When a company advertises in media that requires the viewer to visit the company's website subsequent to seeing the advertisement (like television, radio, newspaper, billboards...etc), it's important that the company own potential typo domain names. People have a short memory, especially when they are doing other things, and there is strong potential for them to type-in the wrong domain name.

In the middle of writing an article, I happened to hear a commercial for Stanley Steemer, a carpet cleaning company. Because I have been thinking about getting a 8x10 rug cleaned, I visited the website a few minutes after the commercial. When I typed in StanleySteamer.com (assuming it was "steamer" for steam cleaning), I was redirected to StanleySteemer.com, the correct domain name.

It goes without saying, but it's smart to forward the typo to the proper address.   I have seen a few companies not do this (or own the generic name and not forward that to their brand), and I have also seen companies who don't forward the non-www to their → Read More