6 Helpful Tips When Registering Your Domain
Getting a domain is one of the most exciting parts of building a business website. Business owners just like you spend a considerable amount of time contemplating which domain names look good for your brand. And if you’ve managed to find that perfect domain, then good for you. The next step in the right direction after this is domain registration.
But before you click that Buy button, here are a few helpful tips when registering your domain.
Protect Your Brand with Other TLDs
At the end of each domain name is an extension or top-level domain (TLD). The most familiar and popular TLD would be the .com. If you managed to secure your .com, be sure to get other related extensions. While you would need to extend your domain shopping list, getting those .net, .biz, and other TLDs is a worthwhile move. Securing all the relevant extensions would serve as an insurance against brand imitation or identity theft in the future.
Bank On Numbers and Misspellings
In the spirit of protecting your brand online, make sure you purchase other domains your customers might use to find you. Do this, especially if your chosen domain is potentially confusing to those who aren’t very familiar with your brand.
For example, if your domain name includes the number “3”, it might be wise to get the domain with a spelled out “three” as well. If it contains a word that is often misspelled, you might want to get those misspelled domains, too. You can use all these later on to redirect people to the correct website.
Purchase Long-Term Registrations
Unless you’re getting a domain specifically for a project that you plan to shut down permanently after some time, you’re better off with long-term domain registration. It’s best to always think five or ten years. It might be costlier upfront but that also means you have one less thing to worry in the years to come. You can also save some money eventually because sellers typically provide discounts for long-term registrations. But whether you decide to go short- or long-term, be sure to follow the next tip.
Enable Registration Auto-Renew, Reminders
Who would forget to renew their single most important digital branding property, right? It doesn’t happen in real life, right? Well, just ask Google and Microsoft. In 2003, Microsoft temporarily lost its Hotmail.co.uk domain. Someone bought the domain that same day. Luckily, the kind soul returned it immediately.
More than 10 years after that incident, it was the turn of Google to go through the nightmare. Its Google.com domain registration expired and one of the world’s most precious domains was suddenly up for grabs. It was snapped up by a former employee for $12! The new owner could have asked for millions, but he decided to hand over the domain to his former employer. In return, the company gave him $6,006.13 – or the numerical spelling of Google. Again, a giant was saved by a kind soul.
Don’t let this happen to you. Set up all possible reminders to make sure you renew your registration on time or earlier. Also, enable automatic registration renewal for that extra peace of mind. Just make sure the credit card linked to that account is still valid by the time of the renewal.
Register Domains with Your Credentials
While people may be inherently kind, depending on how you choose to see things, there have been horror stories of business owners losing a domain to those who registered it for them. Sometimes it can be business partners who had a falling out; sometimes it’s the web designer you barely knew but trusted so much. So, if possible, do this step on your own or at least instruct the person to register using your name and email.
When in Doubt, Go Ahead and Buy It!
If there’s a shopping decision that you probably won’t regret, it’s getting your own domain as soon as possible. Every single day, thousands upon thousands of domains are sold. What are the chances that someone else from across the world would end up buying your perfect domain name? The answer is high and that’s an understatement.
So, if you’re thinking about starting a new business or brand, do the right thing and register your target domain ASAP. Hopefully these tips will help you do that successfully.