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Misspelling a Domain
Back in the glory days of the late 1990's, the web designers had
responsibility for the registration of domain names on behalf of
clients. One particular designer had a face to face meeting with a
major client, during which the client asked him to register
CarTuneCentral.com (or so he thought!). The staffer did a check and was
delighted to see the domain available. He made the purchase and proudly
emailed the client.
An hour later his boss
called him in to his office to say that he'd had a call from a very
frustrated client who *actually* wanted him to register
CartoonCentral.com. Needless to say the desired domain wasn't available
and the whole office dined on his mistake for months.
Letting the Domain Name Expire
Now
what type of company would allow their domain to expire a month after
site launch? A very large one, that's who, the company’s name is
withheld to save the company some embarrassment but the site was
offline for a total of 2 days while they scrambled to pay their
registrar, sort out DNS propagation and cover their tails.
Buying a Dot Bíz When the Dot Com Was Available
Buy
the dot com extension of the domain name if it is available. Although
some times some extensions were said to be the next big things, take
them only at the face value. For example, some time back, dot bíz sites were rumored to be the next big thing and all companies were being urged to choose them over dot coms. Now also, dot ws dot info and dot mobi
sites are being promoted as the next big thing. But, the fact is that
dot com is and will remain the most coveted domain name extension for
years to come.
Promoting a Domain Name You Don't Own:
At
one time, the University of Newcastle have spent thousands of dollars
on television advertising in Australia, marketing their new site for
online post-graduate coursework: GradSchool Dot Com. There's only one problem. The domain for this site is actually Gradschool.com.au. They don't even own Gradschool.com!
Sadly, this glaring marketing error seems to
have totally escaped them and they are happily referring to their brand
as Gradschool.com on all their marketing material and throughout their .com.au
domain. It's tragic to think of all the potential students typing in
Gradschool.com expecting to find the University program. I see that
whoever purchased Gradschool.com has slapped up some AdSense
code on it so at least somebody will reap the benefits of those
thousands of advertising dollars wasted by the University.
Don't commit any of the above mistakes in the matter of domains.
Other Pages on Domains: Domain Valuations Cheap Domains Domain Basics Domain Scams
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