Should I Buy Multiple Domain Names?

By SylverTek [ Reprint Info ]

Question: Should I register more than one domain name?

If you ask GoDaddy, Network Solutions or anyone else who sells domain names (including SylverTek, the producer of this website), they will tell you yes, buy multiple domain names for your website. Heck, start another site while you're at it (did I mention we sell hosting too?).

Seriously, though, there are some legitimate reasons to consider buying multiple domain names. These include:

• Keeping the domain away from your competition
• Promote different products and services you might offer
• Drive more traffic to your Web site - more domains means more options for targeted advertising and search engine optimization
• Create distinct advertising strategies that reach different target markets
• Provide customers more ways to find you when searching the Internet
• Capture common misspellings of your domain name, instead of sending visitors to an error page
• Protect your brand and online identity from those who may have unsavory purposes

In addition, your extra domain can find use as a parked page, though some may find this distasteful. Or it might be resold at a profit. A friend of mine was very impulsive with domain names - whenever he had an idea he bought that domain. I always thought it was a waste of money - until someone came along and offered him thousands of dollars for one of his "throwaway" names, far above and beyond the total of what he had paid over the years.

And then there is the question: Should I buy the .net and .org versions of my domain name?

This is by no means mandatory but my advice is yes. If the alternate of your domain fell into the wrong hands that could potentially cause you some harm. Also the extra name can come in quite handy if you are moving your hosting or testing a new site.