Ask Jane Corwin About The Importance Of Domains

Normally I wouldn’t talk politics, but when there is a marketing blunder on the campaign trail I simply can’t help myself.

Meet Jane Corwin. She was a New York Assemblywoman running for Congress. If her elegant website and well written copy on JaneCorwin.com is any indication of her character, then she seems like a nice enough lady. She says she wants to cut spending, reduce taxes and help people who need it. Very noble of her, but there is just one problem: She has an alter ego.

Jane Corwin’s alter ego – JaneCorwin.org – is clearly a spoof website. It’s well written pop up asks you to sign up for her campaign “make delicious soup from the bones of the poor” while divulging your social security number. I’m sure the .org counterpart has caused her quite a bit of embarrassment and annoyance. Both JaneCorwin.com and JaneCorwin.org show up on the first page of search results.

Even though the .com shows up first on Google, the .org site has FOUR times as much traffic. Because the.org site is so clever and funny, it’s fun to pass on, and likely to become a viral sensation. I know I wouldn’t be talking about Jane Corwin at all if it weren’t for this spoof site. The .org site is being successful at getting their message out there, having fun at her expense, and undermining her political agenda. It has the potential to have a big impact on her election.

The embarrassment could have been easily avoided if she had simply purchased, at the very least, the most common domain names. Many marketers would recommend purchasing all available domains, and now I am sure Jane Corwin would as well.

When you begin to build your brand online, choosing a domain name is one of your very first steps. Initially you might just buy one domain, but as you grow, it’s wise to purchase common variations of your domain. The other place you want to secure your brand name is on the social media sites. We love a product called Knowem. (And yes, we are an affiliate.)

For free, Knowem allows you to go see the domain names and social media sites that you might want to secure. And then for a pretty reasonable fee (starting at $99) Knowem will help you stake your online claim so that no one else can pretend to be you. As a bonus, you’ll probably get some nice inbound links from some pretty reputable, high-page-ranked sites, potentially boosting your position in the search engines.