How To Choose The Perfect Domain Extension - Top 5 BEST Tips!

When it comes to choosing a domain extension, you're likely going to be confused as to which extension is best for both you and your business.

You've got a lot of questions, don't know where to start and are struggling to figure out just how to go about buying a domain extension for your website.

In this domain monitor blog article, I'm going to tell you how to choose a domain extension for FREE and give you everything you need to know, I'll give you some of the BEST tips that you need to consider when searching.

What Is A Domain Extension and Where Do I Buy One?

Firstly, you're wondering what exactly an extension is right?

Well, the domain extension is the part of your website's URL that goes at the very end, typically it'll look something like:

• your-domain-name**.com**

The .com part is the extension.

There are many different types of extensions that you can have, I'll update this blog post very soon with somewhere that you can find some domain extensions.

Should I buy all of the domain name extensions?

You can if you want.

But it's not essential, having more than one domain extension will require you to to purchase multiples, it'll cost more but could be worth it depending on what your website is, the business you operate or whether it's a website just for fun.

You should purchase more than one domain extension if your website is an e-commerce website (you sell products or services online).

Why?

Because unless you're selling products and/or services to just the country you're living in, it will be beneficial for your website to be accessible from other parts of the world through various domain names.

Customers will still be able to access your website through your domain extension regardless of the country they're in...

But it will give a more professional feel to your website if you've chosen and bought the perfect domain extension.

Does it matter where I buy a domain?

When it comes to buying a domain, you'll have many options available to you, we call these domain registrars, you might've heard of a few such as:

• Bluehost
• GoDaddy
• Namecheap

These are domain registrars online, and you can find out how to go about buying a domain for a website in our related blog post!

But put simply, it doesn't matter too much where you're buying a domain and domain extension from, so long as they've got a good number of reviews and positive feedback associated with them.

If you're unsure, I recommend you search around our blog to gain a better understanding of domain extensions and how to find a trusted domain registrar.

The Top 5 BEST Tips You Need To Consider When Choosing A Domain Extension?

Okay, so you're looking for the best tips for choosing the perfect domain extension right?

I've spent a lot of time searching for domains online, on many registrars and trying to find the best domain extensions, so for this you can be reassured you're getting some valuable tips!

1. Your Location Matters!

Does your website operate solely in a particular country?

Like ours, our domain monitor is accessible regardless of where you are, and you can add domains and browse our content freely. We're not limited to one particular country.

On the other hand, you might be a local business in the UK, or somewhere else and so it makes perfect sense that you choose a domain extension local to your country.

What do I mean by this?

Traditional domain extensions such as .com or .io aren't really bound to a specific country, whereas a .ca domain extension is used for websites within Canada right?

Country specific domain name extensions:

• .ca - is used for websites within Canada
• .uk - are for those websites that are in the UK (United Kingdom)
• .au - can be found for websites in Australia

There's not really any point that you start an ecommerce website that sells handmade pottery in a small village in the UK if you've bought a .ca domain extension.

It simply doesn't work.

Your location matters when it comes to finding the perfect domain extension.

2. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation as it's called is a large topic, we're likely not going to be able to cover all of that in this blog post, but let's take you through why SEO is incredibly important to both you and your business when you're trying to choose the perfect domain extension.

But firstly...

What is SEO?

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimisation, and it's the process of tweaking and optimising your website so that you can be shown to more people browsing for content online.

Think about it...

When you're trying to learn a new skill, or figure out how to repair something or even how to start an online business you're likely to type something into the search engine.

Normally, people tend to lean towards Google for this. You type in a phrase or keyword, and Google will present to you hundreds of thousands if not millions of articles.

You'll then go and click through to one and read about it, you'll probably be in the right place.

Why?

Because as a search engine, it's Google's job to present to you the MOST RELEVANT pieces of content for the search phrases and keywords that you typed in right?

So when you're trying to figure out what the perfect domain extension is, you'll want to choose something that is RELEVANT to you and your location, your business and the type of content that your business or website sells or offers right?

3. Your Budget: Domain Extensions Cost Different Amounts

Domain extensions all cost different amounts, you'll pay less for a .com domain than you will for a .io domain like our domain.

Some domain extensions can easily be hundreds of pounds or dollars, typically you want to set yourself a budget when it comes to choosing the perfect domain extension.

You don't want to overspend, but equally if you want to stand out from other domain names online you'll need to choose something that others don't have and spend that little bit extra!

If you're just starting your online website you might want to set yourself a budget of around £10 - £20, but you could easily set a budget of £50, these higher budgets will more than likely be for more than a year.

4. Be Creative

Most people will go with an extension that isn't really that creative such as a typical .com extension or something similar.

But I suggest that you be creative with it, and in the below example that I'll give you, you will understand why...

Example:

So you're starting a new website, you're going to start a music streaming website where your users can browse for new releases and listen to music on-demand.

You could just go with an extension such as .co.uk if you're a limited company, although they're not strictly related to limited companies.

But you could also go with something more creative such as a .fm extension.

Why?

Because you need a domain name extension that is creative and one that stands out from other sites.

5. Keep your domain name extension short

It's easy to buy a domain name extension that's quite long, and whilst you might not think a domain extension such as .co.uk isn't very long, for most websites it is.

If our domain monitor's extension was longer it wouldn't have fitted in with the brand and our identity, this is one reason we wanted something short, catchy, to the point and easy to remember.

Not only this, shorter extensions will have more relevance, a .uk extension assumes you're in the UK where as a .io extension is modern, clean and up-to-date with today's technology and websites.

Common List Of Domain Extensions

Did you know that there are over 280 domain extensions to choose from? So it's no surprise that choosing the perfect one might take you some time.

So you need to know some of the common extensions, and their meanings. It'll be impossible for us not to bore you with listing all of the domain extensions, so here's just a few and when to use them:

• .net - these domains mean that they're a network and typically are used for a good variety of websites today.
• .org - if you're an organisation that is a not for profit organisation then this is the extension that you'll want to use.
• .me - you probably haven't seen many of these around, and that's because their meaning is for personal websites and blogs, and you've probably only been browsing on popular sites such as Amazon or similar.
• .edu - if you've worked or come across an education sector website, this extension will be used.
• .com - used for the more common commercial websites, and there are loads of these, to be precise there are over 137 million of these extensions.

Looking for a list of domain extensions? We'll cover that too and update this blog article with those for you!

How many domain extensions are there?

There's over 280 domain extensions that you can choose from according to an article back in 2009. It's suggested that there could be as many as 400 today though.

Conclusion

Choosing the perfect domain extension takes careful research, time and effort that’ll go a long way for both your website and website’s identity. By taking these steps today, you’ll also be well equipped to buying a domain for your website too!