Some things are better in multiples: Potato chips, ice cream scoops, and – apparently – domain names.
When we say, “multiple domain names”, what exactly do we mean?
If you have multiple websites, of course you’ll need multiple domain names – one for each website. But even if you have only one website, you can have multiple domain names.
Sometimes, it can be an entirely different domain name. For example, as of writing this article, if you type in the domain name www.books.com, you’ll be redirected to Barnes & Noble’s main website.
But you can also get domain names that are just slightly misspelled versions of your domain name or the same domain name with a different extension. For example, if your domain name is www.hosting.co.uk, you might also want to buy www.hosting.co.uk.
Why do you need multiple domain names? Here are five good reasons!
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5 reasons to buy multiple domain names:
1. Buying multiple domain names protects your reputation
Some people spend their time trying to destroy other people’s reputation. And what better way to do that than to impersonate you?
If your website isn’t yet well established, you might think you’re safe from this. But can you honestly say you can’t think of a single person in your life who secretly wants your website to fail? No petty, jealous co-workers or bitter ex-partners? The best way to fight against them is to take one of their pawns out of play by buying domain names they could use to impersonate you.
And even if right now, your website is small, and you can’t think of a single person who’d want to hurt you, your website isn’t going to stay small forever. And by the time you see the danger of leaving your website unprotected, it will already be too late. Buy multiple domain names now, while your website is still small, and the domain names are still cheap.
2. Some people can’t spell
It’s true. Not all your visitors will remember how many Ms are in “tomorrow” or how many Ss in “success”. If your visitors keep misspelling your domain name, don’t go on a national campaign trying to teach your visitors to spell. Just buy the misspelled domain name and gently redirect your phonetically challenged visitors to your website. That’s what Google did when it bought www.googel.com.
And please, for the love of all that is good, don’t choose a domain name that’s just asking to be misspelled. When you’re choosing your domain, follow these tried and true tips for choosing a good domain name.
3. Multiple domain names = more visitors
If you buy generic domain names and redirect them to your website, you can attract more visitors. This is why Barnes & Noble bought books.com. Now they get visitors who type in the name of their main website and internet newbies who just type whatever they’re looking for, followed by “.com”!
4. Multiple domains make it easier to enter new markets
Want to break into the French market? It’ll be easier if you have a French-specific extension like “.fr”. The same goes for most other region-specific domains. If you have multiple region-specific domain names, you can duplicate your content and translate it into different languages without losing traffic. You can also use multiple location-specific extensions to tailor your content to suit visitors in different markets.
5. You’ll prevent price-gouging later
This is for all the website owners who think it’s a great strategy to buy a single domain name and then buy multiple domain names later, when their websites are bigger and buying multiple domain names becomes a necessity.
Here’s why this is a spectacularly bad strategy: There are people who make their living from buying domain names and reselling them at a profit.
The bigger and more established your website, the more desperate you’ll be to protect your brand. And the people who bought that domain name that you want so much? They can sell it back to you for any price they think you’ll be willing to pay.
Any price. (Domain names have sold for millions of dollars.)
Buy multiple domain names now, before domain name resellers have caught on to how valuable that domain really is. This is the best way to prevent price-gouging when you’re at your most desperate.
The takeaway
If you want to protect your website’s reputation and your wallet, buy up all the domain names that could be mistaken for yours or that could help you break into markets you’ve been eyeing. This is the best way to prevent disaster in the future and to ensure massive profits in the present.
