– We're talking about why you
should own multiple domains for your business, here on "The Journey." whether it's for a business or a blog, or you just really want to
slice the pie of the internet, your domain name is your
digital address online. And if your domain is your address, your domain extensions
is like your zip code in that it gives you
your website visitors a little bit more information about you. And when it comes to
purchasing a domain name, there are a lot of common questions including whether your
business needs more than one. – So there's actually no limit to the number of domain
names that you can buy. But there's actually just
some general considerations that every business should make to determine how many domain
names they should buy. – There are so many
instances where registering an additional domain name could help more people get to your site, starting with misspellings. And I think this is one of
the most important reasons to purchase more than one domain name it's just to protect against user error because there's always
the potential for people to really misunderstand
what your domain name is when they hear it or make
a mistake when typing it.
You want to make it a priority to own all common misspellings
of your company's name or personal name. Like my last name is Nealey,
yet everyone spells it L-Y instead of L-E-Y. So I have justinnealey.com
and justinnealy.com but that's just one example. To account for those those
inevitable errors and typos, really consider registering
domain name variations for the common misspellings
that people make when searching for your brand and redirect them to your primary domain. Google for example, owns
google.com and goggle.com and redirects visitors to google.com. – Let's also talk about local competition which you know I'm gonna bring up SEO. So for search engine
optimization purposes, businesses with various locations, those multi looks that cater
to different audiences, often take advantage of owning
specific domains for each.
Makes sense, right? So if you have a keyword strategy in mind for your local market, having an individual domain for each one will actually help you to
take up more real estate. And that's great for search results. So registering country
specific domains as well can help you to prevent your competitors from profiting, from
geographically distant versions of your brand name. So that's why brands
like Nike for example, register domains like nike.com.au and it redirects them to nike.com. – It's also better for
just the overall branding for your business. You can register a GTLD
such as .store or.pro to target various communities and highlight segments of your business.
If you've already have a
traditional domain name that ends in like .com or .net, purchasing a domain name with
a different TLD alongside it may allow you to really
stand out from the crowd and highlight a specific
focus of your brand. And another way to use
a more meaningful TLD is to help people easily navigate to specific content on your website. For example, public companies
might use the .info .domain to really separate out their
investor relations information and a company running a campaign around environmental initiatives could have website name .green.
Obviously website name
would be a better example. It would be your business,
but you get the gist. – Now people can and will buy your domain just to trick people. I know. Crazy, right? But a more pressing reason
to buy more than one domain is then to protect your brand and as well as your customers. And there are two types of
people that will do this: criminals or competitors and this is a pretty serious problem and actually, even for major brands – Cybercrime can come in
different shapes and sizes: hosting malware, phishing
content and other scams. And if your business name is
available, they will buy it.
And at that point, you
maybe could try to ask them to sell it back to you, but then they can charge
really any price they want to sell it back to you. – Yeah, same goes if there
is a very common misspelling of your domain name
that's still available. However, however, unlike cyber criminals, your competitors aren't
going to stoop so low as to commit fraud using your brand name. But what they can do
is register the domains that you haven't. – And this could have
a significant impact. I mean firstly, anyone who
mistakenly thinks your website ends in .com, an assumption that the
majority of people make when it could be .co and
they won't find your website when they type in the address. A competitor with a similar
name may inadvertently create confusion.
So having related or similar domain names is an easy and inexpensive way to protect your identity online. – So what to do with all of these domains? Well, when you register a domain, there's actually no requirement for you to go ahead and create a website for it. Just simply set it up and
then if anyone visits it, it'll redirect them to another website. – Hey and with most registrars, it's pretty easy to forward
multiple domain names to your website. So you can simply create one site and then have all the others redirect. So if a visitor ends
up typing one of those or clicks a link, just goes back to your main website.
– Now, many companies do see the benefits of registering multiple domains. Think about it. It protects their business
from criminals and competitors and it also helps customers find them, making it easier for them
to sell to a wider market. – And with so many TLDs available today, it's worth taking a look
at the opportunities that these create. The key is to have a clear
game plan for each one and with a good strategy in place, you'll be well positioned
to make multiple domains work for you. So I've got to know. Do you have multiple
domains for your business? Let us know in the comments below and smash that Like
button while you're at it. – Also be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring that bell so
you're the first to know when our next video comes out. This is "The Journey." See you next time..
