Domain names end with an extension, called a top-level domain, or TLD. The most familiar is .com, but there are many choices to choose from. For most of us, we need to chose a suitable TLD, and check if the name we want is available (you can check by using our domain search page). What are some of the common TLDs, and which ones are best suited for your business?
For most businesses in Australia, .com or .com.au are normally the best choice. .net and .net.au can be useful secondary choices when your desired names are not available in the .com or .com.au TLDs. .au domain names will help convey to your customers you are an Australian business. It is common for a business to register both .com and .com.au domain names to protect their brand, and appeal to both local and global customers. The Australian .au domain names are more regulated and requires some identification of your Australian business (e.g. ABN or ACN).
If you have a non-profit organisation, then .org and .org.au domains are worth looking at. .org.au is restricted to non-profit organisations in Australia, so you can normally be confident a .org.au website is a non-profit organisation. .org doesn’t have any such restrictions.
Newer generic top-level domain names are being added, but they don’t suit everyone and many are not too popular. Some of them however may be valuable for your business, and can be a good alternative if you can’t get your desired name in the more common TLDs. For example, if you have a business that operates only in Sydney, a .sydney domain name may be a good option. The .club name is one of the top 10 newer generic TLDs, with over 1 million domains registered with it (sourced from nTLDStats).
The best domain name for your business is depends on what your business is, who you want to market to, and most of all, if the name is available to register.
Until the end of December 2017, you can use use DOM10 to get 10% from domain name registrations and transfers with Rubidyn. If there is a domain name TLD you want that we don’t currently offer, let us know and in most cases we can make it available for you.
Types of TLDs
Generic top-level domains (gTLD)
When the internet was first created there were seven generic top-level domains. .com, .org, .net, .int, .edu, .gov, and .mil. Of these, .com, .net and .org are readily open for use by anyone. .com (commercial) was originally for only for profit businesses, but it became the main TLD for domain names for any reason.
Newer top-level domains have since been added, with many to choose from, including .club, .company, .sydney, and .online. Some are more popular than others, for example there are over a million .club domain names, but only a couple of thousand .accountants domain names.
Country code top-level domains (ccTLD)
Country codes are a two letter code representing a country. For Australia it is .au. Many countries have a set of additional sub-domains that have to be used. The schemes can change from one country to another. Australia uses .com.au for commercial purposes, in New Zealand the equivalent is .co.nz. Some country codes are promoted for use as a global domain. Tuvalu’s country code is .tv, and is often used for television websites.
Sponsored top-level domains (sTLD)
Sponsored domain names are not generally available. They are created for businesses, typically large businesses using their names or brands. The business is responsible for creating and managing their own top-level domain systems. These include names such as .google, .xbox, and .jeep.