Why You Should Get a .Com, .Net, and .Org Domain
If you’re starting a business and you buy a .com domain name, you need to also consider buying the .net and .org versions as well. If you already have a .com domain, buy the .net and .org versions. If they are already taken, you’ve just learned an important lesson about consistency in branding. Don’t worry, you may be able to buy them later.
If you are an attorney in private practice, your name is your brand. Imagine owning JohnDoe.com and having a person named John Doe operating a popular conspiracy theory website called JohnDoe.net. It is possible a person searching for you on Google comes across the JohnDoe.net website and clicks on it. You would not want a potential client to associate you with this person. By owning as many domain extensions with your personal brand as possible, you’re protecting your brand.
When you sell products online and business is good, unscrupulous individuals may try to cash in by buying your domain with another domain extension, such as .biz. They will sell inferior, knock-off versions of your products. This is illegal, however, you may not know what they are doing until they damage your brand. People may leave online reviews of your product, not realizing they didn’t buy from your official website.
Once you have your content on your .com site, redirect the other top-level domain extensions to your .com site. You can do this in your cPanel interface where you host your website. You can also forward a .net or other domain extension to your primary domain in the DNS Management panel where you purchased your domains.
You can also use your extra domains for landing pages for pay-per-click campaigns or as a squeeze page to gather opt-in email addresses. A squeeze page is short and easy to build. It focuses on one offer, such as a free e-book as a lead magnet.
Having and strong social media handles is also vital for branding. Claim all your handles on each platform, even the ones you don’t currently use. Use your domain name so your branding is consistent everywhere. Say you manufactured and sold Blue Shoes. You could buy BlueShoes.com and open your online store. If your product takes off, someone may buy BlueShoes.us and start selling counterfeit Blue Shoes. They could sell on social media under the handle Blue Shoes and cash in on your good name. This is why you claim your handles right away.
When people search for your company online, you should own as much of the real estate as possible.
Wilson Alvarez is a Technology Evangelist residing in Miami, Florida. With extensive knowledge in the field, he has aligned himself with the ultimate resources, blogs and aggregates them via this medium & shares them within his tribe. He is an Activator, Futuristic, Relator, Ideation and WOO! If you are interested in taking your business to the next level via his Platform Builder Technology, info@wilsonalvarez.com may be the key to that path. You can just dial 305-Computers as well.