I'm creating a website for a friend. I'm wondering if and how you would direct a person typing in the domain name .com or .org to go to the same website, no matter which extension a person uses? Do I need to reserve or register the domain name in both .com and .org?

Does this make sense?

Thanks!
Ruth

Yes & Yes

you have to purchase/reserve each extension

Here is an article you might find interesting

http://www.boadomains.com/domain-names

Yea you have to buy each one individule. .com and .net are the main ones, and .org i guess too

Thanks for the advise and thanks for the link Samantha! Interesting! I guess my next question is how important is it to have .net or .org? The article says this, so I'm confused...
Think about it. When was the last time that you typed in a website URL with the extension “.net” or “.org”? Unless you actually work for a company with these domain extensions, you will probably answer that you can’t really remember. The reason for this is simple. Most of the sites that you do surf are all “.coms.

my questions in return would be...

How important is this website, name and company is for your friend?

I agree with what is said

Quote:

When was the last time that you typed in a website URL with the extension “.net” or “.org”? The reason for this is simple. Most of the sites that you do surf are all ".coms".

It is true that once the .com of a name is taken... there is a dude that will buy up all the other extensions in hopes to sell them to you for a larger price than what you would have purchase it for in the first place.

It is true that once you buy all these names you would have to renew the the subscription every year... or what ever offer/package is available from the company you are buying the domain from... a name is not yours forever.

It is true that some companies only use .com and forget the other extensions. Then there are these bad people who buy the extension domain and add a scam site, and only heaven knows what they will do to your computer & you.

(Thats why its important to use the search engine when one is not sure of the name they are surfing to... even misspelling the name could create unnecessary troubles)

Example is Google... if you type Goggle... you come upon a page that practically tell you off for misspelling the name... lol... but Google can afford to buy all the domains they want.


So how important is this company for your friend... would the words net or org be associated with the company or the name of it, that it would make one assume that it has something to do with the Internet or an Organization?

This company is very important to her. Thanks very much for your reply! That's kinda scary about the dude buying up the extensions! I did find this near the bottom of that article...

When registering a “.com”, make sure that there is no other top-level domain name with the same words that you used. For example, if you register the name onlineclinic.com, it’s best that you also buy the “.net”, “.org”, “.info” names as well. If the other top-level names do exist already, it’s best that you do not register that name because chances are that if you use that domain name, you will be competing with another site with a similar name that enjoys good traffic already. Look at Google, for example. If you try typing in Google.net you will see that it is redirected to the original “.com”. This means that Google owns the “.net” top-level domain and has made sure that if in the case it is typed in people will be redirected to the Google.com. This is very convenient for people who mistakenly type in some other domain name extension other than the one intended. Also, it’s a great strategy that will allow people to always be directed to your site no matter what domain name extension they type.

My guess is to buy up the extension names. She wanted people to be redirected to the .com site if someone types in a different extension.

It's a once per year renweal for about $10. I sent her an email asking if she wants me to buy them also...haven't heard back yet. I'll post back about her answer. Thanks for jumping on this and answering so quickly Samantha!!

My friend did want me to buy the .net and .org ones also, so I did that. I just want to make sure that if someone types in thename.org or .net, it will automatically redirect to the .com site. Does that happen or do I need to do something?

Yes you need to do something

But this is something that you will have to ask your host as each host has a different domain manager section in their setup.

or in your site manager create a index.php and use this code:

Code:

<?php header( 'Location: http://www.yoursite.com' ) ; ?>

Sorry wwe...I'm just kinda a beginner, so I have no idea what you are talking about.

I'm thinking that she'll want me to create a template for her, but I have no idea how to. Does anyone know of a good tutorial for creating a template from scratch in Dreamweaver? Is Dreamweaver pretty self-explanatory for creating them?

I can't remember what version you have Ruth, but I am sure if you do a search you fill find one that would accomodate your needs

Here I found one but its for version 6... I think

http://www.dreamweavermx-templates.com/tutorials/tutnewtemplate.cfm

I did do a search, but all there seems to be is for after it's already kinda made. I need from the start. I don't know anything about that. I have CS3.

*edited*
I wrote that before I checked out your link, Samantha. That looks like EXACTLY what I need...I haven't read it all yet though. I may be able to adapt it to my version. I'll post back after I read it all.

Thanks Samantha!!

Ruth... I am not sure but your version could be the Version 9 and it was released 2007

maybe when you open the program and click on "help"... then "About Dreamweaver" they will provid the exact version number for you

and perhaps that would help narrow down any future guides you search for