Changing from .org to .com

I can't find much info on this subject. When I started my forums I used betaedu.org then I bought the .com in December and was wondering would it be worth changing from .org to .com. At the moment .com redirects to forums.betaedu.org. I think it would be better as a .com which I know can cause a headache for seo. Thoughts?

 

I always prefer for a .com and if you do as well then there's no reason not too as long you can be certain you can set up proper redirects so that anyone visiting links on the .org from say Google will redirected to the appropriate topic on the .com.

 

If you really want to do the change from the .org to .com - then set up a 301 redirect from the .org to the .com - you can do that in .htaccess and all your links should go to the new site within weeks/months.

I believe this is the code:
http://www.webconfs.com/how-to-redirect-a-webpage.php

 

I would always go with the .com if you have it.

 

Just to add to the thread : http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=83106

 

Thanks guys, I am looking at a new host to (have been for months), deciding on hawk host as my current host isn't really good at all.

 

Knownhost is pretty good as well.

 

Yer it was between them 2 companies, I still really made up my mind on who to go with. Really good reviews with Hawk Host, only need a shared server though.

 

MDD Hosting is pretty good too. Depending on how big your board is. I had trouble with a medium sized board but my WP sites have run perfectly.

 

Thank you for mentioning them! I will defiantly check it out now. I want to move severs within the next week.

 

Always, always, always go with a Dot Com. It's the goto TLD when a user can't remember what comes after the Dot. It's trite, veeeery used, and the only DDOT that sticks in people's minds since we heard the screeech of AOL connecting on a dialup. I think it's always prefered over any other TLD. Did I mention I like DOT COM?

 

We had a similar discussion to this thread. Here ya go: http://admin-talk.com/threads/6269/

Dot Com is always a good way to go.

 

Thanks for the replies, I moved last week to the dot com and going very well so far. We have the .org redirecting to the .com.

 

How's the SEO coming along? Any noticable changes yet?

 

There was a slight increase, webmaster tools hasn't come through with search queries yet.

 

I realise this is after the fact, but the other possible solution is to setup both domains on the same "site" directive in your web server, with the .com as the primary server name and the .org as an alias - then, within your forum software simply modify your settings to make the .com the preferred domain.

After Google has become aware of the change you can use webmaster tools to set the .com as the preferred domain there too.

I did this when I moved one of my sites from .co.uk to .net (to appeal to a wider audience).

Cheers,
Shaun