Most of us, when thinking of the web in general and websites in particular, .com is what first comes to mind. This .com at the end of a website address is what is known as a domain extension – these have a particular function in the structure of the internet as a global construct and for that reason, there is more than one extension. In fact, there are quite a few possible extensions, but there are a few which are the most common among them.
While of course .com is the best known of these extensions, there are a few other common domain extensions – .net and .org are the most common other than .com. All three of these common domain extensions are known as top level domain extensions. These are the most commonly chosen extensions for websites.
.com is meant for use by commercially oriented websites, while .net was originally intended for non-commercial (generally speaking, personal) websites. .org was originally meant for use by non-profit organizations. However, there are no hard and fast rules governing the use of these common domain extensions. There are for-profit websites which use the .net and .org extensions, and non-profit organizations which use the .com extension.
The reason for this is that when registering a website, you may often find that the domain name you would like has already been registered by someone else in the domain extension of your choice. Since there are no actual regulations governing the use of these common domain extensions, you can use any of them that are available for your website. If you want to register your new website and find that the .com extension for the domain name is already taken, you may then try to register the domain name with the .net or .org extensions instead.
So which of these common domain extensions is right for your website? That all depends. While most people prefer the popular .com extension, at least if it is available, it is perfectly fine to use the .net and .org extensions as well. Just make sure that when telling people about your website that you remember to include the extension. Even though the other common domain extensions are growing more widely used as the number of sites on the web grows, it is still a habit for many to simply assume the extension will be .com.
There are plenty of other possible domain extensions; these are largely meant for specialized purposes and are best saved for another day. You can look into these less common domain extensions if you have a specific purpose for doing so. However, the vast majority of websites continue to use the big three domain extensions as they always have.
While of course .com is the best known of these extensions, there are a few other common domain extensions – .net and .org are the most common other than .com. All three of these common domain extensions are known as top level domain extensions. These are the most commonly chosen extensions for websites.
.com is meant for use by commercially oriented websites, while .net was originally intended for non-commercial (generally speaking, personal) websites. .org was originally meant for use by non-profit organizations. However, there are no hard and fast rules governing the use of these common domain extensions. There are for-profit websites which use the .net and .org extensions, and non-profit organizations which use the .com extension.
The reason for this is that when registering a website, you may often find that the domain name you would like has already been registered by someone else in the domain extension of your choice. Since there are no actual regulations governing the use of these common domain extensions, you can use any of them that are available for your website. If you want to register your new website and find that the .com extension for the domain name is already taken, you may then try to register the domain name with the .net or .org extensions instead.
So which of these common domain extensions is right for your website? That all depends. While most people prefer the popular .com extension, at least if it is available, it is perfectly fine to use the .net and .org extensions as well. Just make sure that when telling people about your website that you remember to include the extension. Even though the other common domain extensions are growing more widely used as the number of sites on the web grows, it is still a habit for many to simply assume the extension will be .com.
There are plenty of other possible domain extensions; these are largely meant for specialized purposes and are best saved for another day. You can look into these less common domain extensions if you have a specific purpose for doing so. However, the vast majority of websites continue to use the big three domain extensions as they always have.