18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

Top Level Design, LLCʹs goal for the .blog gTLD is to create a designated Internet space for blogs. This TLD will clearly identify blogs from among the billions of other webpages populating the Internet, and allow Internet users to easily find blogs relevant to their interests. Given how pervasive blogs and online journaling has become, we believe .blog is an intuitive addition to the collection of new gTLDs to be added as a result of the New gTLD Program. Additionally, .blog makes a strong TLD as it is an international term, having been appropriated by a vast majority of the languages using Latin script.

ICANN’s New gTLD Program is a revolutionary step in allowing users to use and identify with the Internet’s naming system in a more personal and focused way. This focus on creating greater harmony between Internet activities, user interests, and actual domain names will be ideally fulfilled by a .blog TLD. Blogging itself is an unprecedented development in allowing any Internet-connected individual to document the world as they see it, and share their interests, passions, and knowledge with an increasingly connected group of fellow bloggers and readers. Blogs have created the potential for a public voice to individuals and groups who were previously overlooked, and created a world in which every person can be a journalist, expert, storyteller, and publisher. Blogs are intensely focused on the individual. Thus, it is only natural that ICANN, which includes the individual end-user in its forums and decisions, would allow the creation of a TLD that is clearly catered to an increasingly vibrant and growing section of Internet users. This space will allow them to further innovate the world of online journaling, give individuals greater voices, and create harmony between major online interests and top-level designation. Of course, individuals are not the only group impacted by and using blogs. Companies have been realizing the potential of blogs as a new form of customer outreach, and those commercial interests will be equally welcome within the .blog TLD.

The .blog TLD will be an open TLD, with wholesale pricing higher than currently available gTLDs. The TLD will be targeted at both individual bloggers and company blogs, however it is our plan to leave room for innovation with the TLD through relevant non-blog websites. We believe that this pricing strategy will help encourage the productive development of the domain space, and encourage those individuals that wish to create malicious content, parked pages, or other irrelevant websites to use cheaper TLD offerings to host their content.

It is Top Level Design, LLC’s goal to make the .blog TLD a viable and profitable business. We believe this to be the most likely scenario, and the projections and financial analysis included in this application demonstrate such. We hope to grow at a rate that allows us to continually improve our registry offerings and increase benefits for both our customers and employees. However, our commitments and projections at this time are focused on conservatively estimating our revenue in order to best prepare for a TLD market with the possibility of many more TLDs.

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