The .Blog registry is not releasing ANY 1, 2 and 3 character domain names!

.Blog domain names are currently in the Landrush phase but it seems that thousands of domains have been reserved by the registry including ALL 1, 2 and 3 character domain names.

Per ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) rules any New gTLD registry can reserve an unlimited amount of domains for whatever reason.

A few New gTLD registries have or had reserved 1 and 2 character domains but none went so far as to reserve all 3 character domain names like .blog has. Some of the registries had the 1 and 2 character domains reserved during launch but later they either auctioned them or released them to the public. Some still have 1 and 2 characters reserved.

So when one tries to preregister during landrush (ending tomorrow) any 1, 2 and 3 character .blog domain name is getting a “is not available” message from his/her registrar. The same will happen during general availability on the 21st of November.

That is a huge number of domain names that have been reserved. These are 18,278 all letter domains, 1,110 all number domains and 28,600 mixed letter/number domains. The total of the reserved 1, 2 and 3 character domains is 47,988.

Per ICANN rules, New gTLD registries are only required to reserve only the 2 letter domains that correspond to a country 2-letter ISO code. Then they can ask for permission from these countries and release the domains. Some permissions have been given to all registries. These are not more than 200 2-letter domains.

.Blog could have released the other 47,800 domains. It is not clear what .blog intents to do with all the thousands of these domains. (OnlineDomain.com has contacted the .blog registry about this but the registry is attending the ICANN meeting and can’t reply today.)

Of course the registry has also reserved hundreds or probably thousands of keyword domain names like sex.blog, weather.blog, cars.blog, sports.blog, movies.blog and videos.blog that are currently not registered but not available to purchase.

Most 4-number domains are available during landrush but the pricing for some is simply forbidden:
0000.blog $125,000 per year
1111.blog $125,000 per year
2222.blog $125,000 per year
3333.blog $125,000 per year
4444.blog $125,000 per year
5555.blog $35 per year
6666.blog $125,000 per year
7777.blog $125,000 per year
8888.blog $125,000 per year
9999.blog $125,000 per year

The pricing above for the domain 5555.blog is probably an error. The registry was probably not ready for this launch and several problems are arising.

It seems that the registry has reserved all these domains because it is still testing the water when it comes to .blog domain name pricing. It sure is going to be difficult to recoup a $19 million investment.

Registered .blog domains by the registry

The .blog domain name registry has registered for itself and its partners about 90 .blog domains. 27 of the domains correspond to some of the most searched for keywords on the internet like fashion.blog, music.blog and news.blog.

.Blog landrush and premium domain name pricing

Right now early adopters can reserve domains from November 2^nd through November 9^th at a higher price, and if there are more than one people interested an auction. Click here to learn more about the .blog landrush. Following Landrush, General Availability for all will begin on November 21^st when the remaining domains are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis at standard or premium prices.

The good keywords that are available for purchase are priced with premium cost of $625 up to $125,000 USD per year for registration and renewal.

Here are some examples of the most searched for keywords in the internet that are available for purchase in .blog domains and their respective registration and renewal prices:

website.blog $125,000 per year
hotel.blog $125,000 per year
hotels.blog $125,000 per year
free.blog $125,000 per year
girls.blog $125,000 per year
mobile. blog $125,000 per year
support.blog $12,500 per year
2016.blog $12,500 per year
newyork.blog $6,250 per year
email.blog $6,250 per year
cancer.blog $6,250 per year
tube.blog $6,250 per year
bikini.blog $2,500 per year
astrology.blog $625 per year

The .blog registry is ‘Knock Knock, WHOIS There’ that is a subsidiary of Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com and Jetpack. It was created in 2015 to manage the launch and development of the .blog gTLD.

The registry says it will have more than 250,000 registered .blog domains before the end of the year. This number seems somehow impossible to achieve.