Domain Name plays a crucial role for successful business. However multiple Domains with same name are possible in different extensions, its good practice to check a domain availability to avoid confusion to your online customers. Read this Domain Checklist before registering a business name.

Most generic TLD’s, New GTLD’s and CCTLD’s do not put any restriction on registering similar name which already exists in other extension. As long as the registered name is not spoofing other business to mislead users it is not an issue. Also the name should not be conflicting with other trademarked names.

But while choosing a business name in your country, it is always a best practice to check domain availability.

Suppose when planning to register a “abc125” business name then check if corresponding domain name is available in .com or .net extension. If not available make sure the already registered domain name is not providing similar products or services.

Also if your business aim is to reach local traffic, check corresponding country code top level domain name is available. Most search engines prefers showing results in users local Country.

If you are planning to start an online shopping portal, then .com and .net are most favoured extensions. For startups and innovative projects .IO and .CO are preferred extensions, if corresponding name in .COM or .NET is not available.

Suggested domain extensions for startup business.

.COM – good for any business, also .com is most trusted extension by internet users.

.NET – Best alternative to .COM

.IO – British Indian Ocean Territory country code top level domain extension is most preferred and chosen extension for many startup projects. Chosen by startups because IO stands for Input Output in Computer System.

.CO – Colombia country code top level domain extension also being used by many startup organisations because it is short.

Hope this Domain Checklist helps to choose a best name for your business.