch great;amount while selling the business.