August 28, 2014 | Online

New .HIV domain launched

There's a new top-level domain in town, and it's .HIV.

The domain was created to help raise awareness and funds for projects around the world that want to end the transmission of HIV and AIDS.

"Imagine simply using .HIV as you use .COM. Each time you visit website.HIV, buy a ticket on movies.HIV, or shop at store.HIV, a small donation would reach HIV and AIDS projects," said Carolin Silbernagl, co-founder of .HIV and CEO of the dotHIV Registry.

What makes this domain unique is that every time a user clicks on a .HIV website, dotHIV will donate 0.1¢ to help support the fight against HIV. These micro-donations do not come at any expense to the user or the website owner.

The creators hope that big name brands will set up a .HIV page with their brand name, and then redirect visitors to their standard .com page.

"No need to run an extra website, the content remains the same, only now it has a social benefit," dotHIV explained. "This "Digital Red Ribbon" not only helps generate web traffic but shows social responsibility as well as commitment to digital innovation. And it involves the website visitors: Every click on a .HIV domain is doing good."

The money from the registration of the .HIV address is used to cover the per click donation, and such registrations will cost around $200 per year. Non-profits, however, can obtain a .HIV address for free. 

In our opinion people this is more a feel-good marketing tool than anything. A real donation of  just $5 would equal 5,000 visits to these .HIV websites. 

Some big names have already signed on to the project, including Microsoft, Twitter and Amazon.

You can find out more .