.org use cases? Crypto, non-profit, what else?

[domainguy50]

So everyone knows .org is useful for:

-non-profit organization
-Crypto

In The past it was really only be valuable for nonprofits. Is it fair to say .org is the 2nd best extension behind .com IN GENERAL?
What other use cases are there for .org? Can it work these days for anything ?

-Healthcare
-"organizations"
-social websites like forums?


What have you seen .org be used ssuccessfully?

 

[E-Promote]

Yes, personally I think .org comes in right after .com. I own a few .nets, but honestly I think they are pretty much worthless (with a minority of exceptions of course).

An important thing to remember about .org's is that they carry an automatic built in level of trust (of course you can always screw that up) due to years of .org branding in the media. You can use .org's for commercial purposes (ideally some type of helpful/supportive commercial purpose) but I wouldn't suggest doing it w/o ownership of the .com and it would need to be toned down a bit.

 

[domainguy50]

Yes, personally I think .org comes in right after .com. I own a few .nets, but honestly I think they are pretty much worthless (with a minority of exceptions of course).

An important thing to remember about .org's is that they carry an automatic built in level of trust (of course you can always screw that up) due to years of .org branding in the media. You can use .org's for commercial purposes (ideally some type of helpful/supportive commercial purpose) but I wouldn't suggest doing it w/o ownership of the .com and it would need to be toned down a bit.

Good points

What if the .com (for a certain term or keyword combo) is not available and being used for its another purpose (such as a tiny local business) ? I feel like the .org in that situation is the next best fall back option. Sure you'll bleed some users who forget you're .org but the SERP/social media could make up for it. I guess ideally you could offer the business bags of money for the .com domain name but at the moment I couldn't afford it and .org seems like an convenient option as the .org is for sale


There's just some terms I want as .com but the .com is not for sale or the .com is being used and underutilized for some random little shop... That's why I'm looking at .org versions of these terms. Hoping to rely on .org brand they've built (as you state) as well as google SERP, and social media.

 

[E-Promote]

(such as a tiny local business) ?

If it's a tiny business offer them a tiny amount for their domain The thing to keep in mind is that you plan on making your sites succeed. You are not planning on failure. If your plans succeed and your site is commercial you will always regret not having the .com and by then the .com should have some sense and not let it go cheap. If you buy the .orgs before approaching them be sure to put privacy on them.

If your plans are more affiliate/drop ship based then just the .org is less risky. I hear you, if I had no other choice and the .org's were avail for handreg then I would go that route, but only after taking a day or two to think up 2 or 3 word .coms avail for handreg (if 2 or 3 word .coms are an option).

 

[~ The 34 Year Buzz!!]

So everyone knows .org is useful for:

-non-profit organization
-Crypto

In The past it was really only be valuable for nonprofits. Is it fair to say .org is the 2nd best extension behind .com IN GENERAL?
What other use cases are there for .org? Can it work these days for anything ?

-Healthcare
-"organizations"
-social websites like forums?


What have you seen .org be used successfully?

Thanks for asking, (Yes you did mention Crypto)
https://bitcointalk.org
Home of the biggest events in the Modern world. For example "a thing" called EOS raised over $4B ($4,000,000,000) before even releasing their software.

EDIT: A horrible place (https://bitcointalk.org) unless you know the history and how they changed after the BILLIONS of DOLLARS invaded the once peaceful paradise...<snip>

 

[Bob Hawkes]

While .org still way smaller than .com in actual use, it has shown small but significant growth in website use (defined as use in top 1M websites in world) going from 4.6% in 2010 to 5.1% use in the summer (I have not rechecked last few months). Over the same period .net went down and .com also slightly down although almost constant.

To answer your question....

What other use cases are there for .org? Can it work these days for anything ?

I think there are many from almost every area. One type of use, even for profit companies, that I see a lot of is for big data / statistics / analysis type companies. There are some of these right in domain names such as https://namestat.org/

I also see some companies using it for sort of side efforts - e.g. of a philanthropic, social or environmental nature.

Something I have been pondering of late is whether there will be a global backlash against Verisign controlling both .com and .net and in particular the contract for .com controlled by a branch of the US Government. I might be wrong, but in this time of so much trade tension, I think some will just be realizing that (subject to ICANN as well) what happens to .com is controlled by one government. .com really is the world's most valued TLD. I wonder if some may select an.org (or .io etc.) instead of a .com for this reason. I may be wrong and not many people really are concerned.

So guardedly, I see a positive future for .org (even though currently I own none ).

Bob

Here are the most used websites using an .org. Most off them are nonprofit, but many companies further down the list I am sure

• Wikipedia
• CreativeCommons
• Archive
• UN
• PBS
• Change
• DOI
• UNESCO
• AboutCookies
• Debian
• ScienceMag
• WorldBank

 

[Internet.Domains]

As mentioned, .org has trust. As an example, my local school debate team is to only use .org as sources.

In addition, as mentioned, .org is being used in the crypto/blockchain sphere. It has taken on a "decentralized" meaning.

Concluding, the future looks good for .org.

 

[~ The 34 Year Buzz!!]

..
...
Here are the most used websites using an .org. Most off them are nonprofit, but many companies further down the list I am sure

• Wikipedia
• CreativeCommons
• Archive
• UN
• PBS
• Change
• DOI
• UNESCO
• AboutCookies
• Debian
• ScienceMag
• WorldBank

An interesting list thanks Bob,
CreativeCommons at #2 is close to an "open-source" example. I would have expected to see wordpress.org.... // or what if all the Linux communities could be "counted as one" in order to see their actual traffic?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

An interesting list thanks Bob,
CreativeCommons at #2 is close to an "open-source" example. I would have expected to see wordpress.org.... // or what if all the Linux communities could be "counted as one" in order to see their actual traffic?

Good points. WordPress.com is high on the list. I should have mentioned I extracted them from the 500 top list at https://moz.com/top500. They use linking root domains as the primary measure, as I understand it, so a list strictly on number of visits might be different. I just scrolled through the first few hundred places on the list. I may well have missed one or two.

 

[~ The 34 Year Buzz!!]

Good points. WordPress.com is high on the list..

WordPress.com
WordPress.org
``
Looking at the "real-world" usage can lead to amazing opportunities.

.Org = "Co-op" / Open source / "For the greater good" / People give time and effort for free, because they want to.

.com = (in this context) The same experts who create something amazing and give it away for free, get to go out in the world and make big bucks as consultants, devs, plugin experts, etc...

 

[FolioTeam]

So everyone knows .org is useful for:

-non-profit organization
-Crypto

In The past it was really only be valuable for nonprofits. Is it fair to say .org is the 2nd best extension behind .com IN GENERAL?
What other use cases are there for .org? Can it work these days for anything ?

-Healthcare
-"organizations"
-social websites like forums?


What have you seen .org be used ssuccessfully?

A lot of .orgs in the healthcare business. Eg MayoClinic, WHO etc. Also research institutes, some data organizations also use .org quite successfully.

Sometimes, some fields may go both ways. Case in point, Genetics.com and Genetics.org. While the .com (which sold for 150k btw) is being used to sell genetic tests and the likes, the .org is used by the GSA to run a publication on all things genetics.

So, while .orgs may be peculiar to some fields, it's more imperative that you use it the right way. I don't expect the Genetics Society of America to run on a .com just like I don't expect the business selling genetic test kits on Genetics.com to use a .org.

 

[Kate]

Popular use cases:

• NGOs
• not for profit entities
• human rights related
  
• computer projects (Apache, Debian)
• foundations
• informational sites
  
• legal
• personal empowerment
  
• healthcare
• education

There are some end users who are adamant on .org and would not trade their name for the .com.
On the other hand if you are running a purely capitalistic venture on top of a dotorg, it usually means the .com was already taken and that's all you could find. I may be old school but it doesn't look good.

 

[E-Promote]

I love .org's just haven't wanted to proclaim it for a long time as this is a competitive business, but as I look at the drops me thinks the word is finally out

 

[domainguy50]

Craigslist
Khan academy
Coursera
4chan

All run pretty successful commercial operations on .org

 

[~ The 34 Year Buzz!!]

I may be old school...

"You are either at the table or you are on the menu" (from your current sig)
Old School?
Experience can be valuable, and does being "old school" put you at the table, or on the menu?

 

[Kate]

At the kitchen.

 

[~ The 34 Year Buzz!!]

At the kitchen.

LOL
Veggies / Big Steaks / or both?

 

[Zilla]

I totally agree .org is quite strong extension and good for above use case as kate and other members mentioned.

and I want add a funny one, a real case how I use .org for my own...

I just bought(AAAB.org pattern), the only reason I bought that AAAB .org is because its pattern(include how A and B located in the keyboard), it very easy for me to type in while use my cell phone browser....I use it as my personal bookmark page...I only need type 4 letter AAAB and .org is defaut there, so total 5 very easy typen to go to my faverite site/tool list....

 

[viniproject09]

Yes, personally I think .org comes in right after .com. I own a few .nets, but honestly I think they are pretty much worthless (with a minority of exceptions of course).

An important thing to remember about .org's is that they carry an automatic built in level of trust (of course you can always screw that up) due to years of .org branding in the media. You can use .org's for commercial purposes (ideally some type of helpful/supportive commercial purpose) but I wouldn't suggest doing it w/o ownership of the .com and it would need to be toned down a bit.

.org is are non-profit. But are not worktless I guess. I liked your idea for non-profit commercials.