You know how easy it has become to set up a website. Automated services allow anyone with a credit card to click on a button and register a domain name. This is great if you’re setting up a legitimate business, but unfortunately Cybersquatters can do it too. And with a little planning, they can set up shop right next door to you and ruin your business. How can they do it? Read on.

“The Imposter”
A competitor can set up shop under almost the exact same domain name as you, changing only one letter in the name or adding hyphens. Relying on the fact that people often misspell domain names, they can snag your wayward customers and maybe keep them. For example, www.tedtheflorist.com could be in trouble if someone legally sets up www.tedtheflorist.net. This simple variation could cost Ted his business.

“Porn Pirates”
Having someone establish a website with a domain name almost identical to you is bad enough. Porn pirates will set up porn sites to re-direct your customers. Visitors to www.tedtheflorist.com might be in for a shock when they’re looped through porn hell by visiting www.ted-the-florist.com.

“TedtheFloristSucks.com”
Disgruntled employees or customers have the power to severely damage your business by setting up a hate version of your website. They can use the same variation techniques as the Imposters and Porn Pirates, and create hate sites at those domains. But they also have other tricks. For example, someone who has a personal grudge against Ted might set up www.tedthefloristsucks.com and use the site to trash Ted and his business, even if their claims are unfounded and untrue. The growing prevalence of these sites means customers, especially those who are wary of online business, might type in www.tedthefloristsucks.com and believe those lies.

“The Extortionist”
Opportunists have, since the early days of the Internet, been registering domain names in the hope of ransoming them back to businesses for astronomical prices. They’re getting better at it. Someone who owns www.tedtheflorist.biz might try blackmailing Ted into buying the domain name for hundreds or even thousands of dollars and Ted, fearing that visitors to www.tedtheflorist.biz might see a porn site, will have to pay the ransom.

You might be thinking these techniques can’t be legal, but mostly they are. You may have heard of famous cases of actors or businesses claiming copyright or trademark infringement and winning. These multi-million dollar businesses and powerful, famous people fought long and hard through the court system before being awarded their rightful domain names. Do you have those virtually inexhaustible resources available to you? Of course not.

The good news is that you don’t need them.

The cheapest and simplest way of defending yourself from Cybersquatters is to register the most obvious and common variations of your domain name. Since the deregulation of the domain name industry, registration has become affordably cheap.

Contact sales@eic.net and let us help you keep your business safe by consolidating these basic safety-assured domain name packages:

• “dot” registration. Okay, you’ve got yourbusiness.com sewn up. For basic safety, you’d better hurry up and register yourbusiness.net and yourbusiness.biz before Cybersquatters snatch them up and ruin you. There are other domain homes worth considering, so contact us for advice on a complete safety registration package.
  
  
• Common misspellings. We’ll help you pinpoint the most common misspellings of your domain name and help you protect these before it’s too late.
  
  
• Ihateyourbusiness.com and yourbusinesssucks.com are the two most common ways Cybersquatters will try to ruin you. Don’t let them: register these names before they do.
  
  
• your-business.com. See that little hyphen in there? If your domain name can be easily hyphenated, make sure visitors find you and not your competition. Contact us for advice on hyphenated domain names for full protection.