Here’s another reason to look into registering a .tel domain name: the .tel registry, Telnic has announced that it has released a beta version of TelPages,  a global .tel search directory.

TelPages allow users to search all current, live .tel domains. You can preview this version of TelPages by visiting, http://beta.telpages.com.

Telnic has invited users to email feedback on the beta site at the following address: community@telnic.org.

Visit EnCirca’s .tel registration page for more information.

ICANN has approved the first internationalized top-level domain names for Egypt, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

These domains are scheduled to go live in mid-2010 and will allow the usage of non-Latin character sets to access information from sites using those domains.

These four IDNs are the first of many non-Latin domain names that are expected to be approved. In fact,  ICANN has already received sixteen applications in eight languages.

Subscribe to EnCirca’s RSS feed to be notified when more IDNs are approved and when registration begins for the first four IDNs.

As of January 6, 2010, .cn is stopping registrations from foreign registrars. This is planned to be a temporary move as the .CN registry CNNIC irons out its registration practices.

Last week, the expired domain name “wordpress.pro” was sold at auction for over $12,000, catching the attention of the domain investor community.  You might find a name for your next project in the current list of recently expired .Pro domain names. To be alerted for new listings, subscribe to our automated RSS feed.

While the growth of .Pro continues, there are still a lot of generic keywords available. You should also make sure to protect your company name and trademarks. Check for your keyword or trademark here.

The “wordpress.pro” auction indicates the renewed interest that the .Pro domain name is receiving from domain name investors and trademark owners. Interest that will only grow as the .Pro registry releases one, two and three character domains in 2010. Stay tuned for the up-coming announcement.

To meet market interest, EnCirca is offering a new Bulk Purchase program for .Pro domains.  This program is ideal for professional trade associations, domain resellers and professional domain investors. For details on the program, please visit our .Pro Bulk Purchase program webpage. Even if the Bulk Purchase Program is not for you, .Pro domains are still inexpensive at just $14.95/year (and we charge no taxes!) Free .Pro Availability Check.

Effective January 6, 2010, EnCirca.com, registrar of the .pro top level domain, is offering a bulk purchase program designed to promote widespread use of the .pro domain name. EnCirca is soliciting expressions of interest from parties willing to commit to a minimum purchase of 5,000 .pro domain names. Selected parties will receive a discounted price lower than that available for dot-com domain names. The .pro bulk purchase program is ideal for professional trade associations, and trademark owners.

“In the past year, as .pro registration restrictions have been relaxed, the .pro zone file has grown 400 percent,” says Thomas Barrett, President of EnCirca. “We expect even more growth in 2010 when one, two and three character .pro domain names are made available. Our current retail price for a .pro domain name is $14.95. We are looking for a partner interested in making a .pro bulk purchase for a greatly reduced cost.”

The “Pro” suffix is recognized world-wide as a designation for “professional.” This instant branding is one of the reasons for the .pro domain’s increased popularity among professionals creating their own online brand.

The .pro domain is designed exclusively for use by all licensed professionals, such as lawyers, engineers, electricians and realtors to help professionals establish online trust and communicate their credentials. Businesses may register industry keywords, search engine terms, company names, or their trademarks. There is no limit to how many .pro domain names an individual or company can register. Dot-pro customers self-certify their professional status by providing their identification, contact information and profession-specific information, such as their license number.

All expressions of interest are confidential and more details can be found at http://www.encirca.com/html/bulk-purchase.shtml

Please contact EnCirca at bulkpurchase@encirca.com

Marketing budgets are tight and at EnCirca, we want to give you a leg up. We’ve partnered with SiteSee.com to offer something extra for our clients – a listing in a unique map-based directory system.

As an EnCirca customer, you are registered automatically.

Created to drive high-quality traffic to your site, each directory listing is search-engine optimized, and can be customized with photos and videos.

Our newest directory (which captures all of our customers with the exception of .travel, jobs and .pro domains) can be found at Business SiteSee.

.Travel, .jobs and .pro customers can find their domains listed at the respective directories;

Travel Directory

Jobs Directory

www.find.pro.

Visit a directory to activate your listing today – and make the most of this free resource.

It’s a good time of year to get everything in order…so here’s our friendly reminder about your WhoIs information:

The current ICANN rules require EnCirca to remind each Registrant to keep the contact information for their domain name(s) up-to-date.

Inaccurate Whois information can be grounds for cancellation of a domain name.

If you would like to avoid disclosing personal information in the Whois record, we have additional information on our website to assist you, including sections on the following topics:

• Review Your Public Whois Information
• Review Your Private Customer Record
• Updating Whois Information
• Replacing a Whois Contact
• Updating Your Customer Record
• Keeping Your Data Private
• How We Avoid “Whois Spam”

Click here to be redirected to our Whois information page.

Drum roll, please…

Today, December 10th, EnCirca will be accepting registrations for .eu IDNs. Starting at 10:00 am GMT, registration will be open for domains in the European Union’s 23 official languages.

With almost 500 million citizens, the European Union generates an estimated 30 percent share of the nominal gross world product – it’s a market that is essential for business.

IDNs have made headlines recently, as more than 50 percent of the world’s Internet users do not use Latin-based script as their native language. Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) are domain names that include characters other than those available in the English alphabet.

They are already available for many domain extensions to the left of the dot and more and more extensions are coming on board. There is no sunrise or landrush period for this domain, so interested parties should not hesitate to secure their preferred names.

Visit http://www.encirca.com/html/idn.shtml to register!

Have you checked out our .pro names up for auction lately? Subscribe to our daily feed to stay in the loop and don’t miss out on a great domain name! Right now, there are many domains available at the minimum price. Check here to view them all!

Here’s a sample of just some of the domains that recently were purchased at auction:

Shops.pro $350
Culture.pro $230
Courses.pro $210
Deal.pro $360
Font.pro $120
Weddings.pro $425
Revenue.pro $236
Tampabay.pro $49
Honduras.pro $49

DotAsia plans to release IDN .asia domain registrations in the second half of 2010 to address the pent up demand in Asia for multilingual web addresses.

The timeline for this roll-out is as follows:

• Dec 2009: DotAsia will publish first draft of IDN policies
• Jan-Feb 2010: Input and feedback from industry expertise and users at large will be sought and incorporated into draft policies
• Mar 2010: IDN Sunrise and Landrush policies to be finalized (after the APRICOT meetings in Kuala Lumpur)
• NOTE: Launch dates TBD (exact dates will be announced in March after finalization of policies)

EnCirca will provide additional details about .asia IDNs as it becomes available. Watch EnCirca’s website for updates.