How Many Domain Names?
July 18, 2008 – 10:35 amAs we are in the beginning stages of our online marketing experiment obviously the first requirement is a domain name.
We could cover the how-to’s of domain name registration and hosting. But I really want to talk about the number of domain names required to build an effective web presence.
So how many is too many?
If you have so many domain names that you can’t stay intently focused on a unique identity for each, you have too many. It’s hard enough staying up to date on the doings of one domain, let alone several.
If you don’t have a distinct purpose for having multiple domains I would focus my branding energy on just one.
Don’t get yourself so spread out that your entire online presence suffers.
Can’t I just forward all of the domains to one website?
Yes, but why? Google will eventually get bored with the redundant content and may even get confused on which ones to de-list. They might even get rid of them all.
What are some good reasons to register several domain names?
It’s probably not a bad idea to register each of the most popular versions of your domain (.net, .info etc). If you own the most popular .com version chances are slim that somebody will type yourdomain.net, but it wouldn’t hurt to own it anyway.
If your domain name is easily misspelled, I’d register as many of the obvious misspellings as possible just to avoid missing any web traffic or email.
Setting up micro-sites and micro-stores is very popular now to emphasize a product line or niche. Having a separate domain name may be a good idea in this case.
Some people register different domains for blogs and newsletter sites etc. In these cases I’d probably just use a sub-domain (e.g. blog.onlinebizdirect.com) instead. Check with your web host about setting up sub-domains for your account.
Our goal is to stay focused.
Remember as kids when we used to burn leaves (and other things) with a magnifying glass? The more focused the light became the more intense it was. Let’s focus only on what we can apply that level of intensity to. For now anything else just seems like work for work’s sake.
One Response to “How Many Domain Names?”
You nailed me. Over the years I’ve found that thinking up domain names and registering them has been the easier part of the whole process. I would get what I thought was a great idea, and I would find that the domain name was available, and I just had to have it.
It’s left me with about twenty or so domains whose underlying intentions have since taken up a back burner.
And you don’t want to just toss them out. That would be admitting great failure. But what’s worse? Pathetic domains that embarrass you and damage your reputation? Or just scrapping them?
My AdSense income from them has amounted to about $100 over five years. Pretty sad, huh?
Still, my cognition grinds along trying to amalgamate these efforts into one big project; a sort of demonstration of how to deal with your attention-deficit disorder and capitalize on, and salvage, your past attempts.
I would add that if you can get your own name.com, it is a good idea. I waited for mine to come available for about three months, and paid money to have a service police it for me.
It’s among my stable of needy upgradeables.
I’m now off on a tangent with Ustream, hoping to broadcast a how-to on salvaging waifs like these which have been tossed asunder by the information overload typhoon.
Wish me luck.
By Mitch Powell on Jul 31, 2008