Which domain name extensions to choose?

Perhaps you have already chosen a domain name for your site without thinking too much about its extension? Generally the choice is towards the most popular .com but depending on your activity it may not necessarily be the best choice or the only one to consider for your website.

Popular generic extensions

Initially intended for for-profit companies, the .com is now widely used in all domains and if you have the possibility of having this extension for your site (that is to say if it is available and within your budget) then you must do it.
Apart from the "traditional" .com, there are 2 other generic .org and .net extensions which are also very popular. Although the .org extension can be used by anyone, it is still the preferred choice for non-profit organizations such as charities, non-governmental organizations or online communities.
As for .net, this extension (originally used by Internet service providers) now constitutes an alternative to .com because it is associated with web-based technology and services, and will therefore be perfectly suitable for sites related in such activites.

Domain extensions by country or region

Country extensions are usually the initials of the original name of the country where the website operates. Often subject to conditions, the future owner will generally have to prove that they belong to the country in question (.uk for England, .ca for Canada, .it for Italy, ...). If, for example, the target audience for your site is only intended for France, it is recommended to opt for .fr but that does not prevent you from also choosing .com, quite the contrary, because even if you do not consider that one day your site could target other countries, this will prevent a competitor or a homonym from being able to overshadow you on the internet.
In addition, many regional and/or large city extensions are also available. If your geographical location is important in your field then you can consider also choosing a specific local extension such as .paris if your activity is only based in the city of Paris or .bzh if your activity is local and restricted to Brittany.

What you must remember...

The choice of the extension of your domain name must be judicious and generally it will be preferable to own at least two or even much more to protect your domain and your activity. The more extensions you have, the better it will be to protect your activity, but domain extensions being innumerable, you will certainly be limited by the cost because the vast majority are not free. Finally, also be aware that purchasing several extensions will not increase the traffic on your site or its SEO (except qualitatively in the case of an activity specific to a region) but depending on the different profiles of your visitors, some will remember one extension more easily than another and could be complementary by including your activity in the name of your site (such as for example a .photos extension if you are a photographer).