One of the strongest pieces of advice that I have long given my coaching clients is that you need to purchase your domain name, that is your name as a domain (URL).  The thing is, you may have a URL in the company name and be thinking, I already have a website with a different URL.  Why would I need a URL with my name?

PORN Star

Okay.  Listen carefully.  You NEED to buy your name as a URL.  You may never use it.  But…owning it prevents other people from using it.  The contributor to the site may be unsavory, a porn star or a whole myriad of activities that would be an embarrassment to you and a defamation of your character.  You wouldn’t have much power to change that.  Imagine your clients thinking you were a Porn star?!

Are you thinking of writing a book?  Before you title it, you guessed it, make sure that you can acquire the URL with that title.  If someone else already owns it, you need to change the title of the book.

Check out what Heather Fletcher says in targetmarketingmag.com on the topic.

Credit: Getty Images by FG Trade

“Joe Biden now joins Jeb Bush, President Donald Trump, Google, Marketo, and Dell in notable domain name foibles. The Democratic presidential candidate’s domain got purchased by Trump’s reelection campaign”.

An example of domain name issues,” the domain name for the initiative the Biden camp announced on Oct. 23 showed up as Trump’s. The Biden initiative, Todos con Biden, does live on Biden’s site, but TodosConBiden.com reads: “Oops, Joe se olvido de los Latinos. Oops, Joe forgot about Latinos. Joe is all talk.” Then two buttons read, “Vamos” and “Let’s go,” with both redirecting clickers to Latinos for Trump.”

Domain Name Strategy

Consider the following Steps:

  • Secure the Domain Before You Launch
  • Renew domain names- I recommend having names on autorenew so that they stay yours without having to continually try to keep up with it
  • Buy similar domain names- if you have a number in the name, have it both as a numeral and spelled out.  If you have a name that can be spelled more than one way, buy the domain for each so that regardless of someone else’s confusion, they still get to you.

Share this tip on your social media sites, with your staff, colleagues and friends. Yes, it’s that important…Just ask Joe Biden’s staff. They will agree.