All about domain extensions, how to choose them, what to consider and some funny curiosities

(Image: TQN)

Today there are several reasons to consider in creating a website.

Since the start a new business, to personal motivations, regarding politics, religion, ecology, blogging, “just for fun” and so on. When you decide to create your own website, find and buy a domain name is as important as choosing a good web hosting. However, it could be a hard job sometimes.

The Internet is much bigger than you can imagine. According to internet live stats  there are already a little bit more than 1 billion websites worldwide. Only in the second quarter of 2015, the Internet earned 296 million domain names.  Just as the increasing demand for telephone services led to the expansion of area codes, increasing expansion of the internet has led to rising of the domain namespace.

Take a look in what to consider and some funny curiosities about domain extensions:

Should I choose a .com domain?

Over 50% of websites today still are .com and it means that it keeps being the internet standard domain extension.

However, the answer is: It depends. What is your priority? If you need a good domain name, it is very likely that your “dreamname.com” is not available or is for sale for a lot of money. In this, case you might consider search for alternatives domain extensions.

Otherwise, if you are flexible with domain names, you should consider preferring a  top-quality domain extension as .com, and some other great options (see below).

Do you have TIPS to find an available .com?

Well, if the exact name of your brand is not available, you can try keywords or hyphen for example. However, be aware of not to choose some looking spammy.

My best guess is you should prefer keywords instead of a hyphen. For example: If your company’s name is “friedtacos” and you find someone on street and say your website “the-friedtacos.com” it is very likely that if the person postpones accessing later, he/she will forget the hyphen. “thefriedtacos” is easier to remember – even when you don’t remember.

Which are the best non-.com extension options?

The right question is: which extensions shouldn’t I choose? If you are looking for a domain name for your hobby or something not too much important, enjoy! You gonna find dozens of cheap and funny domain extensions and with almost “all” names available.

However, if you need a huge organic traffic, reputation or a e-commerce for example, avoid junk domain extension as .ninja, or .kiwi and try alternatives sub-standard names as .net, .org (if it is for an NGO), or .(your country extension), like .eu, .com.br, .fr.

Other fine options to consider:

.biz

It is for business domains. Although still, it needs to increase its prestige, there are more and more businesses choosing this option.

.info

It has a good reputation and you will find much more options available than .com.

.name

If it is for a personal website, no one will surprise with “yourname.name”.

.expert

If you are a professional, definitely it is not a bad idea.

Some curiosities:

1. According to Noip, Symbolics.com was the first domain that was ever registered. Symbolics.com was originally registered on March 15, 1985, making it the first .com domain in the world;

2. The domain name registration was free until 1995;

3. The Nigerian domain extension (.ng) is the most expensive to register in world. It costs $40,000 a year!

4. Also according to Noip, Google.com was supposed to be Googol.com. As Larry Page, the co-founder of Google.com narrates:
“Lucas Pereira: ‘You idiots, you spelled [Googol] wrong!’ But this was good, because google.com was available and googol.com was not. Now most people spell ‘Googol’ ‘Google’, so it worked out OK in the end.” I’d sure say so.

5. VacationRentals.com is the most expensive domain that has ever been sold. It was bought for an astonishing $35 million in 2007. “The only reason we bought it was so Expedia couldn’t have that URL,” said HomeAway Founder and CEO Brian Sharples.

6. According to Hover, There are over 50,000 character combinations you could make for three-character domains and they are all registered. Three-character domain names are hot.com because they’re quick and easy to remember. By 1997, all of the three-character .com domains were spoken for, which has since included .net, .org, .info, .biz and many other TLDs as well.

Weird world of domains extensions:

Most of internet users know domain extension as .porn, .adult, .news or .tv.

But have you heard in .beer, or .coffee? Today it is “fashionable” domain names with name of food or drink. I think that sounds weird: .fish, or .pizza.

Even more bizarre are the domains extensions with the names like .blackfriday, .guru or .kiwi. Unless you sell Kiwis or live in a city with that name, please tell me what is the point of .Kiwi? Kkk..

Take a look in other unusual and funny domains extensions:

.lol (was supposed to be created to “a fun web address alternative”),

.vodka (vodka-related businesses and interest),

.cat (this is for Websites in the Catalan language or related to Catalan culture, but no problem if you create a pet shop online),

.wtf (single out the absurd with the WTF domain extension),

.moe (Japanese otaku culture. The word “moe” (Japanese: 萌え?, pronounced as “moh-ay”) is a slang word rooted deep in the Japanese Otaku culture. It has often been used to mean a particular type of “adorable” or “cute” towards fictional characters, people, animals, etc).