Try to keep up with the domain name extension game and you’ll go nuts!
A domain name extension is the suffix .com, .net, and .org. It is a guide post that drives traffic, that is, Internet traffic. It’s like the Court, Street, Lane, or Highway suffix used for your home or business address.
The list of what is known as TLD (Top Level Domains) is getting longer. Remember when all you had to worry about was a short list of extensions? If a web address or URL had anything other than .com, .net, or .org, most people would just miss it, but not anymore.
Here is the list of current generic top-level domains:
.aero various categories of the air transport industry
.asia various organizations in Asia, Australia and the Pacific
The person or business entity .biz can register here
.cat related to the Catalan language or culture
.com any person or entity can register here
Cooperatives .coop as defined in the Rochdale Principles
.edu used almost exclusively by US colleges and universities.
.gov government agencies in the United States
.info any person or entity can register
Treaty-only .int international organizations can use this extension
.jobs can be added after the names of established companies with jobs to advertise online
.mil limited for use by the US Armed Forces.
.mobi used for mobile-friendly sites
.museum used by a verified legitimate museum
.name used by natural or legal persons
Anyone can use the .net network suffix
Organization suffix .org anyone can sign up
.pro reserved for licensed professionals such as lawyers or doctors
.tel Internet communication services
.travel used by travel-related entities
The consumer should pay attention to how suffix extensions are used. Scammers have been known to register .edu name extensions for their illegitimate purposes.
There is more!
www.new.net is a domain name registry offering the following extensions: .agent, .art, .auction, .chat, .church, .club, .family, .free, .game, .golf, .inc , . law, .llc, .llp, .love, .ltd, .med, .mp3, .school, .scifi, .shop, .tech, .video and .xxx.
Now you can get extensions in six languages! You will need to download a domain name decoder so that your browser can recognize new.net names. It makes me wonder how popular these “unusual” name extensions will be.
GoDaddy now recognizes 73 name extensions.
You might be thinking about picking one of these unusual domain name extensions until you try to find a way to make your potential customer base remember it. If your customers can’t remember which extension to use, you’ll never see their traffic to your website.
Stick with the easy-to-remember extensions and you’ll be fine.