Is the .com all there is?

We are all familiar with the most popular website extension, namely .com. Have you noticed that things have changed and now we have so many different domain name extensions available? What’s going on? Which is the best domain extension? Should you still continue to use .com/.com.au domains, or should you look at the other options available? Let’s try to explain and answer those questions.

Things have changed

History

The .com is probably the most well-known domain name extension. For some, local country domains such as .com.au have also become recognised as the most accepted domain name extension. Some domain name extensions, like .com.au for example, are regulated. So, for these you have to meet certain requirements, such as in the case of a .com.au you need to be a registered business in Australia. There are no such rules for .com domain extensions which make the .com space essentially a free for all.

.com domain names are hard to find these days with millions of them being registered and in use. A number of years ago planning was put in place to facilitate the rollout of other top level domain names (TLD’s). Many of these new TLD’s are now available. They are usually reasonably priced as well, except for a few premium regulated ones. For a full list of all available domain name extensions, see this Wikipedia List

Why?

There certainly is a vanity factor to these new TLD’s, however, many of these are far more suited to your business than a .com and could make your website more memorable. For example, our domain name xyzulu.hosting explains exactly what we do and might even be more memorable than a .com

How?

It’s simple to enable your website to work with a new address

It’s simple to enable your website to work with a new address (and redirect all search engine links to the new address), just ask us to make it happen if you already own a new TLD name and are a current customer. If you are interested in purchasing a new TLD name, head over to our Customer Portal and start searching. Contact us if you have any further questions, or post them in the comments below.