Get Your URL Now
Are you even thinking about getting an Internet domain name (you know: somethingsomethingsomething.com)? If so, you should do it soon, as prices are set to rise.
VeriSign, the “master-keeper” of Internet addresses ending in .com and .net, has received approval afrom the U.S. Commerce Department and the nonprofit ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to raise .com prices as much as 7 percent in four of the next six years.
According toVeriSign the annual per-name fee for .com will increase 7 percent to $6.42. The .net fee will go up 10 percent to $3.85. VeriSign collects the fees from companies that sell domain names on its behalf. The company says it needs the increases – the first since 1999 – to cope with higher traffic and greater security needs.
The increase isn't a large one, and it is possible to find sites that sell domains even for less than the VeriSign “wholesale” price. Discounters like GoDaddy sell URL's as loss leaders for their other services; it's like getting a turkey for 49 cents a pound before Thanksgiving so the store can get you in to buy cranberry sauce and other items at higher markups.
If you're like many Internet entrepreneurs, you may want to buy a host of URL's related to the one you want, with subsidiary URL'(somethingsomething.net, somethingsomething.biz, etc...), as well as variations on the name you want – including misspellings, even, so that search engines, web searchers, and natural language searchers (those who just type a name into the browser bar) can find you. If you are going to do that, the upfront cost will add up; so buy now and avoid the price increase.
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