A couple of days ago I got this question from Heather:

I’m thinking about getting a domain name for my website. The .com is taken, but the .net and the .org is available. How important is it really to have a .com for your website? Can’t I just register the .net instead of the .com?

This appears to be a fairly common question, so I thought that I would share the reply that I gave Heather:

Hi Heather:

Good domain names, especially those that end with a “.com” are getting harder and harder to find these days. You can make do with a .net or a .org for your website, but really try to get a “.com” if you can, even if this means that you have to go for a slightly different domain name.

Why? Because “.com” is the domain name TLD (a TLD, short for top level domain is the domain name extension that follows after the “.”) is the one that is most well-known and well-publicized. Just about everyone has heard of the “dot-com boom”, the “dot-com economy”, and of course “the dot-com bust”. Most people when they are typing in a web address will naturally assume that it’s a “dot-com”. If they are not sure about your domain name, they’ll type in “.com” first before they try out the “.net”, “.org”, or “.info”. Some people might not even go as far as trying another TLD, they may just give up if they don’t reach your website after a couple tries.

Because “.com” is so entrenched in people’s minds, that’s makes it a lot more valuable than other domains that end in “.net” or some other TLD. Which also explains why it’s getting harder to find a good “.com” domain. In the future, other TLDs may start to get more familiar in the minds of people on average, but “.com” will probably be king of the Internet mountain for a while to come. So get that “.com” if you can.

If you have question about websites or promoting yourself online, click on the “Ask a Question” tab at the top of the page and send me your question. I’ll send you an answer to your question personally.

Well, I finally got around to publishing my latest Squidoo lens. This lens is a resource list for artists and crafters who have websites. There you’ll find links and information for all kinds of useful services and resources for blogging, ecommerce, promotional opportunities, web design and building tutorials, and links to websites where you can sell your artwork.

You can take a look at the lens at:
Resources for Craft Websites

If you’re not familiar with what Squidoo is, you can read my post about Squidoo here.

Plus, if you hadn’t taken a look at first Squidoo lens, “How Artists Can Market Themselves on the Internet“, be sure to check it out while you’re on Squidoo!.

Quick! What’s THE most important thing that your website must do?

Showcase your best art? Nope….
Get ranked on Google? Nope….
Sell your work? Definitely important…but nope.

What can possibly be more important than getting people to buy your work?

In this week’s newsletter, I’ll talk about what THE most important thing that your website must do…and how to make sure that your website does it.

To read the article sign up for the Crafted Webmaster Newsletter for free here: http://www.craftedweb.com/subscribe.html If you subscribe now, you can get a free audio download on “Effective Ways to Market Your Website Offline“.

Photo by Leo Reynolds

Just spotted another great article from Maddy from Modish to add to the Photographing Your Art Link Roundup. A new blog post on her BUILDING A BUSINESS series is about how to start a prop room for your photographs.

BUILDING A BUSINESS- Starting a Prop Room- This is a nice short article on what props to gather to style your photographs.

If you’ve missed the original post, you can check it out here:
Link Roundup: Photographing Your Art

A couple of days ago I was surfing The Crafts Report forum and ran across an artist comment about how they didn’t have a website because they were afraid of having their designs stolen and mass produced overseas. I’ve heard this particular concern throughout the years and while it doesn’t seem to be as prevalent among artists lately, I know it still remains a fairly common fear.

And with some justification. Design theft does occur and when it does it can have some pretty devastating effects for the artist and their business especially if it occurs on a large scale. It can be difficult to prevent and even more difficult to fight if you find that your design have been lifted and is now selling at the local Target or Wal-Mart. At the Buyer’s Market in Philadelphia, Rosen Group president, Wendy Rosen told about an artist who found that their design had been stolen and how they went after thieves. They ended up winning their case, but was almost destroyed by the hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees and expenses…not to mention all that lost time and energy with fighting the case. So artists who are leery about putting their artwork on such a worldwide channel such as the Internet do have some basis with their concerns.

But the problem is this. Any time you have your art out in a public arena, you run the risk of someone stealing your design. It’s not just the Internet…if you exhibit at shows, in galleries, in gift shops, sell in catalogs, or even if you’re featured in the media, there’s always a chance your work will come to the attention of a potential thief. If you try to eliminate every possible channel where your work could be exposed to potential theft, you may as well pack your work up in a box and leave it in your basement.

And think about this…any time you cut out one avenue for your work, you’re also cutting out potential benefits. By avoiding the Internet (or any other channel for that matter), what potential gains are you missing out on?

• New customers?
• New sales?
• Increased sales?
• New markets?
• A chance to expand or evolve your work and business?
• Media attention?

Bottom line…yes design theft is out there. But the benefits can be much greater than the risk. Don’t let your fear paralyze you.