Has .net caught up with .com yet?

by GGurls
13 replies
I have a friend who's building a site and they name they want is not available as a .com so they're thinking of getting a .net.

Don't most people (the general public) still think of .com instead of .net or is this idea perfectly okay?
#caught #net
  • Profile picture of the author Justin Says
    I own 130+ websites. I rank for thousands of keywords.

    My top 2 ranking sites are .net and .org.

    The whole .com era isn't really existent anymore in my eyes as only about 40% of my sites are .com.

    Of the 60%, my .net and .org websites rank fine and I don't see any problem with going after them.

    But I'll be honest.. over any domain I really like .org. It's not an SEO thing, it's just personal.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    A lot of people use .net. What difference does it make what the general public prefers? They're most likely going to visit the site from a link, so they don't even really have to think about the extension.
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  • Profile picture of the author haiyaiya
    yes, .net and .org sites are increasingly featuring as the #1 search results in many categories.
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin Says
    Here's another thing to take into consideration.

    Minecraft: Minecraft <--- .net

    Statistics
    15,030,411 registered users, of which 3,807,437 (25.33%) have bought the game.
    In the last 24 hours, 60,336 people registered, and 12,443 people bought the game.
    That means a .net website has generated $273,123.85 in the last 24 hours. That's excluding tshirts and other gimmes
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    My name is Justin Lewis. My digital marketing company has been in business for over 10 years with multiple six-figure years. We do provide a premium web design service.

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  • Profile picture of the author felborfm88
    .org or .net rank as easy for .com for sure in my experience.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tony Marriott
    Originally Posted by GGurls View Post

    I have a friend who's building a site and they name they want is not available as a .com so they're thinking of getting a .net.

    Don't most people (the general public) still think of .com instead of .net or is this idea perfectly okay?
    I don't think "the general public" have any particularly strong views about extensions at all. The views of extensions come from within the internet business community.

    Those views are based on beliefs of both "professional image" and "ranking ability".

    Personally I think the vast majority of the buying public couldn't care less about extensions and in most cases don't have any particular knowledge that would cause them to make any kind decision anyway about them anyway.
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    • Profile picture of the author Danny McConnell
      Unless you are planning on having a "Branded" site that people are going to remember and recommend to others, the extension won't matter at all.

      I have ranked a .info or two, though admittedly in very low competition niches.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by Danny McConnell View Post

        Unless you are planning on having a "Branded" site that people are going to remember and recommend to others, the extension won't matter at all.
        This is what matters.

        For online traffic it will not matter as people are just clicking a link.

        If you are doing offline advertising, flyers, mailers, newspaper ads, tv commercials, radio ads, etc., it could be a concern. For the general, non-IM public, .com is the most recognized extension. If you are going to rely on them to type in the URL to visit your site, what happens if there is a competitor that owns the .com? You might be inadvertently sending them free traffic.
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      • Profile picture of the author Justin Says
        Originally Posted by Danny McConnell View Post

        Unless you are planning on having a "Branded" site that people are going to remember and recommend to others, the extension won't matter at all.

        I have ranked a .info or two, though admittedly in very low competition niches.
        Just remember, even branding doesn't matter.

        .org and .net aren't hard to remember once a user types it in.

        Sometimes .org or .net go better with the business and that's why that target it.

        Using my example of Minecraft which is .NET and profited $250,000+ in the last 24 hours (when I posted it)

        Craigslist.org is the top classified website online.

        Wikipedia.org is the #5 ranking site and ranks for tons of keywords.. pretty much everything I can think of lol.

        And of course the list goes on.

        So it's not really even about branding. It's about what you think goes better with your niche. You don't HAVE to own the .com, .net, and .org, many business's don't and they are doing wonderful. But you have to be offering something worthwhile, you have to share information, and you need to be real.
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        My name is Justin Lewis. My digital marketing company has been in business for over 10 years with multiple six-figure years. We do provide a premium web design service.

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  • Profile picture of the author verilix
    .org and .net are just as good at ranking in the SERPs. The only reason .com is superior, is because when you tell someone a URL, you'd say "try Google." - people would automatically try google.com, not google.net or google.org.
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    • Profile picture of the author Matthew Shane Roe
      Originally Posted by verilix View Post

      .org and .net are just as good at ranking in the SERPs. The only reason .com is superior, is because when you tell someone a URL, you'd say "try Google." - people would automatically try google.com, not google.net or google.org.

      The only reason people try google.com is because EVERYONE has heard of google and use it. They automatically KNOW that it's a .com - it's not an assumption..

      Maybe not the best site to give an example of? I - personally - know what your saying though
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  • Profile picture of the author Manoj V
    Dot com sounds good. It may even fetch a better value if your friend decides to flip it later. But in the end it boils down to how many people visit the site and the quality of the content on the site. Even dot info can rank well if the site becomes popular for what it offers.
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