Many companies own multiple domain names, but managing a portfolio with this type of intellectual property can prove to be tricky, as businesses must balance cost considerations against potential threats. What frameworks should businesses be using to determine which domains to purchase and keep? What’s the right timing? What’s the right number of domains for a company?
To help answer these questions, Quinn Taggart, product coach at CSC’s Digital Brand Services business, shares five best practices to keep in mind when reviewing your inventory of domains.
1. View your domains as assets, not mere costs.
Some businesses may fall into the trap of seeing the cost of their domains instead of the value they bring as branding assets. However, a lack of investment into domain security and management may lead to cyber attacks resulting in reputation loss and operational downtime, since essential business functions like email are tied to domains and could be compromised.
2. Timing is everything – and it’s perhaps earlier than expected.
Some companies may attempt to register a domain too late while waiting for a process to complete, such as a trademark approval. A partner like CSC can consult with you on the right timing for registration. Early decision-making about renewing or lapsing a registration is also recommended. Generally, CSC automatically renews domains on behalf of their clients, unless those clients request to let go of the registration, also known as lapsing.
3. Achieve alignment from key stakeholders.
What do marketing, legal, information technology, and security have in common? They are just a few of the teams that should advise when reviewing a company’s domain inventory. Domains are assets that can be viewed through many lenses, and all must be considered to assess their value and risk to the business.
4. Constantly monitor changes to the landscape.
While events like mergers and acquisitions or brand launches would be entirely predictable and easy to time, other situations could blindside a business. Government policy changes, technological innovations, industry events, or even world occurrences like a major accident or a viral video on social media may prompt a flurry of domain registrations. Some of those registrations may infringe upon an existing brand or cause market confusion.
The only way to get ahead of adverse effects is to have reliable reporting to look out for the integrity of your intellectual property. That’s why a robust partner, like an enterprise-class registrar, is essential for providing vigilant, 24×7 monitoring to uncover any impacts on a company’s domain portfolio.
5. Know there is no “right” number of domains for any one inventory.
It all depends on deeply analytical questions, such as:
- “How much cost and business effort am I willing to put into owning this intellectual property?”
- “How do I measure potential return on investment?”
- “What level of risk am I willing to take when it comes to protecting my brands online?”
A dedicated service provider can help by supplying you with valuable intel like what competitors are doing, what bad actors are trying to do, and where you need to register domains that are relevant to your business, such as country-specific top-level domains.
Reach out for expert advice from an enterprise-class provider and learn how to best track potential effects on your domains.