| By :
Dirik Hameed
When you set up a website for your business, one of your first decisions will be which top level domain (TLD) you should select for your domain registration. The TLD is the standardized portion of your website name that sits to the right of the last period. For example, ". Com" is the TLD on YourSuperWebsite.com. All of the domain registration that you purchase for your website must have a TLD. While a one is required, you can also use your selections to your business' advantage. The TLD is used to help surfers understand what type of site you're operating. So the better TLD you select, the better information you're communicating about your company. You can take advantage of the fact that you can buy more than one domain name for the same specific site name lets you leverage many choices as part of your marketing strategy. The most popular one used in domain names is COM. One of the first ones set up, COM (as in "commercial") was initially intended to be used by business. However, it is used by any kind of site. So it doesn't necessarily establish your site as a business. Even so, because it is the default TLD most users assume a site will have, it is usually a valuable selection. Since COM has lost its distinction as only for business use, a newer option has been established with the hopes of being exclusively used by businesses. The BIZ choice is not as well known as COM, so it's usually purchased by companies whose preferred website name is no longer available under COM. Savvier businesses will buy both TLDs if available. Depending on the nature of your company's business, you might have an industry specific choice available as well. If your company is part of the travel industry, there is now a TRAVEL option for you. Other industries that can take advantage of this approach are professions (PRO) and those in the aeronautics industry (AERO). You might also want to consider purchasing your website name with any relevant geographic indicators. For example, if your business is located in the United Kingdom, it could be advantageous to also get a website name that ends in . UK so it's clear to your visitors where you're located. Each country, and even many smaller territories, regions or cities, have one you can use. This option provides great additional information for your site's viewers. There are especially interesting marketing options are available to a few lucky industries due to some particular country code abbreviations. For example, television related businesses might want to buy a website name with the geographic code for the country Tuvalu, as its TV. Radio stations can also grab an FM ending if the buy a domain name from the Federated States of Micronesia. Any business will almost always buy the COM version of its website name, assuming its available. However, that shouldn't keep you from purchasing the same website name with other relevant endings. Doing so makes it more likely that your market will find you, no matter which TLD they try to use with your domain names. This approach also helps you keep your website name out of the hands of competitors who would buy it with TLDs you haven't claimed for it.
|
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlesbacklink.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
