Another option that speeds up the process quite a bit when working on the Internet is the Domain Lookup add-on for Mozilla Firefox. It does not automate the whole process but provides enough automatism to be a great asset for every webmaster or domain hunter.

Domain Lookup can send the marked text to a selected domain registrar checking if the domain name is still available. The query will be opened in a new tab. Spaces will automatically be removed from the query: “business news” would be stripped to “businessnews” since domain names cannot contain spaces.

The fastest way to check the domain is by using the shortcut key [CTRL SHIFT D] which can be edited in the options. It is furthermore possible to use the right-click context menu to start the domain search.

The default registrar Godaddy can be changed to numerous others depending on the user’s preference. The author explicitly states to let him know about missing registrars so that they can be added. The list is pretty extensive though.

It is also possible to select the domain extension or multiple extensions that should be checked. The default extension is .com but it is possible to add additional extensions including several country domain extensions.

Selecting multiple domain extensions can have the consequence that multiple tabs have to be opened to check the availability.

Now everyone can bid for a new domain name extension which will cost a minimum of $100K. In addition, applicants must be
capable of operating (or paying someone to operate) registry services. This makes it likely that only corporations and current registrars will bid for new domain name extensions.

It is most likely that some domain extensions will be registered right away, .blog or .wiki are likely candidates among others. It’s not clear if and how end users will be able to register domains with those new domain extensions yet. Will there be a pricing limit or will the new registrar be able to specify any price that he wants ?

Back to the initial expectation. If everyone can register new domain extensions expect to see a rapid increase in available domain name extensions. This will lead to a massive increase in domain registrations that make use of the new domain extensions. All popular dictionary words and short domains will be taken in no time and many of them will find their way into the search engines.

One thing that has to be considered though is how the search engines will react when new domain name extensions emerge. Not everything is set to stone yet and it will be interesting to see when ICANN announces the process formally.