When establishing a website, most businesses will have given careful thought to choosing a domain name that suits. This could be a website address that matches the company’s name, a specific product or another term that fits with the company’s image. They will also have spent considerable time and effort cultivating an image around that website and its URL.
Enter the new “global top level domains” (gTLD), website addresses which threaten to turn the Internet on its head once more. Where site owners are limited to choosing website addresses that end in .co.uk, .com, .net or similar, they will soon have an almost endless choice of top level domains to choose from. .shop, .search and even .sexy will soon offer additional choice for new website addresses. But they also present a new challenge to existing site owners.
The problem is that every new gTLD offers a potential opportunity for scammers to try and hijack the good name of your business. Jones the Baker may have successfully operated jonesthebaker.co.uk for many years, but when the new gTLDs go live, someone could buy jonesthe.baker website address, causing confusion for web users. Worse still, the owner of jonesthe.baker could try and use the Jones brand to defraud people, or set up a site criticising Mr Jones.
Businesses often buy additional domain names to prevent situations like this happening, and this measure will become even more important with the launch of the new gTLDs from next spring. Small businesses should start thinking now about which domain extensions they want to buy. Those based in London can make a start by snapping up a .london domain name when these become available next spring.
About Broadband Cloud Solutions
Our mission is to supply high quality internet solutions to individuals and businesses of all sizes. From traditional domain names and web hosting to cloud services such as Hosted desktop and LiveDrive, we offer essential services and products that are both affordable and good value for money. Please give us a call on 0141 585 6363 to speak with a member of our friendly team.
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