# .com vs. .net vs. others



## eric-holmes (Oct 20, 2009)

I have decided I want to make my own webpage. I want my own domain, not just "xxxx.carbonmade.com". The site I wanted, "holmesphotography.com", is already taken. Is there a difference between the .net's or the other ones? I really wanted a .com lol. It just always seem as if it wasn't a .com, then it wasn't as cool haha. Input?


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## ErectedGryphon (Oct 20, 2009)

there is nothing wrong with .net's, they are more personal.  .com makes me think, walmart, pepsi, microsoft, etc..  .net makes me think small or local, more personal, and customer service isn't some voice in india.


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## beni_hung (Oct 20, 2009)

I had the same issue with my last name + photography.com. I thought about using a .net sight, but I tried to look at it from a strangers point of view. What if they forgot it was .net and not .com (I've done it)? The other guy would get the views/business. But that's just me.


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## mrodgers (Oct 20, 2009)

beni_hung said:


> I had the same issue with my last name + photography.com. I thought about using a .net sight, but I tried to look at it from a strangers point of view. What if they forgot it was .net and not .com (I've done it)? The other guy would get the views/business. But that's just me.


Bingo!  If you are going to use .net, it would be a good idea to have access to purchase the .com as well so that it can redirect.  Else, just as beni_hung (what the heck kind of name is that?) said, someone will just put it in as .com and the other guy would get the views.

I don't know about you folks, but I always just type the name without the www. and the .com/net in the address bar and hit ctrl-enter.  It automatically gives the www. and .com to the address bar.  Don't know if many folks do that or not, but that would take me directly to the other guy's site.

Also, I would think that any search would net you a .com over a .net (no pun intended.)


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## ErectedGryphon (Oct 20, 2009)

beni_hung said:


> I had the same issue with my last name + photography.com. I thought about using a .net sight, but I tried to look at it from a strangers point of view. What if they forgot it was .net and not .com (I've done it)? The other guy would get the views/business. But that's just me.


 
I use just my name.net, the other guy is a real estate agent, so no conflict. But my site is for my hobby (I'm not a pro, but I'm learning lots here!), and severely in need of updating, every thing on it is 3 years old.

The only paid work I've done is product shots for on-line shopping carts, and those were for businesses with .net's too.

You would be surprised how many people out there can't spell "photography".  You might need to also get "homesfotografy.com"


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## eric-holmes (Oct 20, 2009)

Thanks for the replies. It gives me a lot to think about. I want a .com. Maybe I will try to think of something to change it up. But definitely not "fotography" LOL :lmao:


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## PhotoXopher (Oct 20, 2009)

The only time I don't mind a site that isn't a .com is for personal use, even then it bugs me that I didn't get a .com address lol.

Just do what I did, become an amateur radio operator and use your callsign as your name


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## eric-holmes (Oct 20, 2009)

Well I just did it. I registered a .com. It was like 6.95 to host it a month. I picked a 2 year plan and Ill be damed if they didn't bill the whole thing instantly. I thought it would be monthly.


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## PhotoXopher (Oct 20, 2009)

Welcome to the domain addiction lol...


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## joemc (Oct 20, 2009)

I can not talk about it from a photography standpoint because my website is a .com

But from a business standpoint...It is a huge issue...I own 3 dental offices, two of which have a .com and one that has a .net.... The .net did not work and was never visited. I ended up making an alias with a .com to loop it to the .net.

Cheers, joe


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## SpeedTrap (Oct 20, 2009)

I have a .ca, but being in Canada it is not a problem.


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## Dwig (Oct 21, 2009)

mrodgers said:


> ...
> I don't know about you folks, but I always just type the name without the www. and the .com/net in the address bar and hit ctrl-enter...



The current trend is to omit the www. prefix. This won't always work directly, though some browser will patch it on if the DNS search fails when tried without it. If you have a web site, make sure that both "mysite.whatever" and "www.mysite.whatever" are published. I move my site to a different servers (same hosting company) a few years back and they didn't enable the www. version by default. Any bookmarks or links to my site that used the www. prefix were broken until I manually enabled the www. as a sub-domain.

Leaving off the .com suffix is not my favorite thing. This requires your browser to patch on the suffix when it calls for a DNS search to get the sites real address, it IP address. Your browser as an ordered list that it uses, generally .com first, .net second, .org third and usually nothing else unless you've manually added others. It won't always patch on the desired suffix and you may get the wrong site. There's always the posibility, remote but possible, that you will get a rouge site like the old Whitehouse.com when you wanted Whitehouse.gov. Evil nasties can result, and did back when whitehouse.com was a virus pushing rogue site.


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## eric-holmes (Oct 21, 2009)

Well I have my domain now. www.ericholmesphotography.com Now I just have to figure out how to make it work and what to do with it. I have to find a host and then I need some kind of template to set it up. This is going to be harder than I thought.


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## PhotoXopher (Oct 21, 2009)

I sure hope you didn't pay $7/mo just for the domain name... you should have hosting already with that.


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## UUilliam (Oct 22, 2009)

eric-holmes said:


> Well I just did it. I registered a .com. It was like 6.95 to host it a month. I picked a 2 year plan and Ill be damed if they didn't bill the whole thing instantly. I thought it would be monthly.



You what!!!!??

I paid £12 for my domain for 2 years...
for £6.95 you should get hosting (I got free hosting with advertising when I bought the domain + I got a free email account.)


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## eric-holmes (Oct 22, 2009)

No. The domain was only like $8 a year. I was talking about the hosting. I got in over my head. I don't eveknow how to design a webpage.


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## oxcart (Oct 23, 2009)

eric-holmes said:


> No. The domain was only like $8 a year. I was talking about the hosting. I got in over my head. I don't eveknow how to design a webpage.



Are you intending to try to put the site together yourself or get someone to do it for you?  There are a couple ways of approaching it; joomla seems to be pretty popular though I've never used it myself.


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