Domain Names

Top Level Domains

Every domain name ends in a top-level domain (TLD) name which I think most know as either .com, .net, and .org. Some may be more familiar with them called first-level domains

Generic Top Level Domains

Domain names are also categorized as generic top-level domain - a top-level domain used by a particular class of organization. Generally three or more letters long, they are named for the type of organization that they represent. (If you did not know, .com stands for commercial organizations). The following generic TLD’s currently exist:

.aero - for the air transport industry

.biz - for business use

.cat - for Catalan language/culture

.com - for commercial organizations

.coop - for cooperatives

.edu - for post-secondary educational establishments

.gov - for governments in the United States

.info - for informational sites

.int - for international organizations established by treaty

.jobs - for employment-related sites

.mil - for the US military

.mobi - for sites catering to mobile devices

.museum - for museums

.name - for families and individuals (your personal name)

.net - originally for network infrastructures

.org - originally for organizations but now unrestricted (general use)

.pro - for certain professions

.tel - for services involving connections between the telephone network and the net

.travel - for travel and tourism

.asia - for the Asian community, expected to be live this month (Oct 2007)

The following generic top levels are now or will be available in the near future:

.post - for the postal services

.geo - for geographically related sites (not really sure what that means)

.cym - for Welsh language/culture

Hope this was informative!

My next post will be on Domain name strategies. In the meantime, if you have been looking for a domain name registrar, I have been using 1and1 for a few years now to register my domains. .us are only 2.99 and .com for 5.99.

Till next time....