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.
About the author:
J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been
helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over
twenty-five years. To learn more about domain names and other
profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit
http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/domain-names.html
