In photography, bracketing means taking multiple shots of the same scene from slightly different angles, ensuring one turns out correctly. Sometimes you’ll also get a little extra content around your target image, giving you a cushion to ensure you get the picture you’re seeking.
Bracketing applies to domain names, too. Because for the past 25 years I’ve used marketbuilding.com as the primary domain for my marketing agency, the MarketBuilding Team. Fourteen years ago, I got a very odd call from a client who told me a woman had called and said, “I’m with marketbuildingteam.com, and I wanted to talk with you about handling your next brochure.”
My client — both loyal and confused — asked, “Where’s Rob?” and got the reply, “Who’s Rob?” At this point, he politely hung up and immediately called me to suggest I look into the matter.
It turned out this woman had bought two domains: marketbuildingteam.com and themarketbuildingteam.com. She then set up a website and started hustling my clients.
Hmmmm…
So I called my attorney, outlined the situation, and sat there seething. My lawyer’s advice was simple:
- Take a deep breath and relax.
- Contact all my clients so nobody falls for this scam.
- Be patient. “In a year she’s going to see she’s not getting any traction. At that point she’ll give up these two domains, and you’ll swoop in, grab them, and then hold on tight.”
It was like he wrote the script. She vacated the premises on schedule, so I grabbed both domains and have held them ever since.
I considered this scenario when starting Write Away Books. Understanding folks might not know how to easily find us, I bought writeawaybooks.com, rightawaybooks.com, and riteawaybooks.com.
After all, not everyone knows how to spell, right?
And though it costs me a few extra dollars each year, I see the expense as an insurance policy against someone trying to ride my coattails or pilfer business out from under me.
You may have a similar situation, where your company name has multiple potential variations. In such a case, your best bet is to buy any similar names and point them towards your home page.
After all, you only need to save one client to justify the small investment you’re making.
With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.
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