Emoji is the language of now. And as is the case with languages, it’s bursting forward, making its mark on almost everything. You can now even buy web addresses that consist of an emoji, followed with a traditional top-level domain (TLD).
One site that plans to make it easier to find your emoji domain name is ?.to (or xn--f28h.to if you’re on Chrome or Opera, as both browsers have issues displaying emoji in the address bar).
?.to displays all available single Emoji domains in a list, grouped by their category — activity, food and drink, objects, etc. If you find one you like, click on it. The site then takes you to a registrar, where for $45, it can be yours for a year.
But there’s a catch, as the site only lists domains with a Tongan .to TLD. The site’s founder, Marc Köhlbrugge, explained that when other TLDs start permitting emoji domains, he’ll add them too.
He pointed out that there are a few that already support them (like .ws), but on these, most single emoji are taken. “With .ws you see a lot of people register 2 emoji domains like??.ws,” he said.
For what it’s worth, there are some amazing startup domain names here. I can see a music company using ?.to, or a trendy dog grooming firm making ?.to their home online.
Unfortunately for those working in the PR industry, ?.to is already taken. Such a shame.
?.to also lists several premium emoji domain names available for purchase. These predictably command a steep price. ?.to, for example, will set you back $9,999. ?.to is a bit more affordable, however, at just (just!) $2,999.
You can check it out here. You might also want to check out GoDaddy’s emoji search engine, which lets you find domains consisting of multiple emojis and register them, as well as ?.to (emo.to).
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