There are different reasons why businesses should register a number of domain names. Mainly, this is done to help customers find products and services online, even if they type in a few letters out of place. But itʼs also now an important step to take against cybersquatting and domain misappropriation. Here, we explain just what these terms mean and ways that you can protect your website from their negative affects:

Cyber squatting is where people register a domain name of someone elseʼs trademark so that the person who owns the trademark will pay them a fee for the domain name. It can also mean other forms of domain name misuse such as:

• A disgruntled ex-employee may register a similar domain name to slander your business.
• A competitor registering a name very similar to yours in order to take away your customers.
• A funnel for a pornographic website can be set up where a variation of your domain name funnels traffic to a pornographic website.
• A ‘sucks’ website can be set up by an upset customer who uses a variation of your domain name to publish complaints about your business online.

As you can imagine, all of the above scenarios can have a detrimental impact on an online business.

There are however a few ways that you can ensure that none of the above happens to your business. Here are some suggestions:

• Register common misspellings of your domain name that could be used by someone else.
• Register any variations of your domain name that people might get confused and try to use to search for your site.
• Register the plural- It might be a good idea for you to also register the plural version of your domain name if you haven’t already.
• If you have more than one word in your domain name, register it with and without hyphenations between words.
• If you haven’t already, register the domain name as .com, .biz, .net and .org.

Unfortunately, there are people out there that are abusing the internet and making it difficult for businesses. There are however things that you can do to help minimise the chances or prevent this from happening to you. The above suggestions also really emphasise the power of the internet and the ability for employees and customers alike to voice their opinions about your business in a public forum. For this reason, it’s very important that you take the steps to resolve any issues as soon as possible with upset customers or employees.

Whether you have just started the process for launching your online business and are currently looking at dedicated servers, shopping carts and other important website elements, or if you have had your website for a few years now, it’s never too late to take the important steps in order to protect your business from cyber squatting and domain misappropriation.

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