Your business has been online long enough for you to realize that your domain name plays a significant role in branding your business. You went to a lot of trouble to find that perfect domain to represent your image, but have you given any thought to registering multiple variations of that domain name?

Businesses typically register domain names that end in .com. In fact, you probably thought you were very fortunate to find your domain name in the .com version and you could stop searching, when, in reality, you still need to protect your domain name and your brand identity by registering multiple extensions, variations and misspellings of your primary domain.
   
Understanding Domain Extensions
To appreciate how registering multiple extensions can help you compete online, you first need to understand the different domain extensions. Your domain name is made up of two parts: your "uniquename" followed by a "dot extension" or TLD (top level domain). Registering your domain name with different TLD extensions makes it an entirely new name registered to an entirely different Web address.

There are three main types of TLDs: generic (gTLD), special purpose (sTLD), and country code (ccTLD). Popular extensions such as .com, .net .org, .and biz, fall under the gTLD list, but there are less popular gTLDs such as .info, .name and .mobi (.mobi is only for sites built to be browsed by mobile phones).

The more specialized sTLDs include .mil .gov, and .edu. You must qualify as a military, government, or education entity to register one of these domain name extensions.

The country code ccTLDs are generally used by a country or geographic territory. For example .us is used for the United States while .co.uk is for the United Kingdom. Some smaller countries, however, with interesting ccTLDs have chosen to market their domains for other uses. For instance, the country of Tuvalu, a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, has the extension .tv. This ccTLD is increasingly being used for online video sites. Similarly, the extension .fm, which is assigned to the Federated States of Micronesia, is used by some radio stations.
   
If you want to learn more about domain name extensions, view the complete list of TLDs along with descriptions of each extension's intended use.

What Are the Risks of Registering Just One Domain?
In the early days of the Internet, companies would generally only register one domain name, often .com or .net, and that would be their corporate Web address. Unfortunately, a number of bad practices on the Internet mean that today this can be a risky strategy. There are several risks associated with registering just one domain name:

• Cyber squatting, or the act of registering a name in bad faith, is a major problem facing businesses on the Internet. In many cases, the registrant will attempt to sell the domain name back to the "legitimate" company, and in some cases companies have paid significant sums to recover domain names that were originally overlooked.
• Competitive vulnerability is when one of your competitors sets up a Web site using a different TLD with your domain name in order to lure your customers away. Unlike cyber squatting, where the registered domain names are usually "parked" until you purchase them, when competitors register a variation of your domain name, it is typically intended to hurt your business.
• Traffic funneling is when someone sets up a variation of your domain name or they register misspellings of your domain name to draw the traffic from people accidentally mistyping your domain name. This is particularly troublesome if they 'funnel' traffic into a disreputable or unsavory Web site. Operators of some adult Web sites use almost any method to attract new visitors. If one of these registers a variation of your domain name, customers who mistype the domain name could be transported to an unsuitable Web page, which could have devastating impact on your business.
• Disgruntled Web sites may be set up when an unhappy customer, or disgruntled ex-employee, could register your name with a different TLD and then post critical or inaccurate information about your company.

Multiple Domain Names Don't Always Equal Multiple Web Sites   
A common question when registering multiple domain names is, "do I need to have a different Web site for each?" The short answer is no. While you could create product-specific "micro sites" for some of your domain name variations (e.g.: you could host videos about your products on your newly registered .tv site), most business owners will opt to "forward" their domain name variations to just one main site.

Whether you're protecting your company from the negative impact of unfavorable use of your domain name variation, or you want to strengthen your Web presence with multiple micro sites, or strengthen your brand with multiple extensions, when registering your domain, you should budget for purchasing all the domain names that make sense to protect your business and your brand identity online for years to come. The implications of not reserving the domain names for your business can be costly and devastating.