Will shorter domain names boost dot biz?

24.02.2009
Get ready for i.biz, u.biz and probably we.biz.

One- and two-character domain names are coming to the .biz extension if , the company that runs the .biz registry, succeeds in getting the change okayed by the .

The change is part of a marketing campaign "to increase competition in the marketplace and to raise awareness of the .biz brand," said Tim Switzer, NeuStar vice president of registry services.

Since NeuStar launched .biz in 2001 the extension has struggled to find a foothold, despite being available in 15 different languages. Most big corporations prefer the much-older dot com extension, established in 1985.

The .biz extension was once promoted as a way to "break out of the advertising clutter." It is mainly used by smaller companies, although many larger corporations have reserved their brands' .biz domains and have them redirect to their .com sites. According to , as of Feb. 19 .biz ranked as the eighth most registered domain extension in the world with 666,399. Dot com is first, with over 21 million, followed by Germany (.de), .net, .co.uk, .org, .info and .it.

NeuStar, which also administers .us, .travel, and .tel, says .biz in fact topped 2 million registrations last fall. However, 73 percent of the registrants have fewer than 10 employees. The United States and Canada account for most of the registrations, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom.