Cybersquatters have been targetting Susan Boyle from Britain's Got Talent - the Guardian hasreported that people have been busy registering domain names related to the senational singer.
Many will have good intentions and want to set up fan websites, but no doubt some have more sinister aims and will be hoping to cash in. Cybersquatters may have dropped out of the headlines - reflecting the scarcity of lucrative domains - but they still roam cyberspace hunting for vulnerable domains that may not have been re-renewed or simply become available. We will assume you have secured www.yourbusinessname.com or as close as you can get, or even better for search engine optimisation (SEO): www.yourservicetpluslocation.com but there are other domains that are of growing importance and the cybersquatters are sailing towards them in ever greater numbers.
We are talking Twitter - you do need to register your business and personal names on Twitter and you need to do it quickly! This is easily done if you visit www.twitter.com and click join. Follow the simple instructions and you will soon have your Twitter domain name - mine is www.twitter.com/nigel_morgan and we have a host of others we know we will use in the future.
So even if you scoff at Twitter and believe that, much like what you said about compact discs and The Internet, 'it will never catch on', believe us when we say Twitter is here to stay. Cnet reported that between February 08 and February 09 it grew by 1,382%, rocketing from 475,000 users to 7,038,000 - and has probably doubled since then!
If you do not register your Twitter domain then someone else will. Do it, do it now! Tell your colleagues and friends to do it now! You can thank us later!
If that inspires you to take action, then also think about visiting Squidoo. As we reported in our April newsletter, Squidoo was set up way back in 2005 by our favourite marketing guru Seth Godin and essentially it is made up of user generated ‘lenses’. These are easily created single web pages the are great for Search Engine Optimsation SEO and much like twitter would be www.squidoo.com/yournamehere so just like Twitter they are disappearing as more people use the site.
Squidoo has different categories of lenses, including business and many make significant sums of money through affiliate marketing. We are turning some of the downloads you find within our free resources into lenses. You can see The Seven Deadly PR Sins and The Joy of Six on Squidoo and will notice that while the words are much the same; the format has changed and most importantly will be reaching a new audience. Through very simple steps our domains are protected and our e-footprint just got bigger!
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2 comments:
It always amazes me that people don't follow this kind of advice. ITV (which doesn't appear to know much about the internet anyway with their dreadful handling of FriendsReunited) should be setting up domain names and twitter accounts automatically for everyone who has a high profile in their reality programmes. It will cost them next to nothing - but the revenue it could bring in would be significant.
But they aren't alone. Years ago a well-known High Street store only registered the dot com version of their name - even though they trade in the USA under a different brand....! Der...! Some enterprising UK individual bought the .co.uk name for a fiver and then sold it to them a few weeks later for 25 grand.
Even so, many businesses still have to learn the basics of domain names and setting up relevant pages on Twitter, Squidoo etc. You article here should prompt them into action.
Excellent post Nigel. Graham Jones posted the link on Twitter.
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