What domain names and other sites you should get before starting

1. Your online brand name
A checklist
W: www.newmediacloud.com E. info@newmediacloud.com

2. Your brand name on the web
 A Trademark™ is valuable = part of intellectual
property (IP)
 Trademarks are expensive to get
Lawyers will say they aren’t but there are often problems
that take time and $$$
 But claiming web properties isn’t expensive
 It may seem painful to manage all these but you will
just have to suck it up!!!
 Before starting to use a name, do the checklist
 If you aren’t putting that many Ys in the boxes you will
have a problem

3. Checklist (total cost <$100 p/y)
What to own Y/N Why?
.com Still the largest most popular TLD
.net A decent second, generic TLD
.co A cool and growing TLD
.YOURCOUNTRY Good to have your local TLD, more if you are international
Twitter A Twitter handle is free! It is remarkable how many
companies see this as an afterthought AND regret it
Facebook Your specific name takes a number of likes or fans – make
that happen!
Pinterest It’s new but maybe important i.e. Pinterest.com/Benetton
LinkedIn Can be useful, but not compulsory
Tumblr A definite nice to have, fast growing network
Other social There may be social networks of great value in your GEO
networks i.e. Orkut in Brazil, Netlog in Belgium etc.

4. What to do, if?
• Try and buy a domain back!
– E.g. Klout.com did, may be worth it?
• Find another name
• Use another TLD that is less known
– But if your name is used across the web you may face
trademark problems later
• For Twitter you can’t buy back (apparently)
– Maybe you can pay for the service of transferring
– Then getting a trademark may enable you to get it
back...but this will cost money and serious time!!!

5. Glossary
• ™ - Company is applying for a Trademark
• ® - A registered trademark
• TLD – Top Level Domain i.e. .com, .co.uk, .net
• Intellectual property (IP) – non-physical assets
like patents, copyright, and trademarks