As part of a new series, one founder tells the story of moving from a .org domain to the matching .com.
I’m starting a new series on Domain Name Wire today. Many entrepreneurs and businesses change their domain names. Sometimes, it’s because the domain they originally wanted wasn’t available or affordable. Other times, they decide to pivot their business. Or maybe they realized their original choice wasn’t ideal. I’ve interviewed businesses about domain changes before and have learned that switching domains isn’t easy. In this series, I’ve asked businesses to tell their domain change stories. Please note I’ve edited these stories with the submitter’s approval.
Luke Rosa, founder of Students of History
When I launched Students of History, I knew I wanted the .com domain. It was available the first time I checked StudentsOfHistory.com, but by the time I got around to actually registering it, it had been scooped up by someone else and turned into a blog.
I first reached out to the blog owner to see about buying it. They said they wanted to collaborate, which was not something I wanted to do.
So I went with studentsofhistory.org for several years. It worked fine, but the .com always lingered in the back of my mind. I kept an eye on the blog and eventually noticed it had been dormant for quite a while. That’s when I decided to make a move.
I used GoDaddy’s domain buying service to make an offer. GoDaddy asks you to set your maximum offer when using the service. I said I’d pay up to $5,000, and sure enough, that’s exactly what I ended up paying. Honestly, I think the previous owner would’ve sold it for much less, so I don’t put much faith in GoDaddy’s negotiation tactics. Still, I finally had the domain I wanted all along.
The switch to the .com involved a lot more work than I expected. I had to:
- Change all email addresses (while redirecting and monitoring both domains for months)
- Update business cards and marketing materials
- Set up redirects across the site to preserve SEO
- Update backlinks and internal links
- Notify email subscribers, affiliates, and partners
- Update all branding and directory listings across the web
Surprisingly, I didn’t notice any initial drop in search rankings. I did lose some helpful older pages and blog posts in the process (they didn’t survive the redirect cleanly), but I quickly rebuilt my content and made an effort to optimize everything from the ground up.
The result? Within a few months, Students of History was doing better than ever before.
- Direct traffic increased, and I had far fewer cases of customers landing on the wrong site
- Search performance improved, thanks to both the new domain and the renewed content focus
- Sales went up, and I noticed a tangible boost in user trust. The .com just looked more credible
Looking back, it was a bit of a lift, and I probably overpaid for the domain. But having the brand match the domain perfectly in .com? That’s been worth it.
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