Buy the .com .net .org ? All three?

14 replies
Ahoy! Trying to launch my first niche here. I'm wondering if it's regular practice to buy all 3 of the domains for my keywords?

The .com is available... is it ok to just stay with this one or am I at a huge disadvantage if I don't buy the .net or .org?
#buy #net #org
  • Profile picture of the author Rich Struck
    If it is an important site, I buy...

    .com
    .net
    .org
    .biz
    .info
    .mobi
    .us
    .tv <--- sometimes

    I think that is all of them. I buy them as insurance against squatters mostly but I put a bit of content on them and link them to the .com.

    If it isn't an important site then I just buy the .com or whatever is available.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sparhawke
      Originally Posted by Rich Struck View Post

      If it is an important site, I buy...

      .com
      .net
      .org
      .biz
      .info
      .mobi
      .us
      .tv <--- sometimes

      I think that is all of them. I buy them as insurance against squatters mostly but I put a bit of content on them and link them to the .com.

      If it isn't an important site then I just buy the .com or whatever is available.
      Don't waste your time with .biz, it is almost as much as a waste of time and dead extension as .us and I do not have a clue why anyone would ever want a .mobi

      If you are building a site as important as Amazon, Ebay or whatever then you should buy them all but honestly all this "domain protection" is just registrars way of squeezing extra money out of everyone for fear.

      If it is available you should definitely buy the .com and maybe .net and .org too with a strong consideration to .info, before you buy .biz and .us and waste your money you should also consider buying .co.uk, it is the strongest of all the cctld's along with .de of Germany with almost 85% of our population aware of it and recognising what it is for.

      Americans on the other hand seem to hate their own extension and avoid it almost as much as the plague.

      Ignore the rest of the extensions, they will cost you thousands of dollars in the long run which you probably haven't got and will likely bankrupt you...or drop the year after.
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  • Profile picture of the author danayala
    I think it's a matter of preference. I usually buy just one. Other people worry more about their competition and decide to give themselves a bit of an advantage by buying all three. It's really up to you!
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    • Profile picture of the author peter gibson
      If it's important to you definitely get all 3. For me it's a given that I don't want anyone who may notice me cashing in on a niche trying to give me hassles at any time later down the road.

      Also, if your site becomes Uber popular, another .extension may get residual traffic that originally meant to navigate to your site, which just sucks because basically you're handing traffic to a competitor.
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  • Profile picture of the author abdul786
    I think "Yes", you should buy all three. Sometimes a product/service become popular and when the next day you go to buy the .net,.org, they are usually gone.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeff Henshaw
      It depends on why you are buying the domain name. If it's for a single product that you are selling, or a website set up to gain traffic or attract bots, then buy just one.

      If the domain name is of importance to you, such as your name or business name then purchase as many of the 'main ones' that you can afford.

      Personally, for the important ones, I try to buy the com, net and co.uk (the last one as I reside in the UK).

      Don't do overboard though, as people still have the option of buying the same domain as you, but use a "-" somewhere within the domain name.

      Just my thoughts,

      Jeff.
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      • Profile picture of the author skwurl
        i was thinking of this today.

        what about if i'm buying a domain for the sole purpose of selling it? the .com is the one i want to sell, but should i buy the .net and .org as well? someone might see my .com for sale, think it's a good name and then go and register the .net and .org instead of buying my .com.

        i've never sold one before, so i was just wondering if this happens.

        also, although i'm only trying to sell the .com, should i keep the .net and .org, or offer them to the buyer who buys the .com?
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        • Profile picture of the author tandren544
          Originally Posted by skwurl View Post

          i was thinking of this today.

          what about if i'm buying a domain for the sole purpose of selling it? the .com is the one i want to sell, but should i buy the .net and .org as well? someone might see my .com for sale, think it's a good name and then go and register the .net and .org instead of buying my .com.

          i've never sold one before, so i was just wondering if this happens.

          also, although i'm only trying to sell the .com, should i keep the .net and .org, or offer them to the buyer who buys the .com?
          In this case, you should DEFINITELY buy all three, if they're available. Then offer them as a package.
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          • Profile picture of the author Sparhawke
            Originally Posted by tandren544 View Post

            In this case, you should DEFINITELY buy all three, if they're available. Then offer them as a package.
            No no no no no! lol

            Sometimes I despair...

            The last thing you want to be doing as a newbie to the game is buying every single domain under the sun in order to offer it to someone, simply buy the .com if you can and offer it them, people are all too aware that .net pales in comparison and that .com makes a domain look legitimate except in the case of certain professions.

            If you buy all three the first thing someone will realise is that they are dealing with an idiot who bends all too easily to the sway of fear and only offer you pennies, thats what I would do.

            Someone comes to me with all these domains that he absolutely must sell to recoup his money, I would offer reg fee and probably not even that knowing that it is likely they will drop in a month or two anyway.

            There are not that many great unregistered domains left available in .com that you can simply pick and choose. And chances are as a newbie you will get stuck with a hell of a load of crap before you ever start figuring out what sells and what doesn't.

            Buy the one single best domain you can and then offer that, don't buy every extension under the sun otherwise you might as well get a pimp jacket and start flogging gold plated chains and watches in the streets.

            If someone turns around and buys the .net and .org then move on to the next business and sell to them, they will simply get free traffic that the first guy is generating for nothing when everyone forgets the extension and comes to yours, another great selling point if you word it correctly

            On the interwebs everyone assumes that a domain is .com, so when they remember the name they will often forget the org, which is why top level extensions are worth so much generally...every single extension below them is inadvertently driving traffic. This is not to say you should never buy a lesser extension, there are some great deals about...just that you should be aware of traffic leakage.

            (PS, I personally think it is bad practice really to withhold alternative extensions...sometimes to ransom. Businesses will simply start wondering what you are doing behind their backs and who you will end up selling them to if they refuse lol. Still, thats your choice if you want people to recommend you or not.)

            Appendum^

            Most businesses know their own business far better than you ever will so will likely be able to think up better domains every time unless you have something truly premium like hairdressing*info that I missed out on by minutes last week in auction, or sunbathing*info that I couldn't get a couple of months ago... you have to offer them something truly unique and that does not grow on trees :p

            Single keyword or popular phrase strings are prohibitively expensive because they are category killers, I doubt anyone here could afford "insurance" in the top 3 extensions to sell to someone lol
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  • Profile picture of the author rohnsmith
    I think .com is ok. And then if you want to expand then buy countryspecific domain as well and make it secure for further expansion..
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by AudioRoxor View Post

    The .com is available... is it ok to just stay with this one or am I at a huge disadvantage if I don't buy the .net or .org?
    If it's intended to be a main/important site, I would (and do) buy those two and the .info too (the .info costs almost nothing). Better safe than sorry.
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  • Profile picture of the author ankitsharma
    I suggest be secure and buy all 3 of them.
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  • Profile picture of the author tamalanwar
    Lets say you are developing a new website with the name USATravel, then you go and buy USATravel.com, .net, ,info, ,org, .biz, .co.uk, .us .mobi -that's almost all of them. Then you also bye a .ca, .ws and USA-travel.com and .net, .info, .biz, .org. You also consider buying TheUSATravel.com .net, .info, .biz etc.

    You end up having 100s of domain for that same website.

    Most over smart marketers are domain maniacs, they buy a whole lot of them just because it costs 10 dollar a year.

    In realty a good domain isn't going to make a great website or make you money, it's the website and service that will do the magic.

    When I started my blog, I bought .com and later the year when I saw it's getting popular I got my hands on the .net .info .org domains too. I add an extra year to the .com version each year.

    When you think you should buy more domains for your website, try consider building small sites and link to the main one, this way those domains will add up some value on your own site.
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    • Profile picture of the author skwurl
      does anyone know the answer to my question above? i wasn't sure if i should have started a new thread for it, so i just asked it in here.

      thanks :-)
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