Give me 7 Minutes - and I’ll give you a great domain name!

Posted by Laura Bergells

February 16, 2007

My last name is Bergells.

The final letter in my name does not sound like an s.

It sounds like a z.

I live in Grand Rapids. Also sounds like a z.

GrandRapids.com is not available as a domain name.

So two days ago, I registered GrandRapidz.com. If you enter this domain name into your browser, it automatically redirects to this very site. Later on, I may choose to develop content for this domain that focuses on topics of local interest, and point my newly registered domain elsewhere.

After all, I know the value of local Grand Rapids business! It can be priceless!

But what did it cost for me to register the domain and point it to my site? Well, it took about 7 minutes of my time.

And the dollar cost?

A mere $6.50 US for one year of domain registration, one email address, and one redirect to the page of my choice. I can also choose to point this domain to any other page, at any time I wish throughout the year.

(I use iPowerWeb.com for domain name registration. Their vdeck dashboard makes managing web redirects and emails easy.)

And if you run an online business, you may wish to spend $6.50 US and 7 minutes to point common misspellings or plural/singulars of your company name to your website. That is a mighty small price to pay for protecting your brand!

Take my client Dolphin Journeys, a dolphin and whale touring company in Hawaii. The company website is officially www.dolphinjourneys.com — but we also registered www.dolphinjourney.com (no s). It’s a common misspelling, so it makes sense to automatically insure that web customers and prospects who forget to type in the final “s” get to my client’s site, anyway.

And believe it or not, I know of huge companies that have not registered the singular version or plural version of their company name! For mere $6.50 a year, there really is no excuse. Registering common misspellings, singulars, and plurals protects your brand investment while giving your web visitors a better experience.

Don’t wait! Go to iPowerWeb.com and protect your website by registering and re-directing your company’s common misspellings, singulars, and plurals today!