To create a website – means to take a lot of different fine points into consideration. One of the important issues is a choice of the domain extension which represents the site’s address on the internet. The domain name helps users to find your website in the web space and also it allows you to differentiate the types of websites.
There are two the most spread domain name extensions at the moment: .com (commercial) and .net (network). It is obvious, that .com is more appropriate for e-commerce, business and all kinds of projects that will let you make money online. On the other hand, the .net extension is better for networking services, blogs, email etc. So, what is the difference?
What is .com?
First of all, .com domain extension is the most common on the internet and it is more memorable for the people who are searching for the website they’ve heard about. It is easier to keep .com in mind and, besides, this extension looks more professional and reliable for the people who want to use your product or services. Hence, it is much better if you want to build your brand online. By the way, the online presence will be higher because .com extension is ranking better than any other domain extension.
Of course, there are several disadvantages that bring .com extensions. The first one is the price for the domain name that you have to pay to keep it secure because there is a giant amount of websites which can have familiar names. The second reason is that you can’t use .com for the sites which don’t have an integration with e-commerce. The brand will just not fit the domain name and it can have a negative impact on the ranking. Thus, if you want to “conquer” a specific area you should better use the proper domain names for the concrete region like .ua, .us, .uk and so on.
What is .net?
As for the .net domain extension, it takes the second place in the popularity rating and it also has its advantages. Despite the general opinion, .net ranks as good as .com, so there is no difference between the searching engines what domain extension name do you use, the main role is played by a name. Also, it is easier to keep a good online with .net (building online presence will take more time, but still) and if you are specializing in services providing this extension can bring even more profit.
It should be noted that the rivalry among the websites which are using .net is not so embittered, so you have more chances to secure the name you like. The icing on the cake is the price, which is noticeably lower than .com has, so it is a great opportunity for non-commerce websites to save the money.
As a conclusion, we can say that, in fact, there is no significant difference between .com and .net extensions, especially when it comes to the websites which are already working for some time and have a solid audience because your users most likely won’t pay any attention to it. In former times this aspect of the website creation was very significant and the domain extension was as important as a brand name or logo, but now it’s not so crucial and it rather determines the very first impression. Nevertheless, like they say: “Devil is in the details”, so choose wisely and weigh all the pros and cons before making a decision and enjoy the success.
