As a marketer you probably know the ins and outs of domain name registration and usage. Most law firms use a single domain name (yourlawfirm.com) but own several variations of their domain name. Firms do this to protect their brand, or to use different domain names for various types of internet activity.
Domain registration is important for protection as well as for success in marketing. Here are a few pointers and recent developments we think our client should know.
Protecting Your Brand
Anyone can register a domain name and, therefore, anyone can register a domain name that contains part of, or your entire, firm name. There are legal protections regarding trademark but there are still perfectly legal ways that others could use your firm name within a new domain name and point to content that is in some way damaging or problematic.
Many firms don't own variations of their own domain name. For example, a firm named Smith & Smith LLP might own smithsmith.com, but not smithandsmith.com or smithsmithlaw.com. It is possible for someone else to register those similar domain names and publish a website with just about any content they want (even negative information about your firm). Additionally, there is a risk that clients or others might send confidential information by email to the wrong email address. In the case of smithsmith.com versus smithandsmith.com it would be easy to mistakenly send an email to john@smithandsmith.com, instead of the correct email address, john@smithsmith.com.
.com Isn't the Only Option
In addition to similar names, there are also exact matches available using other domain extensions. Most firms own their own domain name with .com and .net extensions. Many also own .org, .info, and some others. These are excellent steps to protect your brand, but there are other domain extensions available. See a list of domain extensions here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains. Most of these domain extensions denote a specific country. If your firm does business internationally (or plans to) then it's a good idea to register additional domain names for your firm under these extensions.
Protect Against .XXX
A new type of domain extension is now available for registration - .XXX domains. These domains denote a specific type of website that is involved in adult entertainment. These domains are more expensive to register for those who intend to use them for an adult entertainment website, but registration fees are nominal if you want to register the domain solely for the purpose of blocking others from registering it - just a one-time fee to block the domain indefinitely.
Blocking others from using a .XXX domain means that the domain cannot be used by anyone, including the registrant. To do this you must prove trademark ownership (you can't just block any domain you want to.) This is the Sunrise B registration option, and it must be exercised before October 28, 2011. After that, registration opens to another phase and you may not be able to secure the domain.
Here is a helpful graphic from the Network Solutions website that shows all of the .XXX registration options.
See this page on the Network Solutions website for more information and registration options.
Fun with Domain Names
There are so many different domain extensions available that some companies can't help but have a little fun with them. Using domain levels and/or extensions, they have found ways to spell out their company name. For example, del.icio.us points to the Delicious social bookmarking service, goo.gl points to Google's URL Shortener, and n.pr points to the National Public Radio website.
And our favorite domain hack: satur.no (or satur.no.com)
Alternate domain name extensions can also provide a company with the opportunity to get a shorter domain name that might not be available in .com or .net.
Saturno has registered saturnodesign.com, but also shorter domains with the Saturno name in other extensions.