Should your business register domain variations?

Alvin Brown
Reading Time | 3 Minutes

Another season of soccer is just around the corner. I know this because we recently registered our oldest son.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing 5 year olds attempting to mimic the adult version of soccer, then you’re missing the laugh of your life.

Nevertheless, as we were leaving from completing registration, the following domain captured my attention as it was prominently displayed via a wrapped vehicle: RainTechGutterSolutions.com.

I don’t know if it was the fact this domain was a 4-word .com, or I took interest in wondering if this company had also registered RainTechGutter.com and RainTechGutters.com.

Either way it captured my attention so much so that I had to stop and snap a quick picture.

Often times, companies tend register a primary domain without a first or second thought for additional domain registrations.

As time progresses and more companies are birthed and bring to life their digital presence to the world wide web, the likelihood of multiple companies named the same or similar will only grow in number.

It’s become critical to ensure companies protect their brand with defensive registrations.

Most businesses tend to think that first right of use and marks (i.e., trademarks, registered marks, service marks, etc.) will protect them.

First right of use and marks to apply when in the same field of business, but what happens when the company with the same represents and operates a business not in your market?

Not that this question applies to this story and current company, but a question worth objectively answering for all companies.

Seeing Rain Tech Gutter Solutions uses a 4-word .com to digitally represent itself, curiosity got the best of me wondering whether or not shorter versions of the current domain were available.

When performing a quick search, here were the results (* denotes available for registration at the time of this writing):

Notice the inclusion of new domain extensions using .solutions, .services, and .company.

To remedy the likelihood of multiple companies named the same or similar growing and needing a domain name, new domain extensions are likely to become widely accepted and affordable alternative to pricey .com domains.

I’m always going to be a .com guy, yet retain preference to use new domain extensions when it makes the most sense (i.e., like saturated markets/verticals).

So, if Rain Tech Gutter Solutions doesn’t own the first two .com addresses and is reading this article, then might I suggest to them to register both — if nothing more than redirect domains.

Searching for brandable domain alternatives for Rain Tech Gutter Solutions also led me down the path of searching for additional keyword domain options to consider:

Owning and using keywords is something that more businesses should consider as our way of living and doing business move deeper and deeper towards web dependency.

Totally unrelated, but worth a mention, I recently received a who.is domain inquiry for a keyword .com domain representing cloud technology. This domain was purchased on behalf of one of my customers.

This same customer has been forwarding the domain to their website, but is now considering selling the domain because the offer is likely 15-20 times more than their original investment to secure the domain from GoDaddy’s expired domain auctions.

This could be the same story for Rain Tech Gutter Solutions and your company too with the right domains.

Closing Thoughts

Rain Tech Gutter Solutions is the perfect example of a good brand using the exact match name — even if using a 4-word .com.

But they also serve as a reminder for companies using domains consisting of 3+ words to always be certain to register shortened and abbreviated domains to protect their brand from existing and future competition.

That’s all for now!

Alvin Brown
Alvin is a serial entrepreneur and digital strategist with an avid love for domain name consulting. As the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of DNAdverts.com, his assignment is to ensure business and personal brands don't suffer the consequences of common domain name pitfalls.

As a domain investor and business consultant, Alvin actively participates in daily domain auctions. Outside of auctions, he passionately shares his views, opinions, and vision for how businesses should and should not use domain names to generate greater customer growth and revenue.
Alvin Brown

Alvin is a serial entrepreneur and digital strategist with an avid love for domain name consulting. As the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of DNAdverts.com, his assignment is to ensure business and personal brands don't suffer the consequences of common domain name pitfalls. As a domain investor and business consultant, Alvin actively participates in daily domain auctions. Outside of auctions, he passionately shares his views, opinions, and vision for how businesses should and should not use domain names to generate greater customer growth and revenue.