Protecting Your Brand with Defensive Domain Name Registration
You go to great lengths to secure your business. You lock the doors at night. You watch your numbers, and you’re prepared for cyber attacks. One area you might not be defending enough is your domain name. Defensive domain name registration is a concept every business owner should understand. It’s not just about the domain name of your website. It’s about making sure no one else can get into that space and make it look like yours or theirs. I am not sure which is worse. You want to make sure they can’t use it for evil deeds. It is a low-cost insurance policy. Usually it is not more than a few cups of coffee per year. It is a simple way to protect your brand’s reputation and your greatest marketing tool which is your website.
The Scary Side and Why It Matters
I have seen this happen to companies before. I even saw it happen to a candidate for political office not that long ago. He had the .com version of his name, but he skipped getting the .org. Someone else got the .org version. This person did not like the candidate. They set up a site that looked just like the real thing but it was filled with mean stories. It was a total mess. It can be very frustrating to see your name used against you like that.
If you own YourBusiness.com but not YourBusiness.org, anyone else can register it. They could then hurt your name and reputation in a number of ways. They could send spam emails from that domain or have bogus information about your company on the site.
Even though you never sent the emails or wrote the content, you have to fix the problem. This is the same reason I own fullscopecreative.biz. Even if .biz is not the most popular name out there, I bought it so a spammer could not use it. It keeps our reputation clean.
It is a smart move to grab the .net, .org, .biz, and even the .info of your domain name. Keep everyone else away from them so only you can use them. If you want to learn more about how these names work, ICANN has a great guide on the basics of domain names.
The Strategic Side of Competitor Defense
There is also the keyword land grab to think about. If you own a coffee shop in Green Bay, you want to own BestCoffeeInGreenBay.com. Even if it is not the name you use for your main site, you do not want a competitor to have it. You do not want them using that high-value keyword to send traffic to their own shop instead of yours. If it is available for a few dollars, grab it before they do.
This is where having the .net, .org, and .biz versions comes into play again. If it is a good keyword, we do not want a competitor to have any version of it. By registering them first, you can slow them from getting a strong foothold in your market. We need to protect our business. We want to protect our keywords as best we can. It is just part of being a smart owner.
Typos Happen
We have all been there. Some days where our fingers move faster than our brains. Typos happen to us all. If your domain name has a possible typo or a typo you know is common, grab that version of the domain name as well.
Think about common typos like the “S” trap where someone adds an S to the end of a name. Or think about switching words around. Buying these extra names ensures that when a customer makes a mistake they still end up on your doorstep. They will not end up on a broken page or a site owned by someone else. We have all made a typo before so we know how easy it is to do.
How to Handle Your New “Fleet” of Domains
The best part about this is that you do not need a new website for every name you buy. You just point them all to your main site. It is a very easy way to make sure all roads lead back to you.
These additional domain names can easily be set up in cPanel to redirect all users to the main domain name that you have for your business. You can add as many of these as needed.
Secure Your Peace of Mind with Defensive Domain Name Registration
At the end of the day, defensive registration is about peace of mind. It is about knowing you locked the digital doors so you can sleep a little better. It is one less thing to worry about. Check if your .net, .org, or common typos are available today. It is a small price to pay for a lot of protection.
If setting up these domain names to redirect to your site seems a bit confusing, just reach out to Full Scope Creative. We know this stuff can be a headache when you are busy. In fact, if you are hosting with us, we will handle setting up these redirects for you. We do the tech work so you can stay focused on running your business.