.TEL Domains

In March 2009, the .TEL domain extension entered the fray as yet another gTLD…with a twist. Unlike your other commonplace domain names that you register, then park or develop -- .TEL domains possess a unique competency. Rather than being the go-to domain for a new website of yours, .TEL domains are already hosted on Telnic’s servers. There’s nothing for you to upload or install, like it or not, for .TEL introduces a whole new business model in the domain market.

It sounds almost like sacrilege: a domain name whose nameservers can’t be edited? .TEL is not your average domain name. You can’t create a website for the sake of pointing your .TEL URL to…that’s because .TEL’s are self-hosted. While there are few details as to the amount of resources Telnic uses in regard to hosting .TEL domains for their customers (such as bandwidth and disk space) be assured that your .TEL domain has a guaranteed round-the-clock uptime.

This new domain extension is geared toward internet communications, and gives you an online “resume” of contact information for yourself of your business. When you visit a .TEL, you’re presented with a flat gray web page in which you can list all of your contact mediums, from land lines, cell phones, email, phone, VoIP, e-mail, SMS and web links. When someone visits your .TEL domain, this is all they see.

.TEL can also be used as a web directory. So, if you’ve registered widgets.tel, you might want to create a front page with folders “red widgets,” “blue widgets” and “green widgets.” Upon clicking “red widgets,” a user can be taken further down another level into “domestic red widgets” and “international red widgets,” and when choosing one of those two options, they can be presented with a list of geographical storefronts that offer that product for sale.

It’s uncertain to know exactly what will become of .TEL. Personally, I’ve purchased one on its second day of public release, and have been experimenting with it. There’s no way to really re-design the look and feel of your .TEL: perhaps the domain registry wished to have a universal look for all .TEL’s? Or, will they eventually have a design feature and template selector that lets us “brand” our .TEL pages?

The domain itself will undoubtedly become a vital asset to the local marketing crowd, especially with the forecast of the smartphone boom and the steady rise in demand for WiFi and portable internet usage.

Last but not least, .TEL domains automatically make it into the .TEL directory: a free advertising venue that has been set up for all owners of .TEL domains. The company has impetuous expectations for the domain’s high rankings in search engines for their own term or business name; perhaps, only time will tell. In the meantime, it’s worth snagging your own .TEL before the other domainers buy up whatever’s left (Just by day two alone, nearly all one name keyword .TEL domains were seemingly taken, be sure to search for premium two-word domains!)

.TEL, above all else, is a fantastic tool for what many marketers consider to be the next wave of the internet: geo-targeting and local marketing results. Say you own “newyork.tel.” You can create a menu for “restaurants,” “live music,” “museums” and “newspaper stands.” From there, you can delve deeper into each menu, until the final page is reached, which lists actual locations with their street addresses, and a neat little thumbtack on a Google Map, showing the person how to get there. The implications for local marketing and .TEL domains are massive, as they also cater almost exclusively to handheld devices and smartphones, like the iPhone.

Regardless if you're a domainer or not, .TEL is an interesting addition to your domain name collection. It's always wise to snag your business' name before someone else does. With .TEL, you can have a convenient online directory of contact information, and a directory of services, businesses, branch offices or anything else you desire. It's a neat addition to your business cards, too.