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Extension Retention: .com, .org, or .net?

A few years ago the web was all about the "dot coms". Business was booming, money was flowing, and everyone wanted to own a dot com. Fast forward about 10 years to 2007 and we need to ask ourselves if that's really still the case today.

You see, buying and selling domain names has become big business. So big, in fact, that many people are earning six or seven figures a year simply acquiring and then selling domain names. Many people still place value in having their very own dot com without realizing the landscape has changed- the fact is that a dot com isn't as significant as it used to be.

Let's Talk History for a Second In the late 90's having a dot com was where it was at. Billions of dollars were poured into these online businesses. Sure enough most of them flopped and, as a result, the entire online industry changed. It was no longer enough to a have a catchy dot com name; online business changed and become similar to offline business.

The ".com" extension gained rapid recognition as being the standard for which web businesses were measured. Originally the various extensions meant something (.com - company, .org - organization, .net - internet, .edu - education, .gov - government, etc.). However, as time as passed the various designations associated with each extension have begun to become less and less important. This change, along with the "dot com bust", has had a lasting impact on how e-business works today.

The results of this change were felt throughout all aspects of online business, from web hosting to eCommerce. Search engines changed their algorithms and provided better rankings for other web domain extensions and the internet, in general, became a much fairer place to do business.

Online Business Today There are millions of websites that have unique brands and designations. Not surprisingly, the web ran out of good ".com" extensions. Businesses have begun to branch out and purchase other extensions simply because there is more recognition in a branded name (ie- eBay) than the extension associated with it (.ca, .com, .org, etc.).

Search engines no longer hold any extension more relevant than the others. This means that your website, be it a .com or a .org, has an equal chance of being ranked. If you are competing with other business for organic traffic (search engine or type in traffic) this is one of the most important aspects of your business.

The web site 'www.earth.com' sold for over a million dollars not too long ago. However, 'www.earth.org' and 'www.earth.net' are also highly valued. If you are the owner of a catchy domain name you should be counting your lucky stars as it may pay off in the long run.

The market today lends itself to fair business among worthy competitors. This means that a customer is just as likely to go to your website, be it a .com or otherwise, so long as the content and search rankings are relevant. In other words, someone searching for shoes is just as likely to go to "allaboutshoes.com" as "allaboutshoes.net".

So What Do You Want? Ideally you'd have a .com simply because there is the most recognition with that type of extension. Though your search engine rankings won't be affected by your domain type there will always be the novelty of having a .com.

That being said you definitely should not go spend huge sums of money of a .com extension if there is a .org or .net available. Unless it is absolutely imperative to your business that you own the .com the other extensions will suit you just fine.

Online business is always changing. New domain extensions are being created all the time, and with them, new brand possibilities and opportunities.