Irish domain name registrar and hosting company Blacknight is taking applications for the new .blog top-level domain name. The firm has also led by example and moved its corporate blog to Blacknight.blog.

Blacknight joins an exclusive club of .blog pioneers, including Dave Winer, the software developer who was among the earliest founders of the blogging movement, and one of its most enthusiastic evangelists. In recognition, he's been given the domain dave.blog.

Blacknight CEO and co-founder Michele Neylon (pictured) is an enthusiastic blogger and began his first blog in 2003. “Back then, it wasn’t sexy and it wasn’t mainstream,” Neylon said.

Mainstream

“Now, it has become mainstream to the point where we probably don’t really view them as ‘blogs’ these days as much as being part of the ‘media’.”

Neylon anticipates that demand for .blog domains will be high, given that traditionally popular domains like .com have reached saturation for popular keywords.

In Association with

“For those who feel that all the good names are taken, .blog opens up an exciting new territory, with a suffix that is instantly recognisable,” Neylon added.

Blacknight is currently taking applications in the ‘sunrise’ phase for .blog. This first phase allows trademark holders to secure domains that contain their protected names.

After that, the ‘landrush’ phase will open, allowing applicants to bid for the most popular names. Good generic keywords like food.blog, fashion.blog or sports.blog will be at a premium, and high prices are likely.

After the landrush period, the new domain will be open to general availability from November 21.

In addition to the current sunrise phase, Blacknight customers may also pre-submit applications for the later landrush and general availability phases. More information on .blog domain names is available here.