Seeing the rise in popularity of .io domains lately I decided to explore what these domains really are and how to register one.  Since .io is used by web applications I assumed it was some new hip domain extention, but it turns out it is nothing more than the Indian Ocean extension that has been around a while.  So why would anyone want that for their domain extention if they are not located in the Indian Ocean?  Well, besides just sounding cool it turns out there are some very good reasons to use the .io extention.

Lets say for a moment that you come up with the perfect name for your company, but the .com is already taken.  At the moment the .io landscape is much wider open, so you might be able to snag the name you want afterall.  Another reason to use is that apparently people think things ending in "io" have a good ring to them.  In fact, with some digging you would discover that *io.com domains actually auction quite well which back that up a bit.  Lastly, what better for a web app than an extension that resembles binary code!

So armed with that bit of knowledge and a rough js game involving an x-wing I was toying with, I thought I would join the trend and register my own .io domain.  And here we are at XWING.io!  Want to register your own?  Here's what I did:

Steps to setup a .io domain

1. Go to gandi.net and search to see if what you want is available.  After a little research it seems they have the best price on .io domains which tend to run $40+ which can give anyone sticker shock after what most of us are used to paying.  If you're ready to pull the trigger still go ahead and register an account with them and place your order.

2. Update the nameservers in your gandi.net account to point to your server and wait for the dns to propagate.  (hint: There is a great tool for testing dns propegation at geopeeker.com) 

3. Throw something up on your fancy new .io domain and feel cool!

Enjoy!