Is Your Domain Name Safe?
Imagine how Coca-Cola® would feel if another soft drink manufacturer copied the design of their bottles in an effort to boost their own sales. Essentially, they are trying to profit off Coca-Cola®’s brand reputation. When you are running an ecommerce site, your domain name is your brand. Your domain name is the address customers use to find you based on your quality reputation. It takes time to build that kind of customer loyalty and a good standing, so you do not want to throw it away by losing your domain name or letting someone else with a copycat-domain cash in on your hard work.
Domain Expiration
Most businesses register their domain name for 10 years or more so they do not have to worry about losing their most valuable brand asset. However, sometimes this leads to complacency because site owners forget that all domain names eventually have to be renewed. The online world is full of “domain vultures” who would love to swoop in and steal your established brand. Make it a point to check the status of your domain registration on a regular basis.
Domain Name Extensions
Once someone finds that perfect domain name, he or she usually snatches up the name with a .com extension and may or not think of buying other extensions. Say you buy isellwidgets.com and set-up a prosperous e-commerce site. If you are not careful, one of your competitors can buy isellwidgets.net. Since people sometimes easily confuse extensions, the owner of the .net domain will be able to “steal” business from your website from customers who type in the wrong address. It is a good idea to buy the .com, .net and as many other extensions as you can so that this does not happen to you.
Common Misspellings
While you cannot account for every typo, there are certain ones you can be almost certain will happen. Using the example above, someone could easily forget to type the “s” and enter www.isellwidget.com in his or her browser window. If one of your competitors had the foresight to buy that domain, that competitor may be able to get business from a customer who should have been yours. Try to think of common mistakes that people may make typing in your URL, buy those extra domains and redirect them to your real website.
Avoid Alternative Spellings
You may be tempted to use alternative spellings in order to get the domain name you want. For example, you might choose katskorner.com because catscorner.com is too expensive or is not available. The problem is that when customers hear about your site, they hear “cats corner dot com.” Most people would use the logical spelling. Use the proper spelling for words in your domain name instead of coming up with creative substitutions.
In most cases, registering domain names is inexpensive. Since your domain name is such a crucial part of your ecommerce business’s identity, it is worth spending a few extra dollars to keep your brand safe. A little forethought when you register your domain will save you a lot of aggravation once your business is successful.