Buying a Domain - Purchasing Your Domain

Once you’ve made the above considerations, you will hopefully be able to narrow down which extension you’d like to use. If you’re planning to use a Top Level Domain (TLD) .COM, .Net, or .Org, or if your business is in the United States, skip ahead to Section 3 of this article. If you’re looking to purchase a Generic Top Level Domain (GTLD), go to Section 2. If you’re looking to use a Country Code Top Level Domain (CCTLD), or if you haven’t yet made up your mind about extensions and your business is outside the United States, then keep reading.

Domain Extensions Reminder

TLD (Top Level Domain): .Com, .Net, .Org, .Edu, .Biz

CCTLD (Country Code Top Level Domain): .CA (Canada), .Co.UK (United Kingdom), .US (United States), .DE (Germany), .CO (Colombia), .IO (Indian Ocean)

GTLD (Generic Top Level Domain): .XYZ, .Dentist, .Email, .Cars, .Link, .Tattoo, .Juegos (There are hundreds!)

Section 1 - CCTLDs

The best use of a CCTLD is if you run a business that only does business in the locality of the extension. The main reason for this is because CCTLDs are typically much less expensive than TLDs. For example, .KY represents the Cayman Islands. Since it’s a small country with small demand, one-word .KYs can be hand registered inexpensively.

I have traveled within Canada and Europe quite extensively. You typically see CCTLDs in Europe and Canada instead of .Com. However, .Com is universally accepted throughout both places.

Consider the following example: Imagine you own a shipping company based in Germany. You ship goods from Germany to Italy. In this example, a .IT (Italy CCTLD) would be less than ideal for marketing in Germany, and a .DE (Germany CCTLD) would be less than ideal for marketing in Italy. It would be like trying to use the German language in Italy, or the Italian language in Germany – you would be severely limited in your ability to communicate with the people in that country.

Now let’s look at this issue from another angle – usage of .CA (Canada CCTLD). Some people in the US think a .CA is short for .California. However, the Canadian government mandates that you need to either be a resident of Canada or have a company based there to legally own a .CA domain.

Common sense says that if you’re living and offering your products in a specific geographical area and nowhere else, perhaps a CCTLD is right for you. However, if you’re looking to target many other markets, choosing a more trusted and recognized extension might be best for you.

You might ask, “What about .IO and .CO? Those are both CCTLDs and have become popular with many companies especially start-ups in the tech space.” That is correct. .IO stands for Indian Ocean. .CO is for Colombia. As I said above, CCTLDs can have limitations to them set by their governments. These two CCTLDs have caught on in popularity within the tech community and are being used regularly.

Three major issues with this:

• #1 – If you’re targeting the general public, they will probably end up going to the .Com domain and you will lose potential customers/traffic.
• #2 – The owner of the .Com will likely see their traffic rise, and they will find your organization on the alternative CCTLD. This means you will eventually need the .Com domain in the future. It might be smarter to buy the .Com first rather than pay an exorbitant amount later.
• #3 – Outside of the tech community, many people haven’t heard of .IO and might not trust or remember the extension.

Key Takeaway – It’s perfectly acceptable to purchase a CCTLD if your business is local and contained to one country. However, if you’re doing business in multiple countries, and want to attract as many customers as possible, it’s probably a better idea to go with a TLD like .Com.

Section 2 - GTLDs

The rules of GTLDs are similar to what I wrote above about CCTLDs. GTLDs are relatively new, and thus not well known to the general public. You need to think about who your target audience will be. Is it tech-savvy professionals, or are they an older, less tech-savvy crowd?

There are many GTLD options available. Some are very specific to the industry or category they fall into and others are very broad and can fit just about anything.

Some of the more specific GTLDs out there are: .Agency, .Email, and .Travel. Three premium domains that fall under each of these extensions:

• Talent.Agency
• Free.Email
• Vacation.Rentals (sold for over $500,000!)

These are short, to the point, easy to spell, and easy to remember. They tick all the boxes of what makes a domain valuable.

The drawback? Users might habitually type “.com” at the end, losing you customers. For example, Free.Email customers might accidentally type Free.Email.com — and the owner of Email.com could capture that traffic using a wildcard.

Human beings are creatures of habit. This is one of the only drawbacks with GTLDs. The other is that they can be restrictive. For example, Football.Email wouldn’t make sense for a fantasy football site.

Section 3 - TLDs

As basic economics dictates, the available supply of a product or service vs the demand will dictate its price. When it comes to .Com, all of the one-word and two-word .Coms covering valuable industries have been registered.

They are either developed, going to be developed, or being held. This is because the .Com extension is the most universal. It’s a situation of low supply, high demand, and therefore, high price.

Having the right .Com and/or CCTLD can deliver great unfair competitive advantage. Don’t believe it? Look at Weather.com. It might not be the most user-friendly or accurate weather service, but the domain delivers great returns relative to other providers.