Domain ownership is an important part of building your business and protecting your brand. It’s something that you’ll want to do before you do anything in establishing your company.
If you delay claiming the name online, this often has serious repercussions that will have you wishing for the turning back of time.
To avoid all of that and to ensure your business is set up properly, let’s look at the business case for domain ownership and protecting your brand before it even exists.
The cost of waiting to secure your domain name online
It’s important that you secure a domain name online as soon as possible. Waiting to secure it for any number of reasons will have a detrimental impact on the company’s success. Here are a few costs that come from waiting too long to secure an online domain.
Loss of the ideal domain
Someone else could pull the rug from under you by registering the name that you want. This will unfortunately mean you have to choose a different one that might not be the desired domain you wanted.
It might also be the case that the original domain you wanted ends up being sold at auction for a higher price, meaning you’ll lose even more money before you’ve even begun.
Higher costs
Some registrars will introduce a low introductory price for the first year, but then may increase the cost significantly when it comes up for renewal. Premium domains that are already taken can only be acquired on the aftermarket. These prices are often determined by demand and, therefore, might be a lot more than you anticipated them to be.
Increased risk
There’s an increased risk worth considering when it comes to domain ownership and delaying the purchase of one. It could lead to brand confusion if someone else registers the domain you wanted. It might also lead to someone registering a domain similar to yours so that they can use it to host malicious content or phish your users/customers.
How to avoid the cost of waiting
To avoid the cost of waiting when registering and buying a domain name, you’ll want to register your domain as soon as possible, considering longer registration terms and enabling auto-renewal.
Steps to evaluate, purchase, and safeguard the right domain
So what are the important steps to take when it comes to buying the right domain? Here are some helpful steps to evaluate, purchase, and safeguard the right domain for your brand.
1. Evaluate the right domain
First and foremost, you’ll want to choose a name that’s relevant to your brand. It should be memorable in its name and easy to spell and pronounce. If not, then it’s more likely to be forgotten about or misspelt as it’s entered into the search engine.
You may want to consider incorporating keywords that help with search engine optimisation. The simplicity of your domain name is what will help keep it memorable and successful in its recognition.
Conducting thorough research helps to ensure your name doesn’t infringe on any existing trademarks. You’ll want to check the availability of the domain online, but also on all social media platforms. If some are already claimed, you may want to enquire about acquiring these social media handles beforehand.
You also want to future-proof the name so that you ensure future growth and expansion of your business.
2. Purchase the domain
Once you’ve evaluated the domain in question, you’ll then want to purchase the domain. Choosing a reputable registrar to handle the purchase and management of your domain is crucial because if they’re not reputable, you might encounter problems as a result. These are problems that you do not one.
Checking the availability and price is a good way to check if your chosen domain is available and which registrar it’s the most affordable on. You may also want to add privacy protection as part of this domain purchase. This is useful for protecting and hiding your personal contact information in the public registry.
Setting the registration period is important to consider. Some business owners would prefer to do it year by year, whilst others commit to five or ten years at a time. Of course, the cost of which registration period you choose will determine how much you pay. You’d like to save some money by extending the registration period.
To help protect the domain, it’s beneficial to set up renewal reminders or enable auto-renewal to help prevent accidental expiration. This is also an opportunity for others to buy your domain, which you don’t want to happen.
3. Safeguard your domain
It’s important to do everything you can to safeguard your domain. That means enabling security features, like a strong password and two-factor authentication on your registrar account.
By double and triple-locking your account, you make yourself less of a target when it comes to being exploited by cybercriminals.
Locking the domain is helpful, which helps to prevent unauthorised transfers. This is something you can do on most registrar platforms.
Configuring your DNS securely is helpful, which is done by making sure your name servers are correctly configured and working properly. Installing an SSL certificate to secure the connection to your website is also helpful.
Finally, you should look to regularly check your domain’s settings, its renewal status, and DNS configurations. After you’ve bought your domain, you don’t just want to switch off from
Why domain strategy belongs in every founder’s playbook
When it comes to your domain strategy, you must make the purchase almost immediately as soon as you know what domain name you want. Be sure to purchase all variations of the domain name in .com or .co.uk format. This will help avoid anyone trying to ride on your coattails or potentially using your domain name for harm.
Purchasing the right domain name is the foundation of your business and the on building block on which your brand empire will sit. So you must have done everything right from the beginning.
