I recently managed to pick up a “PERFECT” .ORG domain. It also gets natural type-in traffic (30+ uniques/day) which made me love it even more. I also had the opportunity to pick up the e[keyword].com a couple days ago since it was expiring. I couldn’t think of which one to use as a personal website. I absolutely loved the .org and the keyword seriously was precious for me… but then the availability of the e[keyword].com really started to mess with me. Should I go for image with a great keyword.org or ekeyword.com?

I went with the keyword.org. It was just irresistible and the name has seriously turned some heads when I mentioned it to some people. The eKeyword.com? No traffic. I can’t say it was a waste of money since I like making sure the brand is protected in anyway I can, but I’m extremely happy with the .org and owning the eKeyword.com allowed me to potentially have future branding power in case I needed it.

.com is great and I love .net… but sometimes we really need to reconsider things. I’d love to brand a generic .net/.org rather than a crappy .com anyday!

Please get the terminology correct. “Tense” has to do with verbs and time, not nouns and plural/singular, like cowboy hats/cowboy hat.

Example: write vs. wrote or publish vs. published. (Or publishes, as in “She publishes a book.”)

But I do agree that it’s often tricky selecting the best domain name, and the plural/singular conundrum can be confusing. I recently set up a website for my ex-husband’s business: ElectricianPA.com, and ElectriciansPA.com redirects to it. Better to be safe than sorry.

Thank you.

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Some good points and I’m certainly not dismissing the .com but I do think we have reached a stage where proper tense is more important than extension if someone is building a brand based on a generic domain name.

Of course, I’m not talking about trademarks. Pepsi, Verizon, Coke – there are lots of reasons why global brands like this obviously want the .com but these terms are trademarks and it only makes sense to get the .com for the word they created.

However, most small business who try build out “generic” domains – will never reach a global identity where everyone knows their name and I think the loss of credibility is not as much as everyone thinks. Its about content more than anything else.

There are many examples where the .com is designed horribly or just a parked page whereas the .net or .org have been transformed into these great sites. Your content will dictate your credibility more than your extension. Sure .com rules the world but a good .net or .org in the correct tense is not going to hurt your credibility – in my opinion. I would say the wrong tense would cause people not to take you as serious more than the extension. Of course, I’m not talking about the .me’s of the world – just net or org.

Again, some good points – appreciate the comments.

However, the same logic you use to go after the correct tense, the

“You want to show a professional image behind your brand and the wrong tense can tarnish that professional appeal – in some cases, it can even make you look stupid.”

can just as easily, and some opinions moreso, be applied to acquiring the .com version over the .net or .org.

After all, how serious of a CowboyHats dealer are you with a domain like CowboyHats.org? If you were that good, wouldn’t you own the .com?

I think you are right on the tense and that’s a good point to make, but I believe every situation is unique and that dismissing the .com shouldn’t be done so quickly.