The Best Domain Extension
When you’re creating website or blog, it is important to carefully consider what domain name you will use.
Another important consideration before purchasing a domain name is the domain extension. Changing your domain name (including just the domain extension) is likely to have an impact on your brand as well as your search engine rankings. This is why it is important to choose the right name and domain extension from the start.
Finding a domain name can be more difficult than you imagine. If you are looking for a more common name it is likely that that name is already taken in them more common extension types (like .com or .net).
Why a .com is the best extension type
A .com domain extension in one of the original extension types and is also the most commonly used. Most of the biggest and most renowned websites have the .com extension. When most people think of a website then think of the .com version. There are notable exceptions, such as government (.gov) and educational (.edu) websites and websites that are country specific. People in the UK are used to their local sites having .uk as are people in Australia (.au) and Europe (.eu). If you don’t think so, just try googling in outside of the USA, Google will usually default to the country domain extension automatically.
However, for international websites, the .com is by far the most popular. When typing a website address most people will typically type the .com version. If you have a website without .com people looking for your website may end up on the .com version by accident.
Another advantage of the .com is that many new smartphones have a .com button on their keyboard. With the rise in internet use on mobile devices, it provides an extra advantage to the .com websites.
If the .com version is already taken
It should be your priority to get the .com version of your domain name (for the USA and international websites). However, because everyone else also wants a .com, sometimes that may not be possible.
Should You Register All Other Available Extensions?
If you are building a brand (which is recommended for long term projects), and you have sufficient budget, you may want to register the other common domain extension types (.org, .info, .net) for your brand name. If your site becomes a success, some people may register them and try to use these domains to impersonate your brand and draw your visitors away from yours.