Joe- Should I renew the below [.org, .info and .net versions of domain name] if I am going to just use the .com domain? Thanks- [anonymous] (undisclosed for security reasons)
If you’re only planning to use .com then you can let those others expire. Whoever purchased them for you may have gotten them so that other people can’t buy them, so as to safeguard your company name on the internet. Once you get that name registered with the copyright office though, this won’t be necessary. It will be simple illegal for anyone to use that name without your permission in any way shape or form. There’s even a great company you can hire to help ensure this called Citizen Hawk. Much cheaper and way more effective than hiring lawyers. This may be a concern when your company grows larger, and I think Citizen Hawk is the way to go. Because spammers can do some pretty nasty stuff with your name if they feel they can profit from it.
You’re not going to loose .com by expiring other domain name (unless you agreed to some twisted terms and conditions with your domain registrar), but if you’re company name isn’t a registered trademark yet, when you gain recognition equivalent to let’s say Togo’s, you might want to buy them back. You might want to buy them back before then even. It depends on how safe you want to play the game. But I think spammers typically target big-time corporate companies so since your only famous in your local city area, you probably don’t have to worry about it right now.
Other Notes
Domain extensions each have specific purposes. .com= company, .org= organization, .mobi= mobile, etc. It’s a good idea to use the extension that applies to whatever it is your website stands for. If you have a company is called Alien Planet and you sell other-worldly artwork, it’s no competition to you that there is an organization also called Alien Planet that researches documentation on distant planets covered up FBI reports in search of aliens. It would make sense for the art shop to own .com and for the research group to own .org. So, to be fair, be applicable.
On the other hand, nobody’s going to get any use out of lisabodejewelry except Lisa Bode Jewelry… and spammers (if Lisa Bode Jewelry gets high enough recognition). That’s when you take the steps above.
Finally, a lot of people don’t know about the intended purposes of domain extensions (or don’t think about it) so they always think “.com”. Using the example of a musician marketing for recognition with a blog, frankzappa.name isn’t as easy to remember for some people as frankzappa.com. Frank could tell them “frankzappa.name” and they’ll say “.name! Oh, okay.” Then a year later when they finally come around to giving out or visiting Frank’s web address they use frankzappa.com. If Frank was smart, he purchased frank frankzappa.com and had it forwarded to frankzappa.name where is website is. Or he just got frankzappa.com because who is going to create a company named after him? He might as well be it.
