By Ron Jackson 

Within the next year or two hundreds of new domain extensions are expected to go live as part of ICANN's new gTLD program (for newcomers to the domain space, TLD stands for Top Level Domain -  the word or letters to the right of the dot in a domain address -  for example .com or .net. gTLDs are Global TLDs that are open to registrants worldwide. Another TLD category, ccTLDs, are country code domains that are administered as individual nations see fit (some are open for global use while others are reserved for the individual country's citizens). Examples of ccTLDs are Great Britain's .uk, Germany's .de and America's .us).

While a few new gTLDs have been launched over the past decade, such as .info and .biz, the Internet has never seen a mass release of hundreds of new extensions at once. That is going to create a significant challenge for operators of new gTLD

registries - how are they going to break through the clutter and achieve the public awareness they will need to sell enough domain registrations to become a going concern (and recoup the hundreds of thousands of dollars it will cost to launch each new gTLD). 

It will take a lot of marketing money and a lot of legwork to get over that hurdle. It is a task that will take most new TLDs years to accomplish (if it is accomplished at all). That is something that one prescient applicant who hopes to administer the .green registry - Founder & CEO Annalisa Roger and her team at the DotGreen Community Inc. has always understood - probably more so than anyone else in the new gTLD race. That's why they have already been spreading the .green gospel and building public awareness for the extension for over five years now. Talk about getting a head start!

Even so, with three other applicants also chasing .green, the race is still far from over, but what DotGreen Community has done to date serves as a textbook example of how to build public recognition and support for a new gTLD to give it the best possible chance for success. Many of you have already met Ms. Roger at one function or another over the years and if you haven't met her yet, odds are you soon will. She has circled the globe several times over to get her message across. We spoke with her at length to find out what prompted her to begin this journey in 2007 and what she has done to get out the word on .green. We also wanted to know how she plans to tackle the challenges that lie ahead in her efforts to win the .green extension and bring her long term vision to life.