.com vs. .org

Forums: Domains, Web Design, Domain Name, Domain, Dot Com
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I've made a website for an organization I'm involved in. The domain is a .com from GoDaddy.

The board is now wondering if it should be a .org. I think if I were making the decision now I might make it a .org, .com seemed like a better choice at the time (easier to remember, more "legit" -- I tended to think of .com as the first choice and .org what you'd use if .com was already taken).

For example -- someone said as proof that we should be a .org that the National Association of the Deaf is www.nad.org. But I just checked www.nad.com, and yeah, that's a site.

Anyway -- it's a non-profit organization (only recently became one). We have a bunch of stuff already printed with the .com url. Do you think we should change it? Why or why not?

Thanks!

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@sozobe,

...as far as I can tell from whois, the nad.com site was created 10 years after the nad.org site, though. So I guess the .org was the first choice.

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I'd stick with .com just because everyone types that without thinking.

Maybe Robert can tell you how he got A2K to go to .org when you type in .com!

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My understanding is that traditionally .com meant .com(pany) and .org meant .org(anization). Over time the lines got blurred but someone trying to find your organization might try typing in .org first.

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@boomerang,

I think you have to own both domains and then you can route one to the other.

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@sozobe,

Here's one person's view...

Quote:

Dot Com is King

Though the prevalence of alternatives to a .com location are increasing daily, the power of a .com domain continues to be unrivaled for its acceptance by consumers and search engines alike. The .com name generates a virtual sense of legitimacy, as the domain where it all began. Even old timers like .net, and .org have yet to obtain the general appeal of a .com name.

Without a doubt, everything has its time, and its place. Newcomers like .biz or .info may play a significant role in coming years, and they do allow businesses the flexibility to choose a far more intuitive location name than that which is available in the .com world. But with a limited appeal, and limited search engine recognition, one should likely consider them for additional location registrations, versus the cornerstone location for a new online venture. source

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@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

The board is now wondering if it should be a .org.

Good for the board! That means it has nothing substantial to worry about because everything is fine in Columbus's Deaf community. Your appropriate answer to the board is "org, shmorg". This is a non-problem.

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@sozobe,

Academic types used to make a big deal about what type of top-level domain name you had. .net was for the technological elite. .edu was for education. .org was for clubs and non-profits. .com was for those dirty money-grubbers.

The difference has largely become meaningless, though. As long as you have one of the major top-level names, and not one of those johnny-come-lately's like .biz or .info.

The cost associated with reprinting all of your material is probably significantly higher than whatever aesthetic, theoretical (or theological) difference there is between .com and .org.

And if you can get both .com and .org, do so. Redirecting from one to the other is simple.

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I had this problem in reverse.

When I built the website for our youth soccer association, I got the ".org"
domain name. I explained the reason to the board, but they insisted on
using the ".com". So I got that but kept the ".org" and redirected it to
the ".com".

For the reasons others have stated, the ".com" was a good idea.

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The .com is a good idea to own, but not necessarily to use. The problem is having the .org when someone else has the .com, that way some of your traffic will go to their site because .com is the "default" TLD (top-level domain) in most people's minds.

So if you go with the .org, redirect the .com to the .org or you'll lose that type-in traffic. Otherwise it's really a small branding difference between .org and .com (with .org obviously being better to promote "organization" branding).

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@Robert Gentel,

Very useful everyone, thanks!

Yes, I think I'll go ahead and get the .org and then go from there. Might change the domain to .org or might not, but at least will have it. Probably the best way to cover bases is change the domain to .org and redirect the .com. (Not sure how to do that but can probably figure it out -- is it complicated?)

1 Reply

@sozobe,

The redirection shouldn't be too bad. You'll want to do more than just redirect the domains though. Ideally you'd redirect every page perfectly to the other site and use the right status code for search engines. If you need help with that step I can do it for you or explain it.

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@Robert Gentel,

Ouch. Thanks for the offer. The changeover isn't really urgent so it won't be happening immediately -- I'll present this stuff to the board and see what they think, maybe they'll decide to stick with .com anyway. May ask more down the line though, thanks again.

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@Robert Gentel,

Wait, a question about the "other site" part -- I was thinking that when people type in "www.myorganization.com," it'd just automatically redirect to "www.myorganization.org." Would I actually need two sites? That makes a big difference in terms of money. Our site is free through Sitekreator -- long story, but basically about how the site started as a free version and we were upgraded because of some nice people. If I replicate the site, I won't be able to do that again, and it would cost significant money instead of free. So one site is much better than two.

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@sozobe,

Sozobe... I think you miss understand the concept.

Quote:

How to use your multiple domains ‘the right way’

Best practice is to use something called a 301 redirect - rather than having 4 actual copies of your site all competing with each other, a 301 redirect seamlessly redirects clients (and google) to the ‘main’ url you want to rank well. If you google “how to do a 301 redirect’ you should be on your way to understanding that a bit better.

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@sozobe,

To redirect "www.myorganization.org" to "www.myorganization.com", you have to have a website at "www.myorganization.org". It does not have to be a complex website, though. Webhosting is cheap, nowadays.

Robert's talking about more complex issues, like transparently redirecting "www.myorganization.org/page1.html" to "www.myorganization.com/page1.html".

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