Choose the Right Domain Extension with this Industry Guide

The world has gone digital, and more businesses are turning to the internet to reach new audiences on an affordable scale. However, to stand out from the crowd, brands now need to have their domain name. Instead of using a standard .com address or other generic top-level domains (TLDs), companies can choose from over 850 extensions, all of which are accessible on Hosting UK’s domain search. Hosting UK has one of the UK and Europe’s fastest hosting network with affordably priced domains. With UK servers, they can enjoy quick speeds, excellent uptime, and quality support. Here is a recap of all the best domain extensions sorted by industry.

A complete guide to domain extensions based on the industry

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We’ve previously discussed the release of 850+ domains on Hosting.co.uk. Today, we want to give you a complete breakdown by industry of the best domain TLDs. Find out below which domain extensions are the best for the industry of your choosing, along with some use examples and links to the blog posts specifically about each area.

Service providers and companies

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Some of the best extensions for businesses and services include .business, .biz, .company, .global, .ltd, and .group. Picking one of these domain extensions will help you show your customers that you are a professional brand. Additionally, these domains are short and catchy. They tend to attract more visitors while being easier to remember.

Retail and Ecommerce

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The .shop tld is a new domain extension dedicated to online shops. It was created after the success of .travel, .photo, and other generic domains dedicated to specific industries. .shop is a great choice for brands looking to reach out to shoppers from all over the world, as it is an English-based domain with no country-code TLDs. If you want a different extension, consider .store, .shopping, and .boutique instead.

Creative and design industry

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The creative industry is growing at a pretty high rate, and this has necessitated the availability of extensions for domains. .design is a great choice for designers, photographers, and artists. It lets you showcase your portfolio, show your work to potential clients, and attract new customers. If you are a photographer, consider using .photo instead – it includes the word “photography” in its name and is targeted at professional photographers worldwide.

Finance

If you work in finance, you can use one of these TLDs to set up your site: .finance, .loan or .bank. Your potential customers can find your website easily by simply typing one of these keywords into their browsers. The same goes for other finance-related TLDs like .insurance or .credit. It is the perfect choice for banks, investment firms, and online payment services.

Healthcare

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If you have your own business in the field of health, consider using one of these TLDs: .diet, .care, .medicine, .dentist, or even .healthcare. They include the word “health” in their name and are targeted at health-related businesses. All these TLDs are great choices for doctors, dentists, hospitals and health practitioners in general. If your business inclines to particular diet plans or weight loss methods, consider using .fitness or .wellness instead.

Sports and Fitness

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For sports and fitness businesses, the best extensions are: .sport, .coach (for coaches), .health (for health and wellness businesses), .fitness (for fitness centers), .run (for runners), .shop (for online sport stores) and for online stores for specific sports like: soccer (.soccer) , football (.football) , rugby (.rugby) , basketball (.basketball) , tennis (.tennis). It all depends on the category you are in.

Hospitality, Events, and Tourism

If you plan to establish a hotel chain, travel or hospitality chain, .travel is a perfect choice. It is one of the most popular TLDs among travel agencies and can help you stand out from other businesses in your industry. Another great choice would be .hotel – it has been around for years and is still very popular among hotels worldwide. If you work with hotels or travel agencies, consider registering .travel, .holiday, or .vacations to make it easier for visitors to find both businesses on search engines like Google.

Human resources and recruitment

If you have your own business, you can register your company’s name in .jobs, .work, .works or .careers. They can help your potential customers find you quickly. It applies to both the recruiters looking for candidates and vice versa. If you are an individual looking for a job, you can use either TLDs to create an online resume easily found by recruiters and employers.

Governments and non-profits

Governments often use .gov, .army, .airforce or .navy. The latter two are for the disciplined forces. Organizations that work for charitable causes can benefit from .community, .charity and .foundation domains. The TLDs are great for raising awareness about their cause and attracting new donors to support their cause. They also protect against cyber-squatters – no one else can register your domain name even if it is not actively used.

Legal services

If you are a lawyer, you can use one of these TLDs to set up your website: .lawyer, .law or .attorney. These TLDs will help potential customers find the right lawyer for their legal case and will also help lawyers build their reputation online.

Marketing, news and communications

The TLDs .marketing and .digital are great choices for marketing agencies and professionals from all over the world. Including “marketing” in your company’s name makes it all easier. If you are running a PR company or an advertising firm, you can choose to work with .agency, .media, and .promo. For the media, the most popular extensions are .news, .press, .buzz, and .today.

Real estate and construction

Construction companies and real estate agencies often want to register their specific location in the domain name, such as .construction, with a location code. However, this may not always be possible. This is where new gTLDs come in handy: they allow businesses to brand themselves with their geographic location rather than generic ones. A few examples of such TLDs include: .construction, and .contractors. Real estate agents and companies can use: .realty, .house, .apartments, or .property.

Energy and environment

If you work in the energy or environmental industry, you can use one of these TLDs to set up your website: .energy, .green, .bio, .solar, or .eco. These TLDs are perfect for companies and professionals who deal with renewable energy sources, green technology and the environment.

Technology

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The tech industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world right now, and businesses that provide internet services have been quick to see its potential in terms of growth opportunities. When it comes to technology-related business entities or software development firms, the best domain extensions are: .tech (tech support services), .app (for apps), .cloud (for cloud computing), community (.cc), company (.co), .computer, cyber (.cyber), digital (.digital), domain (.domains), email (.email) email security (.solutions). If you own a software development firm or your business has anything to do with technology, then one of these extensions can be a good fit for you.

Education or e-learning

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Academic institutions can benefit from having their domain names as well. .academy lets you reach out to high school and college students by providing them with information about your institution, degree programs, and other relevant information. You can also register your institution’s name in .college, .university, and .school.

Conclusion

There are many different industry-related extensions available for professionals who want to stand out from their competitors on an affordable scale. Whether you are a lawyer or a consultant, you can register a domain that suits your needs. These domains will help you attract more visitors worldwide, take a professional stand, and improve brand awareness in your industry.