Costs of Neglecting a Domain Name Strategy
June 12, 2009
I recently came across a post on a popular social networking platform announcing the launch of a new company [unnamed for reasons below]. Wisely, the poster had registered the corresponding .com domain name in advance of announcing. Unfortunately, the company name does not translate well into a domain name and, as a result, they stand to lose significant traffic with increased exposure unless they take a proactive approach to their brand protection.
To begin with, of the two words comprising the name the first word ends with an “s”and the second word begins with an “s”. This raises the possibility of traffic loss due to the common mistake of people neglecting the first “s” when typing the domain name into the url bar. The potential for type-in loss is compounded by the fact that the first term, a made-up brand name, rhymes with and is only one letter distinguished from a very common English word –a word not commonly associated with an “s” ending.
So, the company is presented with the following scenario:
Owns:
[brands][service].com
Does Not Own :
[brand][service].com
[brants][service].com
[brant][service].com
["brant" used to roughly correspond to a rhyming, one letter variant.]
As of this post, all of the unowned domain names are available to register.
It’s safe to assume the owner of this, or any, new venture has every intention of seeing it succeed. Correspondingly, it’s safe to assume that with heightened brand awareness and increased success the potential for brand hijacking and cybersquatting increases. As such, domain names–including typographical and phonetic variations–that are taken for granted as irrelevant or are simply overlooked in the early stages become relevant and more prominent as your online presence grows.
Considering the cost of filing a Universal Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) action begins at $1300 (not including associated legal fees), whereas the cost of defensive registrations can run as low as $7 per domain, implementing a domain name strategy prior to launch and in anticipation of success can mean substantial savings, increased traffic, and avoiding distracting disputes.
Brainstorming the possible spelling and phonetic variations on your company name and securing the corresponding domain names is an important part of a sound domain name strategy and should not be neglected as you construct your overall business plan.
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