Automattic has announced that the company will be introducing the .blog gTLD domain extension to the general public later this year. The new .blog domain extension is just like .com, .net, and .org except it is owned by Automattic. It has been reported that Automattic paid somewhere between $19 million to $20 million dollars for the .blog domain extension.
The cost for a .blog domain has not been announced yet. Automattic will probably price the domains anywhere from $10 per year to $30 per year is our guess. Automattic says that “high-value names” may have a premium price instead of the regular price.
Users that are interested in the new .blog domain extension can sign up to be notified when it will be available. Trademark owners and those who want to pay a premium will be the first to get their .blog domain while the general public will be able to register by the end of the year.
Anyone will be able to register a .blog domain when it becomes available to the general public. Users do not have to have a WordPress.com account or even use WordPress to register a .blog domain.