New Domain Names Might be Expensive to Maintain

New Domain Names May Cost Global 2000 Up to $75,000 to Maintain 

"Organizations have mistakenly assumed that having a domain name with 'dot-com' was enough. Registering a 'dot-com' for your company or brand, does not mean you are 'dot-done'," said Stephen Neils, Co-Founder and President of AbsoluteBusiness a Web Integrator with offices in the US and UK. "We are recommending that any organization that has or plans to have an Internet presence develop a domain naming strategy that goes beyond dot-com, with multiple names registered in multiple registries."

Neils estimates that the up-front cost of developing this strategy will cost the typical Global 2000 organization $50,000-75,000. "Whether you handle this issue internally, or hire a consultant, you definitely need to allocate resources for both acquisition and research," explains Neils.

The process of developing a domain name strategy must consider multiple factors, including the following:

Marketing and branding issues for existing and future initiatives and products 

Legal exposures and liability 

Misspellings of prefixes (for example, "kellogg.(suffix)" or "kelloggs.(suffix)"

Related sentences (for example, "ihateXYZ.(suffix)" or "XYZsucks.(suffix") 

Domains beyond dot-com 

Non-English language variants of names (for example, Chinese) 

A process for ongoing revision on a biannual basis to address new high-level domain names, products, acquisitions and mergers at a yearly cost of $20,000 

"The addition of these seven new high-level domain names by ICANN is only the tip of the iceberg," continued Mr. Neils. "Organizations must register names in multiple registries for both offensive and defensive purposes, but with the knowledge that no one can cover all the options. The future will bring more options, not less. Organizations with no plan for adapting their domain naming strategy to these changes do so at their own peril".

ICANN  Approves new .biz and .info 
     Domain Name Suffix

New Domain Names (Maybe)

New Domain Names Might be Expensive
     to Maintain

Domain Names Home

Related article:
Can You Register Your Domain Name As A Trademark? Should You Seek Trademark Protection?