Why The Fuss Over Domain Names?
Domain names! Why do so many make so much about so little? And they do. Some of the biggest corporations in the world have to gone to court because someone has used a derivative of their corporate name. The last I read Google had over 200 variations of Google.com registered - and that is without talking about their Google.co.uk and other regional domains - I am simply referring to the dot com, dot info, dot org etc. variations.
How far do you need to go with your business? For a business based in Scotland, is the dot co dot UK sufficient, or do you also need the dot com? What about dot info, dot org along with name variations? These are all issues that need some consideration by the business owner and perhaps, if it is not too late, by the lawmakers.
It is interesting to note that in countries like Australia, you cannot get a dot com dot AU domain unless you have a business registered in that name. It certainly protects businesses and has stopped the domain name trading that was once rife. Others would argue that domain name trading is a legitimate business strategy on its own. That is an argument for another day.
The issue for all business owners is whether or not to secure your domain name early or to wait until your business is established. There is much to the old saying ‘he who hesitates’. Wait and your domain may have been pilfered by an enterprising domain name trader.
Domain names are important. They are part of your organisations branding so you need to protect your name. If you are starting out in business, register your domain during the start up process. The cost is minimal compared to many other start up costs. That small investment may protect your name and prevent much higher costs down the track.
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March 24th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
You ask the question as to how far you need to go to protect your brand name, but don’t give any advice as to which TLDs Scotish companies should buy. I’d personally advise any Scottish or UK based company to own the .co.uk and .com versions of their domain names, and if possible, with and without dashes. For example if you are Branding your site as Green Gerbil you should buy greengerbil.com, greengerbil.co.uk, and to secure the branding, green-gerbil.co.uk and green-gerbil.com.
The dashed domains can be dropped after the main site is established on the front pages of the search engines for it’s main search terms, as the site will then be established and google don’t like to allow different versions of the domain name to share the front page of their SERPs.
As domain names are so cheap, you are are well owning all four, but you don’t need to worry about the .org, .net, .eu or .info versions of the domain name, as once your .com, or .co.uk version of the site is established, the others won’t get a look in.
Finally, if someone has an established domain name, don’t be tempted to but a sub domain version of it such as .ltd.com, or .uk.com, as if the TLD version of the domain name is firing, the sub-domain version will never get a look in.