Advantages of adding multiple domain names to your website
Your website's domain name is an important online asset. It is used by people to access your site, recognise your website's online "brand" and send email. Some search engines even use the words that make up a domain name to evaluate websites in search results.
Despite the importance of a website's domain name, many website owners do not adequately protect the online "brand" that their website's domain name creates.
To protect your website's online brand, it is a good idea to consider registering additional domain names that are similar to your website's main domain name.
Evaluating how important additional domain names are for your website is based on several factors, the most important ones being:
- Does your domain name use hyphens? If your domain name contains a hyphen ( - ), registering an additional name without a hyphen will make it easier to verbally spell your website's address to someone else. This can be particularly important when spelling your domain name over the phone or if you decide to run a radio, television or cinema ad in the future.
- Do words in your domain name have an alternative spelling? Some words can be spelt in different ways. For example, the US spelling of the word "color" differs from the UK/Australian spelling "colour" (containing the letter "u"). If your website's domain name contains words with alternative spellings, it is recommended that you register the alternative spelling as well. This will ensure that people can access your site even if they incorrectly enter your website's URL.
- Are words in your domain name commonly misspelt? On average, some words have a higher likelihood of being misspelt than others, particularly when words containing consecutive letters are entered using a keyboard (for example, the two "l"s in the word illustration). To check whether your domain name is likely to be misspelt, try asking as many people as possible to type your domain name in quick succession without making any corrections. If you notice that the same error is commonly made, registering one or two of the most common incorrect spellings can help reduce the risk of losing visitors, particularly if you are running a large, commonly visited website.
- Are country-level domain names available? Most countries have their own country domain names such as .us for the United States, and .com.au (and others) for Australia. While .com domain names are the most commonly registered domain names, they are not necessarily the most recognised in each country. If the country you live in has its own domain name type, registering both "international" .com, .net, .org, .info, and .biz domain names as well as local domain name variations can help increase your domain name's recognition in your country. Large search engines also provide an option for returning "localised" search results. To evaluate whether a website contains local content, search engines often use a website's domain name as a guide.
- Do you want to register common international domain name formats? In addition to the popular .com and .net domain name formats, .info, .biz and .org domain names are also commonly recognised. If you want to protect your online intellectual property, registering such alternative domain name types may be a prudent investment.
Cost considerations
Domain names must be renewed on a regular basis (usually yearly). The ongoing cost of registering additional domain names should therefore be considered, particularly for non-commercial websites. When deciding whether to register additional domain names, estimate whether the increased visitors you may receive will result in more profits/greater success for your site and how much popularity/sales you might lose if you do not register alternative domain names, or even worse, if a competitor registers a similar domain name to your own site.
How to add domain names to your site
You can add domain names to your site in two ways:
- A domain name redirection service: This service is offered by some companies but can sometimes be surprisingly expensive.
- Your Web hosting provider: Many good Web hosting providers will allow you to add multiple domain names as part of their hosting package. For example, Multimedia Australia's own Web hosting division, Hosting Reliance (http://www.hostingreliance.com), allows you to add an unlimited number of domain names to your website for free. This feature is included with all hosting plans as standard.
Registering additional domain names
There are many domain name registrars on the Internet. You can also register additional domain names from Multimedia Australia's website at http://www.mmaus.com/services/domains/.
