Thanks for taking some time to consider offering us.com domains.
Here are some things to think about.

Different Integration Methods

Our results show consistently that offering us.com domains on your site will increase your domain revenues by about 10%. The domains are simple to integrate as CentralNic uses open standards and common protocols. Here are some examples of how it is being done right now.

1. Full Integration: (example - www.101domain.com)

Run a domain search on this site. You will see that they list us.com on their home page and include us.com domains in the results. The us.com requires no explanation. It is intuitive and the majority of your registrants will know what it means right away. 101domain has fully integrated us.com into their registration process.

Benefit: Increases your conversion ratio; more people buy.

2. Parallel Integration: (example - www.internetsolutions.com)

On this registration property, they have simply created a link off their main page that brings you to a separate registration procedure for us.com as well as all other CentralNic domains.

Benefit: Quick implementation; No impact on existing systems or programs.

3. Whois Cart() tm Software Implementation: www.whoiscart.net

Whois.Cart() tm supports all of CentralNic's domain endings. It is highly recommended by programmers and allows for whois lookups from all over the world (www.whoiscart.net).

Benefit: Quick implementation and a "world view" including CentralNic's domains.

Common Questions and Answers

Do you still have some reservations about offering us.com domains?
Please think them through with me...

Will registrants buy us.com domains?

Within the industry, we sometimes forget to think like consumers. Think through this example...

If you owned a cookie bakery and wanted to put your business on-line, which of the following would you prefer? If you ran a search for "cookies.com" here is what would happen as I write:

You search for a "cookies" domain.

The results are:

cookies.com - taken
cookies.net - taken
cookies.org - taken
cookies.tv - available ($1040/1yr)
cookies.cc - taken
cookies.us.com - available ($100/2yrs)
cookies.uk.com - available ($100/2yrs)

Which available domain would make most sense to you for your bakery? Really. Go back and put yourself in the position of this customer, who owns a small bakery and wants to put his business on the web. Would you be thinking that you would be on tv? Would cc make sense to you? We think that people prefer a domain that ends in .com, and if you couldn't get it, us.com would be a close second!

Aren't they too expensive?

With CentralNic domains, there are still many valuable, easy-to-remember, generic possibilities. Some registries charges a high premium on those types of domains, even similar to resale-market pricing (as seen in the above example). CentralNic prices are consistent across the board. CentralNic domains were priced using the following considerations:

a. To discourage mass cyber-squatting of undeveloped domains
b. To create a good margin of profit for resellers
c. To make a profit based on the value of these premium domains.

Another consideration is that corporations today are paying tens of thousands of dollars to register domains in ccTlds. It is not uncommon for these types of domains to cost hundreds or thousands of dollars because of complex rules within those countries and registries. Relatively speaking, our domains are a bargain. Ask us for examples. We'll be happy to show you.

Will these third level domains work for hosting, email, etc?

Registering at the third level is a common practice in two-thirds of the world's domains. It increases available options for end users. Most of the newest registries around the world have learned a lesson from how fast sensible .com domains have disappeared.

In Australia (com.au), The UK (co.uk), Japan (co.jp), and in Canada (bc.ca), registries and registrars have created and registered numerous second level categories to make more options available to end users. The .us registry has accepted 2nd and 3rd level registrations for years with no impact on hosting or email.

SLDs like US.COM work exactly the same as Top Level Domains (TLDs) such as .COM or .NET and are supported by all existing e-mail systems. In his testimony to congress on 2-8-2001, A. Michael Froomkin, an expert on the Internet, testified that, "there is no technical difference between the root file containing the information about TLDs and a second-level domain file."

It is quite common for we Americans to "exclude" or ignore the world view, but the truth is that SLDs are fine for hosting and for email. They are used today all over the world.

Don't some companies give away third level domains?

No one is giving away third level domains after us.com or uk.com.

Dot.biz, and Dot.info are out now. Why do we need more choices?

This is true and registrars should carry them, but just like in the toll-free business, the first entrant stays in people's minds forever. When referring to a toll-free number, people don't think of 877 or 888 even though they are toll-free. They think of "800 numbers".

People will always want a domain that ends in dot.com (including us.com). It holds a high level of comfort and recognition in their minds.

What resources, time, or money are involved?

There is no cost to become a reseller for CentralNic The application will take about 5 minutes to fill out and fax. If you use Cdomain or set up a parallel registration interface, it will have no impact on your existing systems and should take no more than one day to set up.

A more important question is "Will it be worth it?". Consider the fact that us.com is only one of 15 countries and regions that CentralNic can provide for. Many of these are the fastest growing countries online. Examples are eu.com for Europe, de.com, for Germany, br.com for Brazil, cn.com for China, uk.com for the United Kingdom, and ru.com for Russia. All of these are very exciting emerging Internet economies that you will want to be a part of.

How do we know that CentralNic will stay in business?

CentralNic is a profitable company and along with it's predecessor, Nomination, has been registering these types of domains since 1996. In actuality, we were operating a registry before they actively registered .co.uk domains. We have a strong and proven commitment to the industry. In fact CentralNic is financially stronger than most Top Level Country Code operators. We have a recurring revenue stream that will only get stronger as the Internet grows throughout the world. Our domains actually cover two thirds of the civilized world.

Is CentralNic ICANN Accredited?

CentralNic does not offer Top Level Domains (TLDs) and therefore does not need to become an ICANN accredited registrar. ICANN only deals with registrars that issue TLDs. It is important to understand however, that CentralNic domains work within the existing Internet structure using sub-domains under a system that is fully approved by ICANN. Over half of the ICANN approved country code TLD operators already do the same thing within their ccTLDs.

In contrast, there are some companies today that are actually trying to compete with the ICANN accredited system of registrars. These are companies that operate what amounts to a large private network that connects to the Internet but requires either special software downloads or connection through certain ISPs to work. Domains that are issued by these companies are reachable by less than 1 in 8 Internet users today. Another problem with this approach is that it is regulated only by market demand. There is no legal or even technical body to regulate it. The result is that in some cases, 4 registries compete for the same domain ending. It's a free world. They can do this, but our opinion it is not the best approach to increasing the domain space.

CentralNic is also pleased to see that 3 out of the 7 new ICANN approved domain operators (.name, .pro, and .museum) have chosen to register their domains at the third level as we do (for example, John.Doe.Name, DrHarris.med.pro, or Whatever.Art.Museum). This validates what we have maintained all along... that domain space can be increased and improved by using the third level after certain valuable second level headings (such as us.com).

Summary

CentralNic is a profitable, multi-million dollar enterprise, operating within the existing ICANN approved infrastructure, with a six year legacy of successful operations, supporting over 800 resellers to date. You and your customers can have confidence in our vision, products, & future.