• Section: Increase Traffic - Category: Domain Name
• Written by Tom

If you are looking for a domain name for a website, or if youwant to invest in domain names, it can be difficult to figureout what to register. There are so many domain name extensions.What is a domain name extension? A domain extension, or tld (toplevel domain), is the final part of a domain name, the part thatcomes after the dot on the right. Examples of common domain nameextensions are .com, .net, .org, .info, and .biz. These are alsocalled gtlds (generic top level domains). So, for example, withthe domain name somename.com, somename is the name and .com isthe domain extension (tld).

There are also country code top level domain extensions(cctlds). Some examples of these are .us (USA), .cn (China), .in(India), .de (Germany), and .co.uk (UK). .TV (Tuvala) is also acountry code extension but it is often sold as a general tld.

The most common and well known tld is .com. .Com was the firstextension to be used extensively by businesses online. It isconsidered by many to b

e the king of all tlds because of howrecognizable it is, the clout it's use offers and because it isthe extension most likely to be typed-in (people will actuallytype the .com domain name in their browsers to go directly tothe site even if they are not familiar with an actual site thatmay be there - this is free traffic in a sense). This can occurbecause people may assume all sites end in .com or that .comsomehow is part of any name or it can occur due to "bleed" fromother tlds - people see a name with some extension and when theygo to look for it or type it in, they put .com instead. Formany, .com truly is the internet.

..Net has generally seen less use than .com, but many stillconsider it to be the second most valuable extension. Many ispsdo use it. .Org is used by many non profits, variousorganizations and government related sites. Considered by someto be the second or third most valuable tld, in terms ofrecognition and resale price level. .Com, .net and .org are theoriginal general use internet tlds. They are sometimescollectively referred to as CNO. They have been with us sincethe mid/late 80's.

New tlds were released starting in late 2001 with .info. Thiswas soon followed by .biz. .Info, like the previously discussedtlds, is a general use tld that can be registered by anyonewithout restrictions. It is considered by many to hold greatpromise (in terms of it gaining recognition with internetusers), because of the concept that it represents, information,which is a big part of the reason the internet exists, as amedium to transmit and retrieve information. It has seen someearly success in terms of use and resales. A domain name resaleis a domain sale by a registrant usually for much more than theregistration fee.

..Biz was created with the goal of having an extension explicitlyfor business. It has the restriction that it only be used forbona fide business purposes. Some people are less enthusiasticabout .biz, feeling it is slangy, while others feel it will dowell in time because of its specific desigation as the businesstld. It is seeing growing use and even some good resales.

CCTLDS were recently made available at the second level withthree major countries - the USA, China and India (.us, .cn and..in). These were all previously heavily restricted or onlyavailable at the third level. Of these, .US does require uscitizenship or a presence in the us for registrants. Many feelthese extensions will do very well in time because of theirindentification with the country they represent. One cctld, .de,has been extremely successful, with registrations rivaling .comand seeing some very high priced resales. Some feel these othercctlds could also do well in time.

Which domain extension should you choose and register? Mostwould recommend .com, and if it is avaliable in the name youwant, .com should be the tld you get. If the name that you wantis not available in .com, then you may want to consider theother extensions such as .info, .biz or one of the cctlds. Somefeel that othe

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