Is it good to buy the dot net when the dot com is available ?

[willpower101]

Why does nobody recommend the .net?

I've always heard this advice: Build and brand the .net. Then if it's successful buy the .com. You might have to pay quadruple the price but at that point it's an investment and not a gamble. Also, it's not like it's going anywhere.

Lots of startups do this. Is this bad advice?

[MAllie]

I definitely think this is bad advice. By the time you've built up the .net, the .com is going to be that much more valuable and costly to buy (even if available) - I think 'quadruple the price' sounds far below what you'd have to pay in these circumstances. If the .com is free to reg at the start, there would be no reason for not taking it rather than the .net, imo.

If you're going to spend a lot of time and effort building up a .net, why not buy a .com, even if it's not the one you'd ideally like, and build this up instead?

And then there's the problem that as you build the .net, the .com is taking some (possibly quite a lot) of your traffic.

Just my two cents, as someone who is still very much a newbie herself.

[eeedc]

You can get in a highly heated argument with dot-net fans, but with a very few exceptions DON'T buy a dot-net to use. The above poster pointed one reason.

With a dot-net you will lose a good fraction of your customers who assume it's the dot com.

The only reason I would consider buying a dot com is if you want the ONE EXACT keyword, such as "gold" and can't buy "gold.com." Gold.net sold for only 84K this year so you can see they have little value - and are not trying to build a brand (you are going for a one-time quick sale). Gold.net would be confused with Gold.com.

I have not looked, but I would guess that looking for a day, you could find a free good two word dot-com such as GoldXXXX.com which would be as good as Gold.net.

Some of the people here buy the dot-nets to put up a cheap pay-per-click "parking" page and earn a few dollars, but I gather you are not in that category.

[willpower101]

If the .com is free to reg at the start, there would be no reason for not taking it rather than the .net, imo.

Ha, I thought the title said if the dot com is "taken". If it's avaialble there's no contest. The benefits of dot com over dot net aren't even an arguable subject. You buy both for brand protection and redirect the dot net.

The point I was trying to make above is that if the dot net is taken and they want, let's say low $xx,xxx for it, then there's no way one could justify the dot com without a proven business. That would eat your entire start-up capital right there. The only example I can think of off the top of my head is del.ico.us -> delicious.com, but I know a recent trend has been website.io -> website.com. Of course, you don't do this if the dot com is well established. You find another name.

[Sapphiro]

Go for the .com, but buy the .net as well if you're going to make it a big site.

[EGS]

Why does nobody recommend the .net?

I've always heard this advice: Build and brand the .net. Then if it's successful buy the .com. You might have to pay quadruple the price but at that point it's an investment and not a gamble. Also, it's not like it's going anywhere.

Lots of startups do this. Is this bad advice?

I think .net is a very good domain extension. Even though .com seems to be more popular, .net is the second most-used TLD and is widely known. It will rank the same and be very competitive and if it's a good name will still have value. We always have specials on .net domain names at my registrar and I find myself always using and creating new .net sites and really there's no difference than a .com domain/site. I wish you the best of luck.

Oh, and of course if the .com is available, get the .net and .com if you can always!

[eeedc]

I think .net is a very good domain extension. Even though .com seems to be more popular, .net is the second most-used TLD and is widely known. It will rank the same and be very competitive and if it's a good name will still have value. We always have specials on .net domain names at my registrar and I find myself always using and creating new .net sites and really there's no difference than a .com domain/site. I wish you the best of luck.

Oh, and of course if the .com is available, get the .net and .com if you can always!

It's true that almost everyone knows what dot-net and dot-org mean putting them in a second tier after dot-com, and above the others where people will ask, "What is a .us?" (.xxx, .info.....).

But it's also true that a good fraction of repeat customers will forget that you own the dot-net, and mistakenly asssume you have the dot-com. While you of course can remember your own name, it's expecting too much for people to remember thosuands of product and service names and that you, one of thousands to them, have a dot-net.

[Gerry]

Wow, very good thread.

Many opinions and advice from all sides of the question and much good advice.

I have no problem at all branding .net sites and ranking number one with a .net especially if the .com is parked.

Strong keywords are strong keywords in any extension.

Specific generic names or phrases are strong in any extension.

The key is branding them to be unique, offer relative content, backlinks, and keywords.

Additional branding opportunities can arise from actually building the brand up with ads, business links, various promotional methods, etc.

[eeedc]

Speaking of dot-nets, someone just offered Cod.net in the offers section with a $7500 BIN
http://www.dnforum.com/f529/cod-net-thread-467479.html
A three-letter word, although not much of a keyword unless one is selling cod, would cost much more as a dot-com, because it's harder to brand a dot-net to repeat customers.

[Gerry]

Cod is not a good keyword? For real?

If I was not involved in too many auctions or had too many offers out there, I would lay claim to this in a heart beat.

Tell me you are not serious about this not being a good keyword.

Not only is it a keyword gem, the potential for subdomains is tremendous - Cape.Cod.net.

[eeedc]

The top search term for "cod" according to Google Keyword is, "What is cod"

I think collect on delivery (COD) went out of style in the 80s. I don't play Call of Duty, so I don't know if they call it "Call" or "COD" which takes longer to say.

I would guess the best keyword for "Cape Cod" is CapeCod.com, followed by CapeCod.net and CapeCod.org, then Cape-Cod.com/net/org.

I suppose you could set up some tacky PPC site and earn a low $X,XXX back makeing a few dollars off each off of many Blank.Cod.net, but I don't think it would be a great keyword for single site unless one is selling cod. Obviously you don't think you could make much doing it or you would do it; as you said youself, you have better opportunities.

For a serious, real site, Cod.com would obviously cost much more than Cod.net, but the real question is would a longer single word dot com be better than a short dot net.

[Bill F.]

I would pick up the dot net before approaching the owner of dot com, just as insurance.
I love dot nets for sites, but not so sure about branding with them. I would only brand with a dot com - it sounds much more established to most ears.
If you are serious about the business, getting the .com would be a good move if you could afford it. If not, then I would brand using a different dot com. KeywordCentral.com or KeywordHQ.com. for example. I would also snag the net and org versions, and just keep an eye on the plain old keyword.com to see if the seller posts it for sale anywhere or lets it expire.

[David G]

I think .net is a very good domain extension. Even though .com seems to be more popular....

hmmmm... seems? I wonder if it's possible .com really could be more popular!

[Maxwell]

I would pick up the dot net before approaching the owner of dot com, just as insurance.

By doing so, you are artificially creating keyword demand, by causing a greater share of that keyword to be spoken for.

Though doing this can work against you. While you are ensuring the .net is in your possession as a backup plan, you are also justifying the seller's potentially high asking price by having created the demand.

[eeedc]

By doing so, you are artificially creating keyword demand, by causing a greater share of that keyword to be spoken for.

Though doing this can work against you.

One can tell the dot-com owner that you just bought the dot-net (or some similar dot-com), and this both works for and against you. On one hand, it says, I can use say Cod.NET and dont' need you if you don't sell at a resonable price 4 to 10 times the dot-net. On the other hand, IF your business is a big online success, as noted in posts above, you will have to pay more down the road for the dot com.

[dominator]

I would pick up the dot net before approaching the owner of dot com, just as insurance.

not a good idea
that happened to me

a buyer registered the .net and the same day contacted me and offered $1000 for the .com
he even told me that (i did not check)

after that i knew i can go higher
and he paid more several weeks later