Domain Extension Meanings
Posted on February 9th, 2010 by Admin
So you need a domain name, but what are these extensions all about? What do they all mean? Which domain extension is right for you? First of all, registering a domain name is a very simple and straight forward process, as is transferring existing domains. Some extensions require extra steps and are slightly more difficult to transfer but i’ll go into this shortly.
In this article I’m going to explain the basics of the most popular domain extensions.
Domain Extension Meanings
Below i have summarized the most commonly used domain extensions, i’m sure you will be familiar with one or two of them as we all use them on a daily basis when surfing the web.
.COM (Commercial) - This is a commercial domain extension generally used for commercial sites. This has become the most well known extension.
.NET (Network) – Generally used for network organizations e.g internet service providers etc.. But this has become a common extension used by commercial organizations if the .COM domain is not available.
.ORG (Organization) – Originally intended for non-profit or trade organizations.
.BIZ (Business) – This is generally registered to classify your website as a business.
.US (United States) – This generally refers to US based companies.
.INFO (Informational) - This gTLD is generally used as an extension for informational websites. I believe that other than .COM, .NET & .ORG, it’s the most popular domain extension used. If you are developing an informational website it’s definitely a domain extension that I’d register.
.MOBI (Mobile) – This domain extension, as of this writing, is fairly new. Although majority of the domain name owners registered their domain name with the .MOBI domain name to protect their brand, it is primarily reserved for website built for displaying on mobile devices.
.TV (Television) – In my opinion it’s used primarily for media, primarily video, related websites.
.WS (Website) – This is actually a ccTLD for Western Samoa but was converted to a domain extension commonly used as an acronym for ‘website’. Although it seems that it would be a great extension I don’t feel that it really ever took off and you can find very good domains available with the .WS extension.
.ME (ME) – This is the newest domain, as of this writing. It was originally the ccTLD of Montenegro but would generally be used for personal related websites such as family websites or blogs another option would be to pose your resume or even artwork that you may have done. The other use would be to create a very memorable personal email address.
.NAME (NAME) – This is a gTLD that’s intended for personal use. You’ll find that this extension is used for personal / family websites or simply used for name related email addresses.
.CA (Canada) – This is a ccTLD that is generally reserved for Canadian based businesses.
.CO.UK (United Kingdom) – This country code domain is generally reserved for commercial related websites based in the United Kingdom. Although it’s not restricted to just UK based business, I see very little value in registering the domain extension unless you plan on doing some sort of business in the UK.
.CN (China) – This is the ccTLD for China. This domain is not restricted to companies based in China and can basically be registered by anyone that would like a .CN extension.
A Final Word On Domain Extension Meanings
I have only covered a few of the most commonly used domain extensions but there are many more for you to chose from. If you would like to see if your domain name is available for registration go to our domain checker.
Tags: domain, extension, meanings
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