The internet has been around for quite some time now, so it is okay for us to assume that most people today have heard of or have even used the .com domain and the .net domain extensions. There are several reasons people buy domains but for most people, it is about establishing a high-value website. Understanding the difference between .com and .net domain extensions would help your business and website a great deal. This is why we have put together this comparison between .com vs .net.
.Com vs .Net
Overview of the .com extension
The .com extension was created and has been in existence since 1985. This domain extension was created specifically for commercial purposes, hence the “.com”.
Prior to the widespread use of the .com domain extension, this domain was used as an identifier for commercial websites.
Overview of the .Net Extension
The .net domain extension was also created at about the same time the .com was created.
With the .com domain extension created specifically for commercial purposes, the .net domain extension was created for business purposes. The “.net” means “network” and the initial intent was for it to be used by companies offering internet services at the time.
Unfortunately, consumers had already fallen in love with the .com extension and as such, the .net domain had to settle for second best.
Now that we have a little background knowledge of the .com and the .net domain extensions, let’s get into the .com vs net comparison
.Com vs .Net for Client Familiarity
When it comes to client familiarity in the .com vs .net comparison, the .com domain is undeniably more visible and recognized globally than the .net or even .org domain extensions. In fact, the .com extension has been so popularized that it looks “weird” to find a website that has other extensions.
Winner: .com extension
.Com vs .Net for Online Brand Building
Building your brand on the internet requires that users are familiar by memory with your site’s name. Imagine if a user had to remember your brand was only accessible with “http” instead of “www”, this would make it fairly difficult for users to commit your brand to memory. In similar fashion, the .com domain extension outshines the .net domain extension in online brand building because a user would sooner remember it than they would remember a .org or .gov domain extension.
This also makes the .com extension a better option for offline marketing.
Winner: .com extension
.Net vs .Com for Ranking for Niche Sites
If you are looking to develop small niche sites, then starting out with the .net extension is essentially shooting yourself in the foot.
Why?
A niche site needs to rank better in search engines than commercial websites. It would take a lot longer to record results if you are using a .net extension for your budding niche site.
Except in cases where the website is for a huge business that already has great content and lots of incoming links, a .net domain extension should not be used for niche-oriented marketing campaigns.
Winner: .com extension
.Com vs .Net for Price and Availability
Following the widespread use of the .com extension, it can be pretty difficult to find the perfect website name under the .com extension as it may have already been taken. And if your business idea has been built around that specific name then you have to pay a lot more just to get it!
The .net domain extension is not as used as the .com extension and as such the .net vs .com comparison for availability and pricing of any domain name of your choice goes to the .net domain.
Winner: .net extension
.Com vs .Net Domain for Niche Marketing
The primary use of the .com domain extension is for commercial purposes. While the .com extension is quite popular, it does not serve all purposes as it cannot be used for certain niche markets. A website targeting just the US or the UK markets would rank better with a .uk or a .us domain extension.
If your website was built for the purpose of niche marketing, you would be better off with a .net domain extension as it would fit your brand and target location.
In the .net vs .com comparison, each one of these domain name extensions is valuable and depending on your purpose, they would be beneficial. However, research has shown that between .net vs .com extensions, domain names on the popular .com extension are running out because regardless of the string of words in a domain name, someone has already chosen that name.