Protecting Your Brand Online / Corporate Identity with ''Secondary Domains''

Many organizations only register one domain - .org for their website. Cole WebMarketing (a Charlotte, NC based website design/development and internet consulting firm) suggests to all .org's that they also register the .com domain.  There are several good reasons to do this, and one of the main ones is that many (most?) people will type in .com by habit.  When that happens, confusion/frustration set in, and you can lose someone who really needs help from your organization and/or wants to DONATE to your organization!

If you want to ADD YourOrganizationName.COM to your program, it may be easiest/cheapest/best if you simply contact your current Registrar for  YourOrganizationName .org and have them register this "secondary" domain for you.  Have them "point it" to YourOrganizationName .org. Then make sure you let your current Website Hosting Company know you've secured the .com domain, and they will "park it" at your hosting program.  The domains, .org or .com work as an "alias" meaning typing .com or .org will send people to the same (single) website.

Protecting Your Brand/Corporate Identity Online: Securing the .com domain will not only help "protect your brand" online, it will also avoid losing prospective new customers who type in  YourOrganizationName .com and get this type of error message:  "Oops!  could not find nami-charlotte.com"

I also suggest to all domain owners that include a "-" in their domain name, such as NAMI-Charlotte.org, also register the domain "dashless".  I've already done this on your behalf, and it's included in your annual Cole WebMarketing Website Hosting Program.

For maximum brand protection, and to help avoid "confusion in the marketplace" we recommend that you also register the .NET domain as well.  Doing so means you now have/own all three of the top-tier domains.

Domains can be Registered at "Registrars" or through resellers, such as Cole WebMarketing.  There are several major Registrars, and hundreds of smaller ones.  I'd suggest going with the "big daddy's" in the industry. There are some Registrars that include some punitive clauses and/or other restrictions, not in the best interest of the person or company registering the domain name.

Domain Registrations can be annual (one year term) or more.  Sometime discounts are offered when you register for 5 or 10 years.  However, I prefer NOT to be locked in long term (with anybody or anything…well except for my wife!) so I just go "year-to-year".  Prices vary and in 2012, domain prices increased worldwide.  Domain owners can expect to pay $15-25 per year, per domain.

WARNING: Be cautious about Registrars that offer super cheap 1st year pricing, such as $1.99 for the 1st year.  They know that most customers will stay with them when year two kicks it at a MUCH higher rate, often higher than the industry norm.

Cole WebMarketing can register domains "on behalf of" any of our clients.  It's important to note that YOU, our client (company owner or organization) "owns" the domain, we simply "manage" the domain (and annual Renewals") for the client.   Most of our clients prefer this route, since "one call does it all" - anything related to their website, email, domains, etc. is managed by one company (Cole WebMarketing).

WHAT IS WHOIS? It's also important that the WHOIS, the information about any domain is correctly and completely filled out.   There are 4 parts to the WHOIS - The Registrant (owner), The Administrator (manager), The Technical Contact (usually your website company or IT Dept. Director), and The Billing Contact.  It's never a good idea to have all 4 the same name/phone number/email.  Usually we list the client as the Registrant and us (Cole WebMarketing) and the other 3.  Whatever email is associated with the Registrant, "controls" the domain, so make sure this is YOU the customer or someone you really trust and has a proven long term positive & professional track record as a "Domain Manager", such as Cole WebMarketing.

For more information about Domain Registrations, or if you'd like Cole WebMarketing to design/develop or "totally overhaul" your existing website (and also manage your domains for you), please visit our website, CarolinaWebsiteDesign.com and then call us at 704.456.WEB1 (9321).