.nz domain names can be seen almost everywhere these days. You'll spot them on billboards and in newspaper and television advertisements. They're plastered on many cars and trucks, and can even be seen sky-high on the sides of buildings. Everyday I see more and more tradie vans with their own domain names on the side, looking so much more professional than an anybody@xtra.co.nz email address.

Those with a keen eye may have noticed a new type of .nz name recently - one that's shorter and more direct because it drops the ‘co' from the middle - so instead of wemovedto.co.nz, it's now wemovedto.nz. Yes, in September 2014 names direct at .nz such as wemovedto.nz joined the existing family of .nz along with co.nz org.nz net.nz and so on..

Over 108,000 names direct at .nz have already been registered, and they've proven to be such a popular choice that they now account for more than 16% of all .nz domain names.

But how exactly are these domain names being used? Well, in a number of interesting ways.

Here's six examples of how domain names are giving consumers clear direction when accessing content - acting kind of like 'sign posts for the Internet'.

• The most common use of a domain name is as the address for a website. For example, wemovedto.nz - a website that features many examples of organisations using shorter .nz domain names.
• Perhaps more importantly, domain names can be used as an email address. Research shows that consumers place more trust and view organisations as more professional when they use domain names for their business email.
• Another common use is redirecting a domain name to another site. For many international brands it's useful to leverage the country code (e.g .nz)  as a shortcut to the country specific content on their global site. For example,  Xero.co.nz redirects to Xero.com/nz
• Deep linking to content inside a larger website is another use for a domain name. This is commonly used where an organisation may be running a marketing campaign and wishes to link a catchy short name to specific content inside their website. For example, Air New Zealand is running a campaign called #wheretonext with a matching wheretonext.nz domain name. This redirects to a longer name within the Air New Zealand site. Dedicated domain names also provide an easy way to track the success of marketing efforts for the campaign.
• Domain names can be used to redirect to a web application. For example, a Wellington cafe uses quickcoffee.nz to link to their web-based ordering application so customers have a short memorable address to remember when ordering coffee on the run.
• These shorter .nz names are also encouraging registrations of family names to allow family members to have their own unique email address (e.g dad@familyname.nz or daughter@familyname.nz). 

So have you got a shorter .nz name yet? Start your search now.