Interesting question with domains each one requires a bit of work, but with multi hosting, the various .com .info .mobi .co they all do different things and the variables of what platform, what extras, what purpose they serve and to which authority. Then there are just redirects there or even slacker $3 dollar a month parked domains. Creating and exploring all this content and options to get value requires logging into many different passwords with many passwords, roboform is a good solution for remembering multipasswords. Also widgets can now be easily implemented into different hosts so why not if you have time and money branch out and widen your business reach.

The option is worryingly wait for someone to flip the challenging domain names with a wonderful abundance of backlinks, perhaps even a basic repeated PLR template delivering possibly more content than you wished in that industry to disclouse. The same site because of these variables could be worth $10 originally but under the hammer to buy back the internet real estate would be much more.

I have stopped trying to second guess my competitors internet impersonation activities, as I was buying domain names which were on no real use to me other than stopping these apparent impersonators.

I found that once a competitor started to try and ride on my wave on success they in fact caused more traffic to my web site, usually because I had purchased the best and most logical domain name. One particular competitor did get quite persistent and purchased four domains as variations on one of my domains. This did get irritating but on the principal of 'fighting fire with fire' I purchased three domains close to his main web site name and made him fully aware of what I had done and why, this worked and he agreed to back off.

I am very resistant to any laws and regulations being introduced to stop these activities as this would be 'the thin end of the wedge' and allow the political and legal 'parasites' to take control of the internet and make mega bucks from the situation.

In 2002 Price Waterhouse Coopers Consulting changed their name to Monday and launched the www.introducingmonday.com website. They didn't register any variants of the domain name. Within a day, someone else registered www.introducingmonday.co.uk, put up a Flash video taking the mickey and then told all the IT press. I'll bet it got far more visitors than the PWC site.

The original site is now down, but it lives on at the Internet Archive.

http://web.archive.org/web/20031228004352/http://www.introducingmonday.co.uk

Steve Green
Director
Test Partners Ltd (software and website testing), Accessibility and Usability Club

Enough people type URLs manually to make it worth registering some domain name variants. Here are three examples:

1. One of my corporate clients put the wrong domain name on my email address in her Outlook address book. Despite being asked to correct it she never did, and she cc'd various emails to everyone in her department, the web design company and several other companies so a vast number of people added the wrong email address to their address books. Fortunately we already owned that domain (testpartners.com) so I only needed to add a forwarder.

2. For several years we owned the accessibility.co.uk domain, and every few months I would receive emails that were intended for one of our competitors who had the accessability.co.uk domain. We always forwarded them but not everyone would do that.

3. A blogger intended to include a link to our website in their blog, but they misspelt the URL. The incorrect link then got indexed by search engines.

For the sake of £100 or so quid a year I think it's crazy not to buy all the top-level domains and other variants. One lost sale could cost a lifetime's worth of domain charges.

Steve Green
Director
Test Partners Ltd (software and website testing), Accessibility and Usability Club

I am not convinced that you need to...

How many of us really type a url into the internet browser these days. It is more likely we will click through from a search engine link... or (in the future) a mobile App.

But also note this: Brand Hijacking is rife online - a good reason why managing SEO is more important.

Yes buy it and divert the domain to your current site.


Warm Regards

Demos Flouri
Web Design | SEO | Logo Design | Leaflet Design | Graphic Design
T: 0845 108 6168
DDI: 020 3348 8868
M: 07985 736 168

Should I buy it?-----------------------------------------------------------------------Yes

Is it good business practice to continue picking these up?-------------Yes

Is it important in order to keep control?---------------------------------------Yes

Am I wasting my money?----------------------------------------------------------Yes

John Brandow , Ceo Brandow group, Centurion , South Africa

Marketing in the next few years are going to focus on the CUSTOMER.

There is a saying : Do not worry about your competitors - they will never give you money
Have sleepless nights about your Customers - they are the guys with the wallets !

I think a lot of Entrepreneurs need to look at how they find customers, how they keep them and what kind of service you give them. Why would they buy from you ? Do your customers like you ?

A website is not a business. A product is not a business. Customers are a business !

I would really not worry about related websites unless you can actually determine how many people make sales from searches for specific data. Remember searches are for services and products , not domain names

Greetings
John Brandow
Marketing coach

Yes, like insurance it's just another cost of being in business.
To buy all the top-level domains would cost less than £100 a year, which is negligible.
That wouldn't include the really expensive domains such as .tv, but your competitors are not likely to buy those.

Your domain name comprises two words, so you may want to register the hyphenated versions too, as we have done.

You will never know if buying the domains was worth it, but as with insurance you may come to regret not buying them if you don't. Even if you think someone else is passing off their business as yours you might get a solicitor to send a nasty letter, but if they ignore it there's not a lot you can do short of taking them to court, which is rarely a realistic option for a small business.

Steve Green
Director
Test Partners Ltd (software and website testing), Accessibility and Usability Club