Most businesses spend too little time analyzing and protecting their on-line presence. Many hastily chose a domain name without a trademark availability search. When a prior trademark use or registration results in a cease and desist or threat letter, the company is already too invested in the domain and web traffic to simply walk away. Even worse, companies fail to protect their domain names/URLs as valuable property be securing the registrant information as company property from hackers, employees and business partners or registering variations and typos of the domain as a defensive domain registration strategy. Companies need to appreciate the revenue and business being transacted through their web sites and protect their domain, traffic and web presence as the valuable assets they represent.
» U.S. Businesses rush their Choice of Domain Name Domain Name News, The Domain Industry News, ICANN News, Registry News, Domainer News, Domain
U.S. small businesses are rushing their choice of web address, with 42 percent
investing under 1 hour of thought in the decision, according to a
survey released today by 1&1 Internet Inc., the world’s largest web
host by known servers. A survey of 1074 American businesses revealed
that the average business spends less than 12 hours choosing their main
domain name. Some 60 percent of business owners sought no second
opinion before making a selection and over half (57 percent) did not
consider options such as .biz or .net at all.Andreas Gauger, Chairman of the Board, 1&1 Internet Inc., commented, “The selection of a business’ web address is a crucial decision, businesses should consider all available options before purchasing their primary domain name. As the number of registered domains increases, it’s often the case that the best available domains belong to less obvious suffixes, and it is always advisable to seek external opinion on what a domain could suggest about your business.”
While most U.S. small businesses now recognize the benefits of having a website, the research would suggest few are optimizing their web presence. Some 7 percent of business owners surveyed admit to having forgotten their own domain name.
Gauger added, “Although purchasing a web address should be one of the first steps in launching a business, it is often bought in haste. Every American business must recognize the lasting impact that a domain name can have on sales and image, and business owners shouldn’t delay making necessary changes.”
Technorati Tags: trade mark, brand, marketing, web site
Comments