A while ago I was checking out domain names. You should do that from time to time. Really.
I’ve been Aafke-Art for over ten years I think, and I have had the Aafke-Art.com domain name just as long. Nice alliteration, I am Aafke and I make art. It’s sort of a hint you know?

But, the dash has never satisfied me, so I thought of a DOT instead. Many platforms allow only letters as user names… and writing dot, and pronouncing dot, seems a lot better.

So, I was trying out Aafke.Art domain names on a site and I find out that aside from all the .com, .org, .eu, etc, there is now a .art

Let me repeat that:
you can have a domain name which ends on .ART!!!!

It’s really very new, it has only been possible since a few years to have a .art domain.
But why should you bother?
Well… it immediately makes clear you are in the art realm, it is easy to memorize for people you meet and have given your elevator pitch to. And because it’s so new there is a good chance that you can get the name of your choice!
When I google ”.art domain name” I see a lot from a company ”art.art”, (so that one’s gone!) and I got sort of an impression that they seem to make out that they have sort of the rights to .art. But that isn’t true! .Art is the same as .com, if ”your-name”.art is available, it’s yours for the taking!
And I think you should!

It’s the same as with making sure you have staked out your own name/brand/pseudonym on all popular platforms, (you have done so, right?) such as TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. I am not Aafke.Art on Instagram, somebody was ahead of me! And on YouTube I am Aafke dot Art because YT doesn’t allow dots. And this blog is also ”Aafke dot Art”.
Anyway, you should make sure you are not going to be sorry later on by having missed out on owning ”your-name.art”

The moment I saw I could own Aafke.Art I created a WordPress site with that domain name, it’s less than twenty a year. I think it’s totally worth it, even if you, like me, do not immediately start with a (new) site. You don’t want to decide later on you want ithe domain name and then it turns out some jerk has poached your name and offers to sell your own name to you for 5000 dollars or something insane.

It has happened to friends of mine.

Go check if you can have your own .art domain and secure it!
And let me know how much you like it here, on Aafke.Art! Yay!