Test shows some major brands have insecure domains

A test run by Domain Incite on the domains of companies on Deloitte’s list of top-1oo brands shows that even though these firms spend millions on their IT operations, 4 of the 100 have domains with serious security problems.

The blog did not list the vulnerable sites, but mentioned that Deloitte considers the companies on the top-100 list to be prime targets for trademark infringement during the upcoming gTLD launch. An additional 8 sites were possible at risk to security threats.

The test was run using IANA’s Cross-Pollination Check tool. You can use it to check the security of your domain right now for free. Considering how simple domain security is to implement, it’s surprising that even the world’s biggest brands can’t get it right.

Worst web host names ever

If you’re like most people, you expect companies to have normal-sounding names. Why would a business risk success with a less-than-stellar play on words? One blog’s compilation of some odd web host, names, just goes to show you that anything is possible on the web. Here are some of the worst names from the list:

1. InternetTrash.com
“The only place for trashy, tasteless, useless, politically incorrect, silly, stupid, meaningless, obnoxious, waste of bandwidth homepages! Normal & ordinary homepages also welcome!”

2. Chicken-shit.dk
Because chicken shit is so appealing.

3. Datapimp.com
Perhaps this now defunct host couldn’t keep its hoes in line?

4. GoDaddy.com
This popular web host also owns gomommy.com.

5. ScreamingPeacock.com
I didn’t know peacocks could scream.

Michael Moore misses out on movie domain

Yesterday, American documentary maker Michael Moore presented his latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story, at the Venice film festival. The tag line of the movie is “Capitalism is evil, and you cannot regulate evil.”

Moore already owns capitalismalovestory.com, but could did not register capitalismisevil.com. Not only does it match the central theme of the movie, but is catchy and so controversial everyone will remember it.

I think it would have made a better name than capitalismalovestory.com, but after the movie premiere, a slick domainer registered and parked it. He is currently accepting offers from interested buyers.

The lesson here? Think outside the box when it comes to brand management and online identity. Don’t just register your business or site name only. For example, if I lived in Kent and owned a plumbing business named Ed’s Plumbing, I’d be sure to register not only edsplumbing.com, but also kentplumbing.com.

Source | The Domains

Photo | Flickr

Registering TLD variants

Domains are so cheap these days, why stick with just one? You may use a .com or .co.uk for your site, but it’s always worthwhile to register other top extensions if you can.

Why is this important? It’s all about brand protection. Someone once registered the .net version of my site’s domain, for example, and threatened to set up a competing site unless I paid him a small sum of money. Thankfully, the person quickly realized his idea wasn’t a good one and I bought the name from him for its yearly registration fee, but I wished I had owned it in the first place.

Domains are very inexpensive, and the brand protection owning one or two extra TLD provides can save you quite a bit down the road. Some registrars will even offer discounts on the name name under multiple extensions. I recommend owning the .com, the .net, the .co.uk, and possibly the .org. These extensions may not be available, but if they are, do yourself a favor and grab them before someone else does.

Photo | annaOMline

KBToys.com sells for £1.25 million

After a business closes, its intellectual property- domains, trademarks, logos, etc.- still have value and can be sold. Bankrupt toy retailer KB Toys took advantage of this to pay its creditors when it sold its trademarks, logos, and KBToys.com domain for £1.25 million ($2.1 million USD) yesterday.

Retail operator CE Stores won the auction. The domain and other auctioned items are desirable because they are already well-known to consumers. KB Toys used to have stores in malls all over the United States, and the buyer can capitalize on the brand‘s existing reputation by launching a new store under the defunct name.

Earlier this year, Toys.com, the former home to a large Internet toy retailer, was bought by Toys-R-Us for £3.1 million ($5.1 million USD).

Source | Reuters

Photo | Flickr

Register a creative domain with Wordoid

These days, it sometimes seems as though every good domain is already taken. Rather than settle for a less common extension or shell out big bucks for a parked domain, why not get creative? Wordoid is a free tool that lets you do just that.

Enter any word or phrase, and the tool will come up with all sorts of savvy variants. A search for “internet,” for instance, came up with internettle.com. A lookup for “soup” gave me results like soupoose.com, soupled.com, and soupside.com.

Not all the names generated are what I would consider usable, but if you look around you will find something that works, or at least get a little inspiration.

Wordoid supports English, French, Spanish, and Italian. For best results, I recommend playing around with the various options, including “hardly natural.”

Photo | biewoef

Check username availability with Namechk

There are all sorts of tools out there for checking domain availability, but what about social networking usernames? Namechk is a free tool that will check the availability of any username on 130 websites.

Why is this relevant to domainers? Website marketing these days is all about social networking. Before registering a domain for a new site, it might be beneficial to make sure the name is also available on the likes of Facebook, Twitter, eBay, Flickr, Blogger, and StumbleUpon.

Developing a successful site goes beyond owning a good domain. It is also important to manage your brand. You don’t want your website name to already be a username on social networking sites, especially if it is going to be an authority in your niche.

What Sarah Palin and Twitter can teach us about domain names

I read an interesting piece today about Sarah Palin’s use of social media and her problems with cybersquatting. She not only failed to obtain her name on Twitter, but will need to find a new handle now that she is no longer Governor of Alaska.

Thinking only in the short term, either Palin or one of her staff members (most likely the latter) registered @AKGovSarahPalin as her handle some time ago. More than 63,000 followers and one resignation later, her username no longer fits and she will need to find a new one once she leaves office a month from now.

Palin’s best move would have been to register @SarahPalin as her handle. Even if the Alaskan governor didn’t foresee her resignation when she joined Twitter, what about her next job? I honestly doubt Palin expected to remain governor forever. She should have gone through the legal ropes to get @SarahPalin and saved herself the hassle later.
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The Benefits of a Top Level Domain

Many people who find themselves needing websites are neither technology experts nor do they have the time to work out every detail. A person might know nothing more than the fact that his business is missing out on a larger market by not having a web presence. Such a business is probably ready for a Top Level Domain.

There are a plethora of free services available that allow individuals and businesses to display information, images, and even videos on the Internet. But do any of these services provide the professional appearance and tools for success that most businesses want?

When a businesses’ main web presence consists of a poorly designed single page on a social networking site, the message conveyed to customers is that the business does not take their web presence seriously. An address that uses a Top Level Domain (tld), such as .com, .net, or .org is an excellent way for a new business to promote its brand.

Country domains are also a way to localize a brand and ensure that customers from a particular country will see your business first in the search engine rankings. Country tld’s include .uk (for the United Kingdom) and .au.(for Australia).

Having a top level domain, especially a .uk domain if you are in the UK, increases the likelihood of your business being seen and taken seriously. The next step is finding a good web hosting company, and your business will be well on its way to success.