Domain names and protection

[mondeoman]

We've got a single site that we use for our business, but we've come up with a load of other domain names that we "could" use, rather than just www."companyname".co.uk., some of which relate directly to our company name and business, some just to our business.

Is it worthwhile registering them so that we have them, firstly as a means for protecting our "corporate image" and secondly as a method of improving our internet presence, if we created new websites/mirrored our existing site. We're not really bothered by the cost of registration, just whether its a worthwhile exercise to go through.

Cheers in advance

[Liszt]

Yep, why not. Ted has a few hundred or so tuckied in a pie somewhere. It allows you to focus people on areas of your business, while still having one web application in the background.

Plus it is also useful for setting rights for trademarks etc.

[rpguk]

Yeah it can be useful, but remember that while you might have the spare cash to buy them now, if your a small company then when it comes to renew them it might hit the wallet. And I'm not too sure on their status on the balence sheet.

If its just a couple though the above is probably not really an issue.

[PetrolTed]

It's definitely worth protecting the main name to stop others squatting on it.

Don't go too mad on non-core names though. Although I've got some interesting names in my portfolio they're pretty useless as they're unknown and to make them known would simply dilute the main brand.

[JamieBeeston]

for the trivial costs involved, its silly not to.

there are so many tools available to us as registrars now.

I can set domains to Auto Renew, so they never expire, set them to 'Locked' so no updates can be made, without me personally unlocking them for the client, idea being that if the client ever gets hacked, no harm can ever come to the domain unless I unlock it.

If you dont register it, some kid somewhere will, and then blackmail you for silly amounts to get it back.

Just IMHO


I have seen a few times, people deciding against it, then spending 100x the cost of the domain on legal fees just to get 1 domain back from one muppet.

Nike: Just do it