Should You Buy the .Net or .Org to Protect the .Com?

I am often asked whether it’s recommended that a person buy the .net and/or .org domain names when they purchase a .com domain name. In my opinion, the simple answer is yes if you are going to develop, but no if you aren’t.

While it’s nice for a publisher to own other extensions when he or she plans to develop the .com domain name, it’s not critical. I would imagine very few people confuse the .net or .org for the .com. The main reason I do recommend trying to get the .org and/or .net if it’s feasible and cost effective is to prevent someone else from competing, specifically if it’s a descriptive domain name.

For domain investors who are hand registering .com names as an investment they later plan to re-sell, I don’t think buying the .net and .org is necessary. If a person has a portfolio of 200 .com domain names, owning the .net and .org of those names is close to an extra $3,000 annually.

Unless you are going to develop and plan to protect your brand, I don’t think it’s necessary. It likely won’t add much value to a deal with your .com and will only serve to significantly increase your carrying costs.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

23 COMMENTS

  1. I pretty much agree with your thoughts exactly.

    I would buy .NET / .ORG when

    1.) You are planning on developing the site to protect your brand.

    2.) The domain itself has standalone value.

    There is no point as a reseller doubling down on a marginal .COM with the .NET and .ORG as well. The carrying costs are too high.

    Brad

  2. I have a follow up question. There is obviously a market for people to invest in the .com, and then turn around and sell it to the .org or .net owner.

    But, is it advisable to go after the .org and .net name that has a developed website on the .com…and turn around and try to flip the .org or .net to the .com website owner? Can you make money with this strategy..or is this more like bottom feeding..and not profitable?

  3. I used to register the .Net as a protective measure but realized that in only one case had a buyer actually purchased the .Net as well. In many cases the .Net was already available and noone wanted it. On the other hand, .Net domains do rank well and for highly-searched phrases where the .COM gets significant typeins, I believe the extra carrying cost may be something to consider. If you are trying to sell a .COM domain for $5000+ and the .Net is available reg fee, the buyer might just decide the .COM isn’t worth it.

  4. Leonard,
    I have drilled Elliot on the scenario you described before. But if the .com is $5k…one would hope the .net is registered. Otherwise I haven’t learn anything from a year long of reading domaining blogs. At any rate…all the gurus say go for the .com. I am all-in .com…and I hope all my newbie followers will do the same. (I don’t really have any followers unfortunately) haha

  5. I totally agree with what Ms. Domainer stated on the first post:

    If you just want to flip the name, adding the .com plus .net, .org etc. makes the deal more cumbersome and, for sure, more costly to the buyer, hence a more difficult sale. So, I’d say no, do not build “domain combos” as a general rule, study each case and then decide, of course, there may be an exception.

    If you are developing a project, protecting the brand is a must so, getting as many extensions as possible is recommended… Also, it is advisable to set limits and a scope since it turns out that nowadays, we are not only talking about .com .net and .org but also about .CO your .ccTLD, maybe a .TV a .WS and who knows, you may also want, eventually your .gTLD … this is a never-ending story….

    Kind regards.

  6. Agree with Brad Mugford>

    Buy the .org or .net if they have standalone value.

    I own CreditScoreScale.com whose keywords get 12K EXACT monthly searches and a $9 CPC. I made sure to get the .net because CreditScoreScale.net would have considerable resale value by itself for someone who wanted to develop the domain or is in that type of business.

  7. At a guess, more people probably typo a .com to .co than mistakenly type .org/net .
    In terms of soaking up loose traffic the .co would probably be money better spent for practical ‘protection’.
    What a wheeze :p

  8. Even if you’re going to sell your domain later on, it helps to acquire the .net or .org sites because the buyer may be interested in brand protection. This gives your sites added value, because they can be safe-guarded by buyers in the future.

  9. Echoing what others have written, .coms obviously stand alone when it comes to branding and reselling domains. I don’t buy the .nets on all the .coms I own, but I have purchased stand alone .nets when it makes sense to do so.

    For companies who understand that developed keyword or product domains, even as simple landing sites that funnel traffic to a money site, .nets & .orgs are very effective.

    A tougher sell on the flip yes, but from a value proposition, to get ranked for a specific phrase etc., .nets and .orgs can generate traffic and revenue for the core branded .com site cheaper and more effectively than a Google AdWords campaign.

  10. “Elliot, so will you be registering elliotsblog.net and elliotsblog.org?”

    Ooooopsiedaisy
    LOLOL, funny.
    Why have you not registered those? Same reason you did not register ElliotSilver.com?
    Epic fail

  11. @Elliot

    “ElliotSilver.com was registered 3+ years before I bought my first domain name.”

    The version with the “J” in between is still available 🙂

  12. I am a big fan of .ORG, but in general .NET is better as a reseller. Health is an especially strong niche for .ORG though.

    A health related term like “Health Insurance” would be great in both .NET and .ORG, but many commercial product related domains are far better in .NET, for example DumpTrucks.net is a lot better than DumpTrucks.org

  13. Elliot,

    I agree with you regarding purchasing .com, .net, & .org to eliminate competition. Sometimes I buy the .com, .net & .org!… and sometimes I don’t!

    However, if you have a limited budget… it comes down to opportunity costs. In other words, can you make more money from purchasing the .com, .net, & .org, or would you make more money with 3 different .com’s.

    Welcome to the wonderful world of domaining!

    Mars

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