I am going through a huge list of .org domain names, and I happen to be sitting here with my fiancee (well, she just left when I started blogging). The list of names I am looking at consists of a couple thousand .org names in every vertical, language, tense…etc. My fiancee saw a few good names that I would have bought in a second if they were .com, but I explained to her why I wouldn’t buy them in the .org extension. I am happy to blog about my thoughts as I have been asked before.
I believe .org is a good extension if the name makes sense to be in the .org. Since .org stands for organization, I believe the name should either make sense as an association of the term or as a group of that specific term. While .org doesn’t get as much play with commercial domain names, you can still make a commercial venture out of an organization.
Soccer.org would be a great domain name for a soccerl-related organization. If I owned it, I would build a directory of soccer clubs throughout the country. You could offer teaching tools, organizational tools or other enticements to sign up for the organization. I don’t think a name like Grapes.org would make sense as a .org, because it just doesn’t make sense as an organization.
As far as I know, almost anyone can own or develop any type of domain name, with the exception of .gov, .edu, and some country codes. However, we need to keep in mind that consumers expect certain things from certain extensions. If a consumer navigates to a .gov website, they expect to see something related to and managed by the government. If they navigate to a .edu website, they expect and educational website owned by a school or teaching institution. Likewise, they would expect the .org to be managed by an organization or association related to the actual term in the domain name. This can be a big advantage.