Imagine running your business in the basement of a building with no easy way to get to you... The rent would be cheap, but you would have no foot-traffic, no window shoppers and therefore no new business. You would only get business from customers who already know how to get to you.

Hosting a website is much like this. The domain is cheap, but no one knows how to get to you. Obviously, you need to market your website to get some business, but you also need to make it easy for new customers to find you.

Owning multiple domain names could make it easier for customers to find you.

Lets look at some instances where owning multiple domain names could make a big difference to your business.

Domain Guessing

Some people try to find what they looking for by typing in the possible domain name, instead of accessing a search tool like Google search. A potential customer might type in www.hosting.co.za in the hope of finding a website providing hosting services.

Long Domain Names

A Company with a long name like "Improvate Hosting Solutions (Pty) Ltd" will benefit immensely from having multiple domain names. Your customers must be able to access your website by looking at your company's name and deducing the website address. It would therefore help owning www.improvate.co.za as well as www.improvate-hosting.co.za or www.improvatehosting.co.za.

Relevant Domains

Lets say that "Improvate Hosting Solutions (Pty) Ltd" mainly sells hosting ... It would be beneficial owning a domain name like www.hosting.co.za that would automatically forward any visitors to www.improvate.co.za. You want these domain names to reflect what you do.

Possible Misspellings

Have you ever struggled to spell a domain name? A domain name like www.igiornifuori.co.za could easily be misspelled. I remember once registering this domain and for some reason constantly adding an "n" and spelling "...fuori" sound like "...fuorni". Owning an additional domain names like www.igiornifuorni.co.za or www.igornifuori.co.za could greatly assist your customers.

According to www.ryaneven.com, entrepreneurs like Kevin Ham in the USA make millions through domain misspellings. Ham's business is worth over $300 million, with much of it coming from owning misspelled domain names that people type.

Hyphenated Domains

What is easier to read "improvatehosting" or "Improvate-Hosting"? Clearly, the hyphen separates the words for easy readability. The hyphen also helps search engines to identify that your domain name consists of two words and not one. This in turn assists search engines to associate your site with the words "Improvate" and "hosting". For a search engine, this means that customers can enter "Improvate", "hosting" or "Improvate hosting" to find you. Without the hyphen, a search engine would only know you as "improvatehosting".

Cyber-Squatting

Imagine owning www.design.com. What will you do if your competitor decides to buy www.designs.com? We call this cyber-squatting and it is very real.

In 2007, Microsoft sued Anthony Peppler seeking $100,000 in damages per domain. In the same year, Dell wanted to sue over 1,100 domains with similarities to Dell trademarks. Nothing stops an aggressive competitor from registering a domain resembling your brand or product.

According to www.dailydomainer.com the number of cybersquatting disputes filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2006 increased by 25% as compared to 2005.

The smallest marketing attempts can make a big difference in the long term. Purchase a domain whenever you think it might bring in some extra business. Domains are inexpensive. Can your afford missing potential visitors that could lead to potential business?

Perhaps you are thinking that this advice would only assist big businesses. If so, think again. A big business can afford to spend hundreds of thousands on marketing. A small business needs to maximise its exposure for as little money as is possible. Most companies would cover the costs of a domain if they only made one sale.

"The secret to success is to give yourself enough opportunities to win!"
- Sean Dercksen, www.setforsuccess.co.za

As you can see... there are many benefits to owning multiple domain names. Consider the cost and ask yourself: "Can I really not afford trying this out?"

Sources:
Rosencrance, L. 2007. Dell Sues Cybersquatters. [Online]. Available: http://www.computerworld.com. Accessed on 2008-05-24. Green, S. 2007. Microsoft Sues Web Squatters. [Online]. Available: http://www.journalgazette.net. Accessed on 2008-05-24.