Frameworks and Tools

How to reserve a .BOT domain using Pandorabots

.BOT is a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) from Amazon Registry Services that brands and developers can use to provide an identity and hub for their chatbots. In this step-by-step guide you’ll learn how to create your first bot using a Pandorabots account, deploy your bot, and reserve a .BOT domain for your site.

.BOT is a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) from Amazon Registry Services that brands and developers can use to provide an identity and hub for their chatbots! To keep .BOT exclusively for bots, registrants must validate their bot using Pandorabots or one of the other five supported bot development tools that Amazon Registry selected as launch partners.

As chatbots proliferate and mobile app downloads continue to decline, .BOT is poised to become for the web what Google and Apple’s app stores were for apps — for bots! According to the AWS News Blog:

The phrase “bot” was the 4th most registered domain keyword within the .COM TLD in 2016 with more than 6000 domains per month. A .BOT domain allows customers to provide a definitive internet identity for their bots as well as enhancing SEO performance.

In the future we believe that every business will have a bot providing automated, personalized, one-on-one conversations via messaging or voice with customers at scale (that escalates to a human agent where appropriate). The .BOT domain therefore provides an opportunity for businesses and developers to signal that this is a unique destination on the web where conversing with their brand or application will be accessible.

So don’t wait — register today!

Step 1

Create a Pandorabots account. During onboarding, you will be prompted to create your first bot, which you can validate and use to register a .BOT domain.

Step 2

Select your bot’s name on the left nav bar within the dashboard, and then click “Deploy.” Find the .BOT channel on the list of Channels and click “Add.”

Step 3

Upgrade to Premium by providing a valid credit card, which allows you API access and to publish your bots on a variety of channels for FREE for up to 1,000 messages per month. If you have a promo code from INTA or another event, you may bypass the credit card requirement.

Then, Deploy your bot (from Sandbox to Production) to unlock the available channels and access your API Keys. Once enabled, select the “Amazon .BOT Domain” channel.

Step 4

Follow the steps as prompted in the modal.

Congratulations! You have now taken the first step to reserving your .BOT identity for your project or brand. This is an absolute must for savvy Trademark owners who understand that conversation is the universal user interface of the future, and that .BOT will be the way to signal that websites are messaging (not just mobile!) first. From here, you can stand up a slick landing page using the Pandorabots Landing Page Template (or build your own!) and embed your bot via our Chat Widget. Check out our Virtual Guide Generator on Github for a fast and easy way to get started on a bot that can answer basic questions about your business.

Watch how to create a bot, register your .BOT domain, and embed it on a landing page via our chat widget.