“When people enter my domain name, sometimes they enter a typo, which takes them to a different site! What should I do?”
“It sounded clever at the time but now it’s just too complicated for people to remember and find quickly!”
“I have a free blog site I want to share with people, but I want to put an easier-to-remember custom domain name on my business card.”
There are numerous reasons you might want a different domain name and if you’re new to managing a website, changing a domain name might sound daunting.
Fortunately, you don’t have to spend hours confused and stuck in the endless complexities of technical elements like coding and web development. We’re happy to share a very simple way to help you keep your current website, but share a different domain name with your potential viewers.
This is where domain forwarding can heroically save the day.
What is Domain Forwarding?
Domain Forwarding is when a domain name takes you to a completely different domain. This frequently happens when a company, brand, publication or website wants to help viewers get to their site via a different domain name.
For instance, Bank of America uses several domain forwards such as the following (which you can try for yourself). You can enter the longer, traditional “bankofamerica.com” or the much faster “bofa.com,” which will forward directly back to the main bankofamerica.com domain and website. Or you can enter bac.com, which will also forward directly back to bankofamerica.com.
When to Use Domain Forwarding
Domain forwarding isn’t for all scenarios and for many more robust or advanced websites, URL redirects might be a better option in order to protect from breaking existing links and SEO rankings. However, domain forwarding via DomainSpot can be highly useful in several situations, including:
1. Using Alternate Domain Names
Like we mentioned earlier, you may simply want people to find your current website via a shorter, or entirely different domain name.
If you’ve purchased multiple domains through DomainSpot, you should be able to point your viewers back to your original site via a different domain name without significantly affecting the search engine rankings of your original site.
As an accredited domain registrar, by purchasing a domain name with DomainSpot, you are now the “owner” of that domain name (for as long as you choose to renew it) and can effortlessly forward it to your original domain. If you’re looking for some excellent tips on picking the right domain names for your company, we’ve created Domain 101, a brief guide to help you choose the best domains for your brand.
2. Maintaining User Experience
Domain forwarding can help your viewers maintain a seamless user experience on your current website.
When someone types in the new domain, they will be automatically redirected to the original domain, allowing them to continue to access your website in the same ways they always have.
With a stronger, simpler or easier-to-remember domain name, you can help prevent your visitors from getting lost or frustrated while trying to find your website. If your site’s current domain name has the potential for typos, or sounds too similar to another website, you risk losing viewers who may be trying to quickly find your site. Forwarding easier-to-remember domains to your existing site helps your viewers stay on track and promotes an uninterrupted user experience.
3. Protecting Against Scammers
Domain forwarding can also help keep your users from getting scammed by phishing scams, cybersquatters and typosquatters. Sounds scary? It is.
When a site increases in traffic, popularity, etc. it can become a target for those that want to create fraudulent copycat sites using domain names very similar to yours. Harmful sites create phishing scams in an effort to collect sensitive user data like passwords, credit card and banking information, social security numbers, and more.
Now back to the Bank of America example from earlier. Financial institutions like Bank of America encounter extremely high volumes of phishing scams, and must do everything possible to protect their users, customer data and client finances.
Because they have encountered so many sites that duplicate their domain but perhaps change just one letter of it, or change the o to 0, etc. they sometimes purchase a massive amount of domains with similar letters, etc. in order to prevent them from misuse by malicious entities. Bank of America has purchased dozens of similar domains in an effort to stop typosquatters and phishing scams from creating duplicate websites to steal sensitive customer information.
4. Saving Money & Time
When it comes to risks like losing viewers to the wrong websites or scam copycat websites, and the time and effort involved in building a new website under a different domain name, the benefits of domain forwarding are obvious.
Purchasing other domain names for as little as $11.99 a year and simply entering in the domain address you’d like them to forward to is an efficient and cost-effective way to help your viewers find your site faster.
You can also help improve your marketing by including more succinct or memorable domain names in your advertising while avoiding time-consuming rebranding or rebuilding of your existing site.
5. Avoiding Complicated Web Settings
DomainSpot handles the domain forwarding for you, without any complicated configurations – just an ultra-simple one-click setting.
Once you’ve purchased a domain with DomainSpot, you only need to go to your account, click on “Manage” and under “Forwarding” enter the domain you’d like your domain to forward to. Click “Activate” and your domain will automatically forward to the designated domain. It’s literally that easy!
Get Hassle-Free Domain Forwarding
Domain forwarding can be a straightforward tool to help your viewers avoid potential deterrents to getting to your site, like complicated domain names, etc.
By using domain forwarding, you can keep your original website accessible and functional, which is of course essential for maintaining your website’s online presence and credibility.
We typically recommend top-level domains like .com or .org when choosing a new domain. However, you can cover your bases and prevent typosquatters or other brands from creating websites with domain names too similar to yours by purchasing domains with the same domain name, but different extensions like .net, .biz, .ai, .store, etc. Domain forwarding is included with all DomainSpot domains, with remarkably easy and straightforward setup.
Let DomainSpot fetch you the perfect domains and help you more effectively unleash your vision to the world!
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