Domains - .BIZ

Got a business which needs exposure on the internet? Is the .COM version of the name that you want taken? If so, then check out the .BIZ domain name. It might be just what you need.

This is one of the seven new names which ICANN approved in 1999, and it was made live in 2001. Now you can purchase domain names under .BIZ at your favorite registrar.

What's so special about the .BIZ domain name? Well, the intention is that businesses and only businesses will be represented on this domain. Using a domain name with .BIZ would make it obvious that your web site was a business.

After reading the promotional materials for this domain name, it does not appear that any validation is done to ensure that businesses are indeed the only entities using .BIZ. In fact, there does not seem to be any reason a personal name or anything else could not be purchased. 

Personally, I see the major use for this domain is simply that you have a chance to get a reasonable domain name if the .COM version has already been taken. 

I don't really see people getting into the habit of typing something like "mysite.biz" in the browser anytime soon (perhaps in a few years), although they might enter "mysite.com". Thus, the .BIZ domain is likely to be far less valuable as far as traffic is concerned than .COM (at least for the short term).