The domain name .club will soon be available for clubs of all kinds to use in their web addresses in place of popular domain names such as .com, .net or .org. Interested clubs can visit dotclub.com to pre-register, or work with a registrar such as GoDaddy. According to pre-registration numbers, .club has consistently ranked among the most popular extensions available.

.Club Domains is the operator of new generic top-level domain .club, web host industry news website TheWhir.com reported.

Domain names include the suffix of a URL, with common examples including .com, .org, and .net. With the new .club domain, private clubs, yacht clubs, golf clubs, city clubs and more could potentially update their URLs to the .club domain.

As one of multiple applicants for .club, .Club Domains had to beat out other companies including Donuts and Merchant Law Group in a private auction in order to secure the new domain, TheWhir.com reported.

According to .Club Domains, it has spent more than $5 million on a private auction, legal fees and market awareness campaigns since its formation in 2012. Marketing is one of the biggest challenges brought on by new generic top-level domains, TheWhir.com reported.

.Club Domains is backed by $8.2 million from 26 private investors including Canadian entrepreneurs William Campbell and Dirk Bhagat, TheWhir.com reported.

“This has been a long, stressful, and emotional process for myself and the team at .Club,” Colin Campbell, CEO and founder of .Club said. “We are so excited to have signed the agreement after more than two years of hard work. From the beginning we had only one focus—to help people who have similar passions and interests come together, and to create a new social top-level domain that makes it easy for companies, individuals and communities of all kinds to brand themselves with a great domain name.”

.Club Domains is planning to sign resale agreements with GoDaddy, Network Solutions and Webnames.ca, among others. According to pre-registration numbers, .club has consistently ranked among the most popular extensions available, TheWhir.com reported.

“.Club is global brand, which has so many different meanings for so many people,” Campbell said. “Whether you are an academic club, sports club, social club, business club or fan club, you will be able to find a great domain name that represents your group.”

Interested clubs can visit dotclub.com to pre-register, or work with a registrar such as GoDaddy.