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quick ethical question

by ruch1v
18 replies
so i think i've found a great domain, i want to start a review blog in a niche, the domain i found is a .net because the .com was taken, while i havent reallly looked at the .com site too much, but since it also has 'review' in the domain its most likely going to be doing the same thing as me, i'm just wondering, is it ethical for me to register the .net domain? i don't know if people will get confused between the 2 but if so its not intentional..


thanks
#ethical #question #quick
  • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
    It's fine to compete with someone as long as you are not plagiarizing or stealing from their site.

    Go look at all of the sites that have "make money" or "affiliate" in the url.

    Matt
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Not even a matter of ethics at all. Go for it!
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
    Originally Posted by ruch1v View Post

    i'm just wondering, is it ethical for me to register the .net domain? i don't know if people will get confused between the 2 but if so its not intentional..


    thanks
    Its ethical but to me pointles unless you just can't find a good name. Looking forward toward branding you will always end up getting exposure for the .com site. Yes you will get the search engine traffic for your site with proper SEO and with PPC but some of your return visitors will end up going to the .com site instead. Whenever possible build your own brand not someone elses.
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    • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
      All is fair in love and war! If that's what you honestly and truly want to do, then go for it!
      MissTerraK
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    I believe it's ethical as long as you follow Matt's advice.

    HOWEVER, if you personally are struggling with the idea, then get a different domain name.

    It is a well-accepted practice, and not unethical. But, be careful that you never sell your soul in exchange for income. That may not be the case, but I wanted to mention it either way.

    All the best,
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author AyaImmortal
    I dont see why not, there is nothing wrong with that as long as you arent completely stealing from them. THAT would be ethically wrong
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        ...(Why would you want to base your business on a domain-name of which the ".com" version already belongs to someone else?! The downside is very easy to see. I can't envisage any possible advantages at all, though.)
        Alexa,

        The big .coms also share quite a bit of the heavy traffic with the .nets

        Are you suggesting that you would not want makemoremoney, howtoloseweight, bestbuy, hotelreservations... net if you had the opportunity?

        Matt
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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          • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            ...I think it's not an entirely realistic question: those names are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive.
            Yes while that is true there are still quite a few .nets that are there for the taking that produce enough traffic to make it worth while.

            I was just trying to make the point that there are some good reasons (traffic) to want to have the .net version of a site.

            Also, over the years I have been doing this I have encountered many .coms that were taken and nothing was done with them. The .nets were the authority sites. Some .coms start out strong then with a lack of attention dissipate and fade leaving the .nets to take over.

            I have done this many times in many niches and have sold quite a few .nets.

            Matt
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  • Profile picture of the author Greg Brierley
    I do not hink it is unethical at all. In my way of thinking if it was unethical then it would not be possible to buy the .net extension. Of course copyng content etc is another issue that is umetnical.

    Greg
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  • Profile picture of the author davtom
    Definitely nothing unethical about it. You're not stealing traffic in the form of links that already exist, because they still point to the dot com. However, I don't think it's necessarily a good idea, SEO-wise. Google would tend to favour the dot com, all other things being equal.
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveRenner
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  • Profile picture of the author KrazyG
    As long as you can make a unique content and good looking website than the .com, that wouldn't matter... Even a .org, .info or whatsoever TLD that you can think of is good..
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Harvey
    Certainly it is not unethical..If the person who bought the .com site was so worried about competition then he should have locked up the .org, .net and any other dot to ensure that nobody came nipping at his heels..

    Not a problem
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    I agree that it's not unethical - to us.

    However, each person has to be true to themselves. So if there is an uneasiness about doing something, then it should be reconsidered.

    This time it sounds like the OP just needs clarification about what the standard ethics are in the IM community.

    All the best,
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Jordan
    Go for it! Strive to make your site BETTER than the other guy. That's what competition is all about.
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