Is it worth buying both the .com and .net for my business website?
Learn why holding onto your .net domain protects your brand, prevents scams, and how to easily route traffic to your main .com site.
Why You Should Keep Both Your .com and .net Web Domains
If you own both the .com and .net versions of your website's address, you might wonder if you really need to keep paying for both. After all, .com and .net are the two most popular web address endings in the world!
The short answer: Yes, keep both!
Even if you only use the .com address for your main website and advertising, holding onto the .net address is a smart and cheap way to protect your business online.
Here is why keeping both is a great idea and how to set them up easily.
Why Should You Keep the .net Address?
Think of your website domain like your home address. You want to make sure nobody else builds a store right next door with almost the exact same name!
Here are three big reasons to hold onto your .net address:
- It Stops Copycats: Keeping the .net name stops competitors or online tricksters from buying it. If someone else buys it, they could build a website that looks just like yours to steal your customers or run ads for competing products.
- It Protects Against Scams: If a scammer buys your .net name, they could create fake email addresses (like help@yourcompany.net) and send trick emails to your customers asking for money or password info. Owning the name prevents this from happening.
- It Catches Typos: Sometimes people accidentally type .net instead of .com into their web browser. Owning both means those visitors will still find you instead of getting an error page.
What Should You Do With the .net Address?
You do not need to build two different websites, and you do not need to pay for extra web hosting. You just need to set up a quick shortcut.
Set Up a "301 Redirect"
A 301 redirect is just a fancy web term for an automatic traffic detour.
When someone types in yourcompany.net, the 301 redirect automatically teleports them straight to yourcompany.com in a split second.
- Why this helps: It brings all your visitors to your main website.
- Why Search Engines like it: It tells Google that your .com site is the main home, so you don't get penalized for having duplicate websites.
- Keep the .net domain: Think of the annual fee (usually around $10 to $20 a year) as a cheap insurance policy for your brand name.
- Forward it to your .com: Log into your domain account and use their free "Domain Forwarding" tool to send all traffic to your .com site.