A Web Entrepreneur's Guide to Common Domain Extensions

It's no secret that the most successful web entrepreneurs have a mastery of internet basics. One of the initial things an entrepreneur should learn is the meaning of the common domain extensions, why they are important, and some tips on choosing the right domain for them.

First, all web entrepreneurs should become web users first. Get comfortable with web browsing. As you navigate around the web and begin to search for information on websites, you notice that your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, of Google Chrome) first begins its search for a domain name with a .com extension. If it locates one, it connects to that site. If it does not, it will continue the search for a dot.net extension and finally a dot.org extension. These are known as the common domain extensions. Below is a quick guide to these extensions and their meanings:

A .com is usually a U.S. commercial business or company. The .com extension is by far the most popular more or less due to the fact that the web browsers search for this extension first.

A .net is supposed to refer to an Internet Service Provider or ISP. An ISP is a business that supplying Internet connectivity services to individuals, businesses, and other organizations. Many ISPs are large national or multinational corporations that offer access in many locations, while others are limited to a specific city or region.

Finally, a .org is supposed to refer to a non-profit institution. Notice we say "supposed to". We say that because .org sites were originally meant to be the domain of non-profit organizations, but have since opened up by ICANN to allow anyone can have that extension. The same applies to the .net extension as well. Will all the proliferation of websites on the Internet, they had to allow commercial businesses to use all of the common domain extensions as well.

By the way, ICANN refers to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. This organization is responsible for issuing the IP addresses and domain names used on the internet, i.e., .com, .net and .org, the most common domain extensions.

Why are domain names and the common domain extensions important? Domain names actually correlate to IP addresses, which are a complicated series of numbers that correspond to the position on the server. You can think of domain name the same way you would a person's name. If you had to remember a person's number instead of their name, that would be very difficult.

While an IP address is just a series of hard to remember numbers, a domain name is something that can be easily remembered. Both the name of the website and the domain extension make up the complete domain name of a site.

So, what are some tips every web entrepreneur should know about choosing a good domain extension and a domain name? Choosing the right domain name and common domain extension can be critical to the success of your website and gets your business flourishing. Your domain name should be vital to your web site. Choosing the right domain is never easy but if you need to you can use all of the common domain extensions when you register a domain name. (If your wallet will allow you to do that of course!) You should choose your domain extension as carefully as choosing your domain name. Choose from among the list of common domain extensions above, remember though that .com is the most popular.