by mw13
23 replies
I posted this in another forum but realized it's more related to internet marketing than anything. Sorry for the cross post and let me know if I should delete the other post.

Hi All,

Doing my legwork on an ecommerce site I want to launch. I have searched the forums but can't find any info on these topics so apologies if this is a retread. So the domain I want in the .com space is owned by a domain squatter (of course) and not entirely sure I want to drop $1700 on it. The domain is a strong domain with the keywords for exactly what the site is. I can grab the .net for nothing or throw something in front of the .com I wanted like great*******.com. What's everyone's thoughts on .com vs .net?

Thanks.
#net
  • Profile picture of the author MyrandaCollett
    I personally would choose .com, beacuse when people type their url on broswer, most of them type com becuase its their hobby. I am not saying net is not good, But I think it you need to choose from com and net, com is better.

    However, if you domain name is what you love, then net is not bad. I saw lots of company use net as well, so gd luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      Stick with dot com. It's the extension for commercial business.

      If you just get a little creative, there are tons of great dot com names available.

      Here are two good resources to help you find a great dom com:

      Impossibility - type the name you want in the yellow box (no spaces) and you can then find variations galore that are currently available.

      Lean Domain Search - same thing - type the name you want in the box and find lots of good variations.

      Good luck to you,

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author wrcato2
    If you think that you will make back your money for buying the .com within two months and have it to get it then get the .com.
    Also buy the .net
    You wouldn't want anyone getting traffic from you because you didn't snag the .net

    Cover your bases.

    You can use the .net for a forum, blog , download area or whatever you can imagine.
    that's my little piece of advice.

    Another thing you can do is forward the .net to the .com
    But you probably already knew this.

    Hope my two cents helped
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  • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
    Banned
    I agree with wrcato2... If you are serious then buy them both and be sure to use a promo code or two if you can find them.

    Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author themikerogers
    To me that would depend on where and how you plan on promoting the site.

    If you plan on promoting it offline as in magazines, newspapers, etc, .com is the best because people tend to remember the site name and then assume the domain ends with .com when the get home.

    If you plan on promoting online through SEO and advertising .net or even .org is fine. The domain doesn't matter as much as the domain name itself (though Google does tend to rank TLDs (.com, .net, .org) higher than other domains.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    I've done well buying the .net when a squatter had the .com and it was un-used except to have a for sale sign on it.

    In one case, having the .net allowed me to negotiate a cheap price for the .com from this squatter. I built my site on the .net and then offered the squatter $200 to buy the .com. He said the price was $3500. I said ok, thanks but no thanks. I already have a site on the .net and that's fine with me, but if you decide to let it go for $200, I'll buy it. He continued to negotiate down to $500. I said $200 is my budget. He said sold. So basically, the over-inflated price that they put on those domains is just wishful thinking and when push comes to shove, they really would rather have cash than a domain they are not using, unless it's a really premium domain name.
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  • .com is better but billion dollar companies are built on .net so it can be done!
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  • Profile picture of the author mw13
    Wow - great replies all and thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author dgui123451
    A .com just sounds more professional, but if it’s a new site I wouldn’t mind going with a .net especially when the .com is NOT owned by a competitor.
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  • Profile picture of the author genciT5
    One more thing! if you use Google Chrome, and you type any url like this "www.example" it will automatically change it to www. example.com . So you might be lucky sometimes and get some extra traffic to your website!
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Originally Posted by mw13 View Post

    I posted this in another forum but realized it's more related to internet marketing than anything. Sorry for the cross post and let me know if I should delete the other post.

    Hi All,

    Doing my legwork on an ecommerce site I want to launch. I have searched the forums but can't find any info on these topics so apologies if this is a retread. So the domain I want in the .com space is owned by a domain squatter (of course) and not entirely sure I want to drop $1700 on it. The domain is a strong domain with the keywords for exactly what the site is. I can grab the .net for nothing or throw something in front of the .com I wanted like great*******.com. What's everyone's thoughts on .com vs .net?

    Thanks.
    An excerpt from the 'Hands Off eCommerce' book:

    Which site are you more likely to buy from: Zappos, or "website-that-sells-shoes.com"?
    ThinkGeek or "fun-little-gadgets.com"?


    You can find most of the same products on both of these sites on Amazon, usually for less money too. Yet these guys are killing it with eCommerce and dominating their niche - ThinkGeek did $17.8 million last year, and they aren't even in the top 100 eCommerce sites. So how do they do it? They became a brand.

    Now that I think about it, only four of the top 100 eCommerce sites even have a reference to the type of products they sell in their domain or store name (eBags.com, Drugstore.com, Diapers.com, and Shoebuy.com). The rest either already were, or evolved to become, their own brand. Now when I say "brand" most people think that's synonymous with a manufacturer, like Ford or Ralph Lauren. But a retailer can be a brand too, in their own way. Branding doesn't mean you have to manufacture a product, it just means that you're building a name for yourself in your industry in the process of selling a product. Overstock, Bluefly, ThinkGeek, Rue La La, and Sephora are examples of sites making millions selling ordinary consumer products. Sure they all have their "exclusives", but the bulk of what they're selling is stuff you can get pretty much anywhere.

    So let's talk about domains for a minute. I included this section because I'm going on the assumption that you're either new to eCommerce entirely, or want to start a new website, but even if you already have a site you may want to re-think your strategy after you read this. Think really hard before you select your domain name and stick to these rules:

    1. You need a .com - period. Never use any other extension unless it's a country you're actually operating from (for example yourname.co.uk is acceptable if you're in the UK). I could probably write another book on the reasons for this, but the sum of it is that (1) There is a legitimacy to a .com that the other TLD's don't have, and (2) the last thing you need is someone else getting any benefit from your branding efforts. Even if they aren't in a competing niche, someone with more money than you might come along and buy that .com later, and become your competitor. Own the .com, no exceptions.

    2. Choose a domain name that isn't a keyword, and doesn't contain one. In fact, just for fun, I want you to try to think of a name that doesn't have anything at all to do with your product. What the heck does Zappos mean anyway? It means whatever they want it to mean because it's a brand. Check out brandbucket.com - these guys sell great brandable domains, and while many might be out of your price range, it will give you some ideas on how you should be thinking about this. Stop thinking about SEO, domain-based keywords don't help with rankings, look ridiculous, and you'll never be perceived as a serious site if you use one.

    3. Pick your domain name before you name your business, and don't settle for any "alternatives. If the name you want most isn't available as the .com, pick something else. Don't add a "the" to the beginning, an "s" to the end, or a hyphen in the middle.

    Don't make up a weird misspelling. Trying to get "close to" the domain you want because someone else owns it doesn't make you smart or clever, it makes you a fool or a copycat. Pick a different name; this will be your identity.

    If you can't be Superman, don't be "TheSuperman", "Superguy" or "Superdude"... be Batman. Get what I'm saying?

    4. Consider aftermarket domains - it doesn't have to be a newly/never registered name.You need a memorable name... you'll get up to seven times the bang for your buck with your marketing if you have a brandable name, I promise you this. People need to be able to pronounce it, spell it, and remember it. Don't skimp.
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    Ron Rule
    http://ronrule.com

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  • Profile picture of the author Anne Laidlaw
    Most squatters will come way down in their asking price. They dream about the big money but when you wave hard cold cash infront of them they grab it and agree.

    Anne L
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  • Profile picture of the author mw13
    Thanks Ron. Interesting read. I am a noob but a well read noob when it comes to ecommerce but I must have not done enough reading on website names. So to be clear, SEO and SEM doesn't favor actual keyword names in a domain name over something catchy you have made up, right? I figured if someone is looking for x and y keywords exactly and they type in x and y keywords into a search engine, there is a pretty good chance your site would show up. Am I wrong there. Thanks! This is great stuff.
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by mw13 View Post

      Thanks Ron. Interesting read. I am a noob but a well read noob when it comes to ecommerce but I must have not done enough reading on website names. So to be clear, SEO and SEM doesn't favor actual keyword names in a domain name over something catchy you have made up, right? I figured if someone is looking for x and y keywords exactly and they type in x and y keywords into a search engine, there is a pretty good chance your site would show up. Am I wrong there. Thanks! This is great stuff.
      Not with Google it doesn't... pick any keywords at random and search for them and count how often thosekeywords.com shows up anywhere on page one - the only time it happens if the owner is fully engaged in SEO. The domain itself has no value in the search results, it did once in the past but Google quickly figured out that people were registering EMD's for long tail purposes and killed it.

      If you want, you can download the rest of the book for free. It was written as a strategy for using Fiverr for outsourcing, but there's a ton of brand development and strategy stuff in there that could be beneficial for you whether you're using Fiverr or not.

      http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...ce-fiverr.html
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      Ron Rule
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  • Profile picture of the author Advertising
    It really depends on the niche / topic. But if it is a nice exact match .net grab it!

    Of course .com is better but a website can also thrive on a .net
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
    I'm with Ron on this.

    Keywords are nice to have, but a brand is going to make more of an impact.

    Think about all the places you go to buy things online. How many of them are exact keyword domains?
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  • Profile picture of the author gruss
    I'll vote with Jack & Ron.

    I built my first website (quite a few years ago) on a .net.au domain name and with nothing but content relative to a local market, Google fed that site 30,000 page views a month, which come down to the content, not exact match long tail key words being typed into a browser (.com or otherwise).

    Work on your brand and your content and as long as you use something mainstream like .com, net, org, biz etc, Google should not penalize you.

    One decent article I posted in the right places earlier this week delivered nearly 200 views and I am doubtful anyone typed in that address.

    Just don't expect it to happen overnight like lots of people do, because building traffic to a website is a long term proposition for most people and that is why they give up before getting to the gold.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gambino
    "The domain is a strong domain with the keywords for exactly what the site is."

    Without knowing the exact domain.. If it's the generic, keyword domain and market research indicates that it's worth it, I'd go for the. .com.
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  • Profile picture of the author Davidconstable
    Though the extension of .com & .net is differ from one to another. but it is real seen that the .com is in every mouth. If you are not able to get the .com, you also can take the .net.
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  • Profile picture of the author asiaa
    Exact match domains still rank with no backlinks in some of Google's foreign search engines.
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  • Profile picture of the author trump7
    .com for commercial website and .net for for hosting networks.
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