When you type Google.com or WhiteHouse.gov into a browser, “.com” and “.gov” are the TLDs — the Top-Level Domains.
TLD = The final part of a domain name that follows the last period or dot: “.com,” “.co,” “.org,” etc.
We rarely think about TLDs because we use search engines so often, and because both the .com and .gov above serve the same purpose.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t differences between them, but that both .com and .gov will get you to a website.
As a business owner, you’ll want to know a bit more about TLDs:
- .com is the best TLD all around. Best = most standard, most widely accepted, most coveted.
- The problem with .coms is that the best of them are taken, or are on sale for 4-6 figures.
- So .net is generally second-best, if you can’t get a close enough match with a .com.
- $10,000-$20,000 for a good .com is an investment well worth considering (we’ll define what a “good .com” is in a second.)
- .org is the best TLD if your product or service is nonprofit or is more socially-serving than the average business. (A food bank, a donation center or service, a trust, or institution.)
Think of a website as a house, and a domain name as being its street address. Except in the online world, you can move your “house” (website) almost instantly to any “address” (domain) that you own, and you can have multiple addresses for one house.
You don’t need to, but you can, and there are occasions where it makes sense to do so.
Domain names also cost roughly $12 per year, so you can buy as many as you think you need to put a moat around your product or service.
But how many do you need and of which exactly?
Well, there are more than 1,500 TLDs and you don’t need even a fraction of them. (The most common are .com, .net, .org, .gov, .edu, .io, and .ai).
.com is the best TLD in 98 out of 100 cases.
Buy the .com if it’s available, the .net if it’s not, or the .io, .co, or .org if they’re a “domain-product fit.”
If they (.net, .io, .co, .org) aren’t great, you can add dashes between words (“johns-cleaning.com”), but you’ll need to weigh your options carefully, because you will forever be reading that dash aloud to clients, in videos, and on air: “Visit us at johns dash cleaning dot com.”
If at all possible, you should avoid dashes in a domain name.
Maybe JohnsCleaningService.com, or JohnsCleaners.com are better? (And hey, is that John with or without an h?)
The TLDs .pro, .tech, .shop, .store, .blog, .news, .biz, .online, .inc, .art, .wiki, aren’t worth buying in 99% of cases.
But .art, .store, .clothing, .app and others might be a good fit.
The difference is that the first series here are bad second-rate TLDs for something that should be a .com, while the second series makes sense for certain uses—there’s a specific association or domain-product fit in .art and .app for example.
Then say your product or company name aloud.
Listen for alternate interpretations—ways people could assume your product or business name is spelled that are different from what it actually is.
Is Pixie spelled Pixie or Pixy? Get both domain names if you can.
Is your company name pluralized by default?
Is it “Solution” or “Solutions”?
“Service” or “Services”? (Get both.)
Meta’s latest app acquisition, Threads, lived at threads.net before it eventually bought the .com.
Some $100-million companies live on the .co, because the .com was taken by a company in another vertical.
Both companies did and do just fine, because we all use search engines so often we rarely even type in TLDs.
But the .com is still superior.
Get the shortest .com you can that directly ties to your product or company.
Lastly, one of the more important considerations these days when it comes to company and product names is —
What appears on search engines and in LLMs right now when you look up that word or name?
Because you will forever be competing with that company or product for page one real estate.
So the less “branded” your future product or future company’s name already is in Search, the better.
But, like finding a good .com, that’s becoming harder and harder.
[That’s not terrible, is often unavoidable, and you can even use this to your advantage. So don’t abandon anything that’s “close to a competitor,” but it’s a bit beyond this topic.]
What a good .com is
We mentioned above we’d cover what a “good .com” is.
Well… huge subject. But some relevant links for now:
- List of the most expensive domains ever sold.
- Examples of so-called “premium domain names.” (SuperGiant .com for $40,000, anyone?)