Conceiving and Establishing an Authoritative Domain Name

Posted on March 23rd, 2010
A blog post by DN (1 Comment)

Man people understand the basics of buying a domain name, and if you are reading this then you probably own a domain or two of your own. While  the process of domain buying may seem very simple, there are some hidden strategies that should not be overlooked.

After your domain has been procured, there are measures that need to be taken to control the uniqueness and power of your domain name. Your domain domain is an online identity, and if that identity represents your online business, then you’ll want to do everything in your power to prevent competitors from committing “identity theft.” Simply conceiving and buying an original domain will not accomplish this. Consider the following information to ensure the safety, authority and efficacy of your domain name.

Conceiving a Domain Name

The process of deciding which domain name would be best for your business can be a difficult one. Nonetheless, with a few tips you’ll be on the right track in no time. The best advice you can have is to come up with a name that is very original and memorable. If your domain name is close to another domain name, then some of your visitors may be drawn to the other domain inadvertently. Likewise, a domain name that is hard to spell or remember will be easily forgotten, resulting in a loss of visitors.  Since your domain name is a representation of your online brand, you’ll want to make sure it is something that you’ll be comfortable with for years to come.

Purchase All Domain Extensions for Your Domain Name

Although it is true that .com domains are more popular and more beneficial than any other kind of domain, this doesn’t mean you should completely forget about the other extensions. When buying a domain name it is a good idea to purchase all of the extensions for your domain name. This way your competitors can’t benefit from the popularity of your domain name. So if your domain name is “my-unprotected-domain-name.com”, then you’ll want to purchase “my-unprotected-domain-name.net” etc. Of course, you may not feel the need to buy a .info or .gov extension for you domain, and this is understandable. However, at the very least you’ll need to purchase the three major extensions; .com, .net, and .org.

Purchase Domains with Close Alternate Spellings

Many people make small typing errors when entering the name of a domain. Your competitors are aware of this fact, and many times they’ll buy domain names that are close in spelling to yours, just to take advantage of this. To prevent this from happening you’ll want to buy any domain names that are closely related to your domain name. For example, if your domain name is “commonly-misspelled-domain.com”, then you’ll want to buy the domain name “commonly-mispelled-domain.com” as well. Notice the second domain name only has one S in the word “misspelled.” Although this is an incorrect spelling, many of your visitors may make this mistake. To bring them to your site you’ll need to own this domain, and then redirect the misspelled domain to the original domain.