How big is your company and how popular are your products or services?
If your name is obscure or your company is very small and you don’t plan on growing beyond your local area, you’ll likely only need is your .COM and .CA.
However, for small businesses that plan on growing, it is important to plan ahead for your success.
The more popular your brand, the more valuable your intellectual property, and the more likely someone else will try to profit from it.
After becoming established, you don’t want to have competition or someone else with your names registered, and then try to sell them back to you or compete with you online, profiting from all of your hard work.
8. Determine your risk by looking at the competition
If you are in a market with many competitors, it is more important to protect your brands and names across multiple extensions and variations. Look at your competitors and see what names they have registered. This may help you gain valuable insight into key domain names you should be registering.
If you are lucky enough to have little competition, don’t forget to consider future competition as your product or service demonstrates success.
9. Review your budget against the previous guidelines
With any small business, money and cash flow are always a key consideration. The number of domains you end up registering will likely depend on your budget balanced against the risk of someone else registering your names and competing with you.
The key point is that in the large scheme of things, domain names are cheap; and a fraction of the cost in terms of time, legal expense and a battered reputation if someone has your name and is using it to drive traffic to their website or posting objectionable material. For most businesses, a single lost customer each year could account for the price of multiple domain registrations.
If this seems a bit over the top, imagine for a moment what it would be like it would be to have other competitors hone in on traffic intended for your business; or if one of these extensions pointed to an offensive website. For the minimal effort and cost involved, it is good business practice to anticipate such possibilities.
10. Ask for volume discounts
As a rule of thumb, do your research and expect to register 5-10 alternate extensions or variations for every domain name you intend to actively market, be it a business, product, trademark, or blog. Small Business BC clients may contact Webnames.ca customer support for information on volume discounts at support@webnames.ca or by calling 1-866-221-7878.