If you plan to run a business, then, the very first step you need to do is to choose your domain name that’s based on the name of your business – it’s a very crucial step and will make all the difference between success and failure.
Now, before, you go on deciding to choose a name for your website, think for a minute – will one domain do?
Of course, if you can purchase multiple domains for your website, you can and should do so – it will not only increase the visibility of your website plus it will also protect your brand name from the hungry competitors.
But buying more than one domain for your brand name – is it really that important? Okay, you may have to shell out some cash to buy the extra domains, and you know what, there are several plausible reasons why you should.
It’s all for the spelling mistakes
It happens – after all, we are only humans, and we often enter wrong URLs into the browsers – don’t tell me that you haven’t entered ‘googel.com’ instead of ‘google.com’, see mistakes like that often happens.
What if it happens in your case too?
For days and weeks, you have thought of your perfect brand name, and you have even snagged off a domain name – but what are you going to do if someone who has been looking for your website instead lands up on a different website just because of one missing letter? You could lose business due to that, and I am sure that no one wants to lose business like that – that’s why, it’s for the best that you should consider snatching off a few domain names that are variations of your brand name.
You can head to the ‘Google Search Console’ and from there, you can take the help of ‘Search Analytics’ to check as to what people are using to get to your website. If you happen to see a wrong spelling variation of your primary domain that seems to happen quite frequently you can consider getting that domain name for yourself and pointing it to your primary name.
You will need to protect your brand
Getting multiple domains for your primary domain can help your business in many ways. First off, it will ward off any competitors from snatching up a similar domain to yours and getting your traffic routed to them.
Say, you want to change the name of your brand – getting multiple domains is a must as you can then redirect your old domain to the new one.
Take note of Search Engine Optimization
Getting multiple domains for your primary domain is a must, and do you know that it can help the website to rank quite high in the SERPs? But yes, getting multiple domains means you will need all of them to point to your main domain, and that too, with the help of a ‘301 Redirect’ and only then, it will improve the rankings of your website.
When a Robots.txt file and an XML sitemap is created, the search engine can index your website quite easily, and if the website has multiple 301 Redirects from various domains, it makes it even easier for your primary website to get indexed properly.
And no, Google will not penalize you for duplicate content – in fact, if you are worried about that, you can implement it through the domain registrar or the site builder.
Redirecting domains to your primary one is quite an easy task – you can either opt for the ‘Domain Redirect’ option or contact the support team.
Using multiple domains for promotions
Did you know that you can use multiple domains for promotions and special offers that are related to your brand – it’s a great way to generate buzz and drive traffic to your website?
Say, your business’ name is JohnDoeChips, and you have only recently started a new type of chips, with the main ingredient as ‘Tomato’; so, you can come up with a domain name that’s related to your domain name such as ‘JohnDoeTomatoChips’ and make a landing page for it – not only the name is easy and a memorable one for the people, it is even simple to advertise it.
That said, if you have multiple promotional TLDs redirected and represented in the sitemap properly, then Google can index those domains and your website will soon rise in the rankings.
But do remember one thing, no matter how many promotional TLDs you run – temporary as they are – you should disable that domain and hide the landing page once the promotion has ended and update the sitemap, or else, Google will run into outdated pages.
Consider expanding into new markets
If you are thinking about expanding your business, then, having multiple domains can work in your favor. In fact, if your online business serves people outside of your country, it’s always a best idea to invest in domains that are related to countries.
Let’s take the example of the previously-mentioned website ‘JohnDoeChips.com’ – if your business is based in the US, and you plan to sell to Canada and the UK, then investing in domain names such as ‘JohnDoeChips.com.ca’ and ‘JohnDoeChips.com.uk’ is a must and will work to your advantage.
As soon as you plan to expand your brand to the international level, then acquiring in country-specific domain names is a must.
So, do you need multiple domains for your brand name?
While having multiple domains is a must, you should also note that not all businesses do need to have multiple domain names – say, if you have a single brick and mortar store, you don’t need to have multiple domain names, as it will only confuse the customers.
Also, if you have a small business in a single location, then, having a strong and a particular brand name is the way to go, you are not going to need multiple domain names pointing to your primary one.