Domain Names: What's Popular? What's Illegal?

When we get questions from agents, we're going to post them here along with some feedback.   Here's one we had this morning that came from a four person office that had just purchased a domain name.  They wanted to know what other names to purchase.   This is a common question along with these:

Which is more popular in Google, this or that?   Which agent gets the most traffic?  What domain name should we buy?   Is this domain name any good?

You can find out these answers just like we can.  There are lots of little tools out there to that you can us to help you draw your own conclusions.  Google Trends is a good one to know...

Who gets more traffic Keller Williams or Century 21?  

Which team is more popular, the Cowboys or the Broncos? 

But as far as purchasing other names, it does make sense to purchase your own "typos" IF you plan to do print advertising.  e.g.,  Signs on front lawns, billboards, any place where people have to remember what they saw before they get back to a keyboard.   In general, we recommend you purchase domain names that people can remember AND spell.   When that's not possible, grab whatever the common typos would be for your name.   (plural, non-plural,  double consonants,  ie,  ei ...)  Also, try not to put hyphens in domain names.  Rule of thumb, pretend you're on a radio show and you have 3 seconds to plug your website.    e.g.,  ActiveRain is a darn good domain name :)  

CYBER SQUATTING 

These folks (ReinhartRealtors.com) should have also purchased ReinhartRealtor.com, RienhartRealtors, maybe even RinehartRealtors.com.  In bulk, domain names can be as little as $7 per year. and what's one good lead worth?    In this example, the person that types in http://www.reinhartrealtor.com has a good chance of finding another agent, not with Reinhart.  

(By the way, if this does happen to you, and it's clear the squatter is using your name to grab relevant traffic, just send the owner of the domain name a C&D (cease and desist) and they are required to surrender the name)

Also, when you purchase your own typos, you just redirect the name into the correct domain.  Try typing gooooogle.com and you'll get the idea.