The Holy Trinity of domain names - COM, NET and ORG

When I was on the Internet in the '80s, there were not many top-level domains available. You've had. GOV for the government of the United States. MIL for the U.S. military. NET for network-related groups. EDU for educational institutions. COM for commercial organizations, and. ORG for any other type of organization. And there were strict rules about who could use that top-level domain. These rules have been relaxed, however, and at this time virtually anyone can register a domain in three of the original TLDs: .. COM, NET and ORG .. I call these the "Holy Trinity" of TLDs.

The number of top-level domains has grown since then, of course. Each country or autonomous region now has its own two-letter TLDs, like. CA for Canada. CN for China. And there are other top level domains like. BIZ and. INFO that were created to provide alternatives to the standard TLD. In theory, this makes it easier to find a good domain name, because there are more top-level domains to choose from.

But if someone asks for advice on which TLD to use, I have always addressed to the Most Holy Trinity, unless there is good reason to consider one of the other top level domains.

... Admittedly, the COM, ORG, and NET domains were so long that they have the instant recognition - people know what they are. They also have no geographical associations, which is important if you are trying to reach a global audience.

This does not mean that the country-code (geographic), the domains are not useful. If you're offering a service in a specific country and want to reach people in that area, having a. United Kingdom or domain. FR is very useful. People in every country generally appreciate this kind of sites. But we expect them to be in their mother tongue. And sometimes there are restrictions on who can actually own a domain -. Only Canadians or Canadian companies with a presence can own CA domain, for example.

A domain that you want to totally avoid it. INFO. This is a new domain and it is usually possible to obtain. INFO domains for less than $ 1, which made hunting ground of choice for spammers, scammers and websites of dubious origin and purpose. Forget. INFO, is not worth it.

Other TLDs are not so bad, but nothing beats. COM if you can get with. NET and. Alternately, if the ORG OK. COM is not available and I do not think there is too much confusion and lost traffic not to use. COM....