<h2 class="title"><a href="http://www.domainsdir.com/news/ShowItem.aspx?ID=7470">http://www.domainsdir.com/news/ShowItem.aspx?ID=7470</a></h2><h2 class="title">Domain TLD and Trademark Myths</h2>
<p class="date">Monday, September 21, 2009, 12:06:59 PM</p>
<p class="summary"><strong>I started buying and selling domain names in
1995. Domain speculation began sometime in 1994. I did appraisals and
was one of the biggest advocates for registering generic domain names
rather than made-up names or those that violated trademarks.</strong><br><br>I
made a good income from my domains because I did not just sell domain
names, I sold domain names that had a business plan and a website while
others were just trying to sell their domain names with no traffic, no
business plan and no website.<br><br>Today many are still doing it that
way. Although now they park them at SEDO or Go Daddy or somewhere to
try to make adsense revenue while they list them for sale. So my
background in domain names is good enough that I can dispel a few myths.<br><br>First
TLD stands for Top Level Domain. .COM, .NET, .ORG are all examples of
TLDs. The domain name most people refer to is what goes before the dot.
The TLD is what comes after the dot.<br><br><strong>These are some Common Myths about Domain Names;</strong><br><br>.TV
is for television or multimedia websites. Pure myth. Any domain name in
any TLD can work for television, video, or multimedia. The TLD .TV does
not give you any special tools for creating multimedia-rich content.
.TV does not stand for television. It is the ccTLD or country-code TLD
for Tuvalu Island. An island in the pacific that had no real use for
owning a TLD so they sold the rights to sell domain names on their TLD
to a company that leads people to believe it stands for television. It
works. People buy them and use them and associate them with television
and that is ok. It''s just a myth that .TV was created to mean
television.<br><br><strong>Another Domain Name Myth:</strong> If you
want to build websites that people can access by their cell phone or
PDA you need to get a .MOBI domain name. Just like dot tv does not give
you any special capability for television or multimedia, dot mobi does
not give you any special tools for mobile-capable websites. Any website
on any TLD can provide content to cell phones and PDAs if it is made
compatible for them. Many will lead you to believe that dot mobi
somehow gives you the advantage when it comes to cell phones and PDAs.
it doesn''t.<br><br><strong>.ME Domain Names Myth:</strong> Coming soon
to a domain registrar near you. Soon domain names will be marketing for
the TLD dot ME. They will market them as great domain names for
personal websites. They may be. But it was not created as such. It is
the Country-code top-level domain designated for Montenegro.<br><br><strong>.PN Domain Names:</strong>
I own Blogs.pn. I would love to tell you it stands for Publisher
network or something like that but it doesn''t. It is the Country-code
top-level domain designated for Pitcairn Island. Another pacific island
that did not have much use for a TLD so someone was authorized to sell
dot pn domain names.<br><br>Soon ICANN will be allowing more TLDs to be
created and domain names will be marketed in these new TLDs. More and
more countries will also offer domain names for sale in their ccTLDs.
So the market will be opening up and it may be confusing to some. The
truth is what comes before the dot matters most. Getting a domain name
in a TLD that makes sense to users can help you though.<br><br>Shorter
Domain Names are better than Long Domain Names Myth: Only in certain
circumstances is a shorter domain name better than a long domain name.
Many domain gurus disagree. I don''t care. They talk about people being
able to remember your domain name. Truthfully more traffic comes from
people clicking links in search engines, on other websites, and on
social bookmarking sites than comes from people who type in the domain
name.<br><br>What is more important is that the domain name help you
capture a phrase you want to target in the search engines. I can give
you a ton of examples where having the exact phrase you want in the
domain name has helped get a top position in Google and other search
engines. So if the phrase is longer, do not abbreviate it just because
you heard shorter domain names are better. Get the phrase you want to
target.<br><br>If you are planning to advertise your domain name
OFFLINE, in advertising on TV, radio, or even magazines and newspapers,
shorter domain names ARE better. Offline, people have to be able to
remember your domain name.<br><br>The best of both worlds: If most of
your traffic comes from the web, shorter means very little. To cover
both, get a domain name that matches your key phrase and put your
website on that domain name. Then get a second domain name that is
short and catchy and redirect or point it to the same website. Use the
shorter-easy-to-remember domain name for your offline marketing and the
domain that matches your key phrase for the search engines.<br><br>Anything
other than a dot COM is worthless Myth: This is a favorite myth spread
everywhere. It is based on the same myths about shorter domain names.
If people have to remember it, then yes, they do remember dot com more
often. If you are doing offline marketing, use a dot com.<br><br>Online
your website can be on any TLD. People are clicking links. So again,
get the domain name that matches your key phrase for your website
whether it is on .com, net, org, tv, pn, cc, ws, or whatever. Start
with dot com, try your phrase. If it is taken, move to the next TLD and
try your phrase again. If it is taken, repeat your attempts to register
until you find a TLD that your phrase IS available in and register it
in that TLD.<br><br><strong>These are some Myths about Trademarks and Domain Names;</strong><br><br><strong>Domain Name VS Trademark Myth #1:</strong>
If I own a trademark I need to register my trademarked name in every
TLD. Pure Myth and a worthless, time-consuming strategy promoted by
Intellectual Property Lawyers who need to justify what you are paying
them.<br><br><strong>Domain Name VS Trademark Myth #2:</strong> When
you register a trademark, you have to choose a classification for that
trademark such as "entertainment television", "clothing and apparel",
"beverages", etc.<br><br>You do not own the phrase you trademark. You
are being allowed to use that trademark in commerce within the
classification you chose. Someone else can register the same exact
trademark and choose a different classification.<br><br>In addition to
that, the geographical area you registered your mark in only covers
that area. Someone could have the same trademark in the same
classification in a different geographical location.<br><br>So again,
you do not own the phrase you trademarked, so no need to register every
TLD in existence. It could even be construed as anti-competitive
business practice to do so.<br><br><strong>Domain Name VS Trademark Myth #3:</strong>
If you chose the trademark, "goofball lawyer stuff" and chose the
classification "clothing and apparel", I could still register the
domain name <a href="http://goofballlawyerstuff.com">http://goofballlawyerstuff.com</a> or net or org or whatever.<br><br>As
long as I do not sell clothing or apparel, link to anyone who sells
clothing and apparel, or try to confuse people into believing my
website is owned by you, I have not violated your trademark rights. Get
over it.<br><br>I hope this helps you dispel a few of the most common domain name and trademark myths you may have been reading about.<br><br><strong>About the Author</strong><br><br>Chris McElroy aka NameCritic has been involved in domain names and Internet marketing since 1995. Visit his <a href="http://www.seoserviceprovider.com/seoblog">SEO Blog</a>, his <a href="http://www.seo.pn/">SEO Website</a>, or <a href="http://www.seohostingprovider.com/">SEO Hosting Provider</a> for more information.</p>