Purchasing more than one domain name is an excellent investment when done sensibly. When done right, owning multiple domain names is synonymous with brand protection and business security. We’ll explain exactly why that is in this blog post. 

Yes, You Should Buy Multiple Domain Names

Owning more than one domain is a smart business decision. However, that doesn’t mean you should go out and buy every domain name that strikes your fancy. Instead, approach purchasing multiple domain names with a strategy and plan like any other business move. 

The Importance of Domain Names

When someone asks, “What’s a domain name?” It’s easy to answer with “an online address” because it’s accurate and concise. A domain name is an intelligible, readable address for any web server on the Internet. It’s certainly easier than typing a long-stringed IP address into your browser every time you want to navigate somewhere online. 

But, to leave the answer at that would be a disservice to both domains and your brand. The former is vital to the latter. Often, a domain name is the first exposure someone has to a brand — they type it in their browser and consciously or not make a judgment about the name. 

Building a brand is about building relationships with your audience. You can help to reinforce your brand with strategic domain name purchases and usage. Two opportunities to do this are opening new locations for your business or launching new product lines. Many large companies are known to purchase hundreds if not thousands of domains to build their brand. 

There are other reasons those big companies own multiple domain names, too. When those businesses purchase many names, they do so for brand protection. What are they protecting against? Typosquatting, cybersquatting, and the unfair and illegitimate use of their trademarks.

What is Cybersquatting?

Cybersquatting is a broad term that includes typosquatting. It’s what happens when someone registers or uses a domain name in bad faith. 

Cybersquatting can negatively affect a business, especially one that’s still growing and defining its brand in the market. When someone registers a domain name that uses trademarked words, they’re trying to take legitimate website traffic away from those sites or ransom the names for more money. For example, someone registering a domain name like shophere.amazon.com would be committing an act of cybersquatting against Amazon.com. 

Typosquatting is another form of cybersquatting that involves purchasing domain names that are popular misspellings of other domains or clever spellings and using those names in bad faith. Ultimately, cyber and typosquatters are just looking to make a buck and profit from your name. You can prevent this, and protect your brand, by purchasing those misspelled variations of your domain name before someone else does. 

Though brand protection is vitally important as we mentioned earlier, it’s not the only reason to own multiple domain names. Sometimes, owning more than one domain is in an attempt to help our audience.

User Error and Misspellings

Not everyone is a great speller. 

Some of us won blue ribbons in our local spelling bees growing up, and some of us certainly didn’t. 

Whether or not you’re a decent speller shouldn’t factor into whether or not you arrive at the website you’re trying to reach. But it often does, and this is something to think about when purchasing multiple domains. 

Once you’ve decided on your ultimate domain name, stop to think about different ways it could be spelled. Is there a phonetic spelling? Can you come up with any possible misspellings? These are the types of domain names you’re looking to register. 

Once you register those domains, just redirect them to your primary domain. This way, you’re ensuring that no matter what, those bad spellers and accidental typos still arrive at your website. 

Leveraging Multiple Domain Extensions

New domain extensions are released frequently, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for any that make sense for your business domain name. Names that are sensible purchases would include those relative to your industry or business model, like .yoga for a yoga studio or .online for an online store.

Protect Your Business with Multiple Domains

At the end of the day, purchasing and owning multiple domain names is in the best interest of your business. By owning more than one name, you’re ensuring that your brand grows and those names stay out of the hands of cybersquatters.