Should You Buy Multiple Domains?
Maybe you’ve heard that you should buy multiple domains for your business. This piece of advice gives many business owners pause, since they already know they should put a lot of thought into their primary domain. Read more about choosing the perfect domain name here. Like so many things, choosing whether to buy multiple domains depends on your circumstances. Read on to find out whether you should stick with one or purchase a few.
When to stick with one domain
- When you’re short on funds: While owning multiple domains is a much touted practice, having more than one domain name should not be your top priority. If you have limited funds to devote to your website, other things are probably more important than having multiple domains.
- When you don’t expect many new customers: If your site is specialized enough that you don’t expect many customers to find it organically, you may want to opt for just one domain. If you primarily get customers to your site through email or referral links or business cards, one domain may be sufficient.
- When you don’t have a good reason to buy multiple domains: The fact is that while having more than one business domain name is a sensible move for many people, it’s not for everyone. As with all other business purchases, if you don’t have a clear reason to invest in more than one domain name, you should skip the expense.
When to buy multiple domains
- When your domain name is dated, long, or difficult to remember: You want a domain name that is modern, clean, and easy to navigate to. If you’re missing out on any one of these factors, you are likely to lose customers. If you chose your website name without being aware of this, you’re far from alone! Having a secondary url that is more in line with these concerns but that redirects to your primary website can be a valuable marketing tool.
- When you want to protect your brand: If your site is growing in popularity, that’s great news. Unfortunately, it can also make you more vulnerable to fraud or duplicate sites. Some companies use this dirty tactic, buying “adjacent” domain names that are a letter or two off of yours. There’s a second danger, too – people are poor spellers, and you don’t want someone to mistype a single letter of your url and end up on a completely different page or a page not found message. To prevent this, you might try to investigate which close urls get the most traffic and buy those domain names for yourself.
- When you want to track marketing or advertising campaigns: Having a simple, distinct domain name can be very helpful for setting up tracking for an ad campaign. Plus, it’s always great to have a short and sweet address for a short-term sale to avoid confusing visitors.