So you’ve registered a domain name for your business, and you’re busy getting your brand online – think your work is done? Think again!
Dan Boaz, CEO of Airfreight.com, has amassed an astonishing 1,000 domains related to freight transporting, and it’s all part of a strategy to dominate his industry by capturing web traffic.
It’s a strategy that appears to be working – type ‘air freight’ into the search box on Google US and Airfreight.com is right at the top, ahead of long-established shipping giants like UPS and DHL.
Boaz has registered a vast array of domain names connected with freight and shipping, including ExpeditedFreight.com, FullTruckload.com, HotshotTrucking.com and SameDayDelivery.com.
There are a number of reasons to register multiple domain names for your business. Here are a few :
Make sure your customers can get to you
With all the new gTLDs out there, you don’t want your customers going to the wrong web address for your business. If you run a party planning business, let’s say, it’d be a tragedy if customers went to
greatpartyplanners.party instead of your domain, greatpartyplanners.com. Look through the list of new gTLDs and register your brand name on the relevant ones before somebody else does. And, of course, register your domain on the more established TLDs like .info, .org and .net as well as .com.
Highlight different aspects of your business
If your business has different arms, consider registering multiple domain names rather than hiding those different business arms in subdomains of your main website. If you’re a real estate agent that deals in
both sales and rentals, you could register both TomsHomeSales.com and TomsHomeRentals.com. This will give you additional keyword possibilities to market your business online. Consider also getting localised domain names – TomsMiamiRentals.com – is more descriptive than TomsHomeRentals.com.
Think about all the different aspects of your business: you might be surprised by how many there are. Purchasing domains for each one is a way of future-proofing your business, too: one aspect mightn’t be a significant part of your trade now, but it might be in the future, and you’ll want a domain for it.
These domains can point back to subdomains or landing pages on your main domain, or,
if you have the resources, can point to websites you’ve built to cater to that
arm of your business.
Create and develop marketing campaigns
If you have a tag-line for your business, or if you sell branded products of your own, why not register those as domains? McDonalds has registered the ImLovinIt.com domain name, which redirects to a promotional page for the company. As a business owner, you need to think long term; if your tag-line or product name becomes well-known, you want to control that domain name, not somebody else!
Plan for future growth
All businesses should have a growth strategy, and registering multiple domain names will be part of this. If your business expands nationally or globally, or if it diversifies, you want to own the relevant domain names to seamlessly transition to new regions, products or services. Think about how your business might expand in the future, and register the relevant domain names – register your brand name with different country TLDs, for example, and register different, localised versions of your brand name if that’s relevant to your business. If you’re planning a new product launch, registering thenrelevant domain name should be part of your product planning strategy.
Dan Boaz of Airfreight.com offered some advice on Forbes.com to businesses looking to expand their domain portfolio:
1.Get specific. “Broad domains (such as AirFreight.com) are powerful, but more specific domains (SameDayDelivery.com) can resonate with buyers who are looking to purchase your services right now.”
2.Be vigilant. “Keep your eyes open for any domain that will help your business, either defensively or offensively.”
3.Don’t try to maintain too many websites at the same time. “I once had as many as 15 sites up at one time. That was too many.”
As Boaz notes, you need to think ‘defensively [and] offensively’ when it comes to your business. You want to control your brand online, and developing a portfolio of domain names relevant to your brand is an essential part of that.
