Title: 
Extending Your Grasp

Word Count:
637

Summary:
In a world full of people seeking to connect with one another, we are all looking for those three magic words: I love you. However, in an equally needy world of Internet communication what we need to make our business or information gain traffic and efficiency is three magic letters. These letters are called extensions and are the three letters following the dot in any web site's name. In the early days of the Internet almost all web sites were for commerce and ended with .co...


Keywords:
hosting


Article Body:
In a world full of people seeking to connect with one another, we are all looking for those three magic words: I love you. However, in an equally needy world of Internet communication what we need to make our business or information gain traffic and efficiency is three magic letters. These letters are called extensions and are the three letters following the dot in any web site's name. In the early days of the Internet almost all web sites were for commerce and ended with .com. However, as more spaces opened up to be available for Internet use, other extensions have come about that allow you to tailor the site to your business or organization and provide an easy to remember domain name.

The traditional

The big three of domain names remains .com, .org and .net. All three of these are open and available for public use without any qualification required Dot com is typically used for commerce and business although some web sites who got started when .com was one of the only options available still have that after their name whether they are a business or not. The extension .org is commonly used for nonprofit groups and organizations providing information and helping services. People rarely expect an .org to be a for-profit business. However, some for-profit businesses have capitalized on those letters to create traffic to their own selling sites. Net is often used for networking sites for people in organizations to work with one another create chat groups and special-interest pages. Many social service groups and public access meetings use web sites with the .net extension.

The institutional

There are extensions reserved for institutionalized use and specific information that allows the user to know what entity the information comes from. Educational facilities and colleges can use .edu. This is limited to institutions that are places of learning, usually in the United States and 2 or 4 year colleges. Proof of your school may be required for you to register a domain name under that extension. A non-regulated extension is .info. Web users have come to associate .info with web sites that provide impartial information for either healthcare or social service reasons. Commerce would not be a place to use an .info Web extension. The federal government has secured .gov to be their official extension for all their web sites. If you go to the IRS or FBI or any other governmental agency, you can expect to see .gov on their extension. A governmental agency is required to use this and you may be subject to investigation or fine if you try to register this domain name without permission or reason.

The colloquial

Commercial groups selling wares on the web have started using .biz. While this extension is open for anyone to register, registry agents may ask you to provide proof that you are a commercial agency and involved in the business of selling something. For people seeking to employ, there is also the use of .jobs, which is set aside for people with jobs to be offered or to be listed on their web site. One rule of .jobs is that you must be listing employment for your own business. Third-party business hirers are not allowed to use .jobs as a domain name. Licensed professionals such as doctors, attorneys and certified public accountants can register their web sites with the extension .pro. These web sites will require the professional to provide the registrar with their credentials and they will be investigated. So make sure you have everything in order if you go to register one of those web sites.

Extend your reach and web site traffic by providing it not just the best name, but the best extension. This way you can ensure that people will show up at the right site in the right time