Finding al­ter­na­tives to a .com domain

The top-level domain .com is the most popular in the world. As of January 2016, there were over 100 million internet addresses reg­is­tered with this coveted domain ending. But its pop­u­lar­i­ty means that snapping up a .com web address is now a highly com­pet­i­tive business; at­tempt­ing to register a domain only to find it’s already occupied is an in­creas­ing­ly common problem. However, you can still secure the desired name for your web presence by choosing from the con­sid­er­able selection of al­ter­na­tive domain ex­ten­sions.

The ending of a web address is also known as a top-level domain, or TLD. Because .com is the most widely used TLD in the world, free .com domains are now in rel­a­tive­ly low supply. If you’re looking to buy a domain, but find that your chosen domain is un­avail­able, you have two options. The first option is to come up with a new name for your .com address, which often forces website owners to pick a com­pli­cat­ed, mis­lead­ing, or in­con­ve­nient­ly long name. The other option, which many find prefer­able, is using another available TLD (like .org, .online, .uk) in com­bi­na­tion with your desired name. The advantage of this is that your homepage will be more memorable for users.

Find out if your desired .com domain is still available or choose from a range of various generic top-level domains:

You might have thought of the perfect domain name, but when you attempt to buy it, it’s not available. There can be many reasons for this, some of which include:

• The owner is using it for their own website

• The owner plans to use it for a site that hasn’t yet been launched

• The owner is using the name since it’s similar to their actual domain, and visitors are being redi­rect­ed from this domain to the owner’s actual domain

• The owner is using the domain for e-mail addresses (e.g. example@de­sired­do­main.com)

• The owner wants to stop others from using their name

• Cy­berquat­ters are reg­is­ter­ing the name in order to make a profit

It is frus­trat­ing to see that your domain name is taken and the owner isn’t actually doing anything with it. As long as they’re paying for it, no-one else can touch it. The only way you can get your hands on it is to get in touch with them and ask if they’re willing to sell it to you. If the domain happens to expire and the owner doesn’t renew it, it might also become available. To find out who owns the domain, you can try Whois Lookup, but be prepared for them to ask a lot of money for it – and that’s if they actually want to sell it in the first place! This is es­pe­cial­ly true for cy­ber­squat­ters who register domains that they presume will be popular, so that when someone le­git­i­mate­ly wants to buy the domain, they may be willing to pay a lot more than it’s worth. Cy­ber­squat­ters take advantage of .com domains’ pop­u­lar­i­ty and register many popular URLs in the hope that a business will buy them off them for a profit.

You can still use the name, but with a different TLD i.e. de­sired­do­main.info instead of de­sired­do­main.com. One of the downfalls of this is that when a visitor is trying to remember your domain, they might revert out of habit to the .com address and not find yours.

A short BBC doc­u­men­tary explains how domain traders, also referred to as “domainers”, can make hundreds, thousands, or even millions of dollars from buying and selling domains. In this video, find out how some of these en­tre­pre­neurs got involved in this big mon­ey­mak­ing business.

There are some clear benefits of top-level domains. For example, if you’re setting up a website for your business or brand, but the most suitable .com domain is already taken, you can still create a memorable domain name al­ter­na­tive using a free nTLD.

It’s also possible to indicate the contents of the site through nTLDs. For example, if you run a web store, there are many nTLDs, extending far beyond the now com­mon­place .shop, .shopping, and .store; depending on your concept and stock, you can also use nTLDs like .boutique, .fashion, or .shoes to match the goods and services you provide. nTLDs cover many more branches and sectors than just these examples.

If your website is open to an in­ter­na­tion­al audience, it’s a par­tic­u­lar­ly good idea to use a top-level domain. Country-specific domains (such as .uk and .ca) tend to put off in­ter­na­tion­al visitors, whereas endings like .web, .com and .online are in­ter­na­tion­al­ly rec­og­nized, sug­gest­ing no ge­o­graph­i­cal lim­i­ta­tions.

You can register a domain online with a domain name registrar - an or­ga­ni­za­tion that dis­trib­utes domains and provide other services such as web hosting. Generally speaking, providers also offer a domain name search, a function that enables users to find out if their desired domain is still available. However, it’s important to note that some of the new top-level domains can only be pre-ordered for now, as they have not yet been of­fi­cial­ly launched. Of course, cost is an ever-important factor when choosing a domain name. Prices can vary wildly, ranging from a few cents all the way up to $10 a month. Users usually buy domains from domain name reg­is­trars, who then submit the ap­pli­ca­tion to the correct agency and ensure all the necessary steps for creating the domain are carried out. Check out our handy guide for more tips on domain reg­is­tra­tion. Getting your own domain is easier than many people think. Even if your desired address is un­avail­able with a .com domain ending, there’s now a whole host of solid TLD al­ter­na­tives to choose from. This new abundance of nTLDs ensures that anyone can register a fitting domain name for their internet presence.