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All about domains

Register Domain Names - Why Use Domain Names - Cheap Domain Names - .COM, .NET or .ORG? - How Do You Spell Domain? - Trademarks and Domains - Expired Domain Names - Shared vs. Dedicated IP

Domain Name Basics - Domain Names Explained - Domain Parking Explained - Domain Name FAQ - How to Sell a Domain - Domain Name Appraisals - Domain For Sale - Domain Name Brokers - Transferring Ownership - Are Hyphens Bad?

TLD's and Subdomains - Other Top Level Domains - Top Level Domains - Country Code TLDs - The History of Domains - Subdomains Explained

Registrars and WHOIS - ICANN Accreditation - Domain Name Resellers - Whois Lookup - Whois Privacy Concerns

Domain Hosting - Domain Hosting - What is Domain Hosting? - Why Use a Free Host? - Cons of Free Hosting - Building a Personal Website - Uses of Personal Websites - Web Host Pricing - Dedicated Web Hosting - Reliable, Redundant Hosts

Search Engine Optimization - Getting Listed in DMOZ - Benefits of Using CSS - Making Meta Tags Count - HTML Basics - Meta Tags - Figuring Keyword Density - Successful Link Exchanges

When choosing a domain name, the first thing you need to decide is what domain extension (or top level domain, TLD) you would like to use. The most common choices are .COM, .NET and .ORG, but as time goes on other options are becoming available.

TLD'd or extensions are important because they let the viewer know generally what type of site you have. For example .com stand for  commerce, .org symbolizes a non proft organization, .biz means business, etc.

.com
Although there are increasingly more options for extensions, .com still remains the best first choice for most domain names. When a customer looks up a company web site they will generally try the name of the company followed by a .com first. If your site doesn't come up you may be passing along traffic to your competitors. True many .com names have been used up already so you may have to try another extension, but with a little creativity you may find the perfect .com that is still free.

.net
The top level domain name denoting an abbreviation for network administration, at least that is what it is supposed to be. In Internet addressing protocol, .NET indicates a site belonging to a network, and it is not supposed to be used for commercial operations.  However, it has become more and more acceptable to use the .NET variation for a domain name that has already been taken on .COM.

If you are unable to secure a .com your next best alternatives are to stick with .biz, .net, and .info. These are what viewers will generally try next as a default. Other domain naming options for einclude using country code top level domains, such as: .us, .ws, or .tv.