Online brand protection: How domain name security builds trust and credibility

As a solopreneur, there are many different ways to secure your online operations, but one of the most important is domain name security. The reason is simple: your domain name is integral to your brand and it impacts your customers’ immediate impression of your business.

By protecting it from imitators, fraudsters, and competitors, you can form a brand protection strategy on which you can build and grow.

Here’s why brand protection is important and how to better protect your brand.

1. It enhances your reputation and legitimacy

If customers try to visit your site only to be intercepted by a bad actor or have their information compromised, it’s you they’ll view unfavorably. Fortunately, you can prevent it:

1. Acquire your domain from a reputable registrar: A provider like Name.com has all the tools you need for digital brand protection.
2. Opt for a unique, descriptive domain: Name.com also offers 600+ domain extensions, so it’s easy to find a personalized domain extension that helps you build trust.
3. Or, choose your TLD from the HSTS-preload list: There are also several memorable TLD extensions that are already on the HSTS preload-list.
4. Make sure the registrar locks the domain name: A domain lock is a simple security measure that prevents someone else from transferring your site to another registrar or making unauthorized changes. 
5. Add domain privacy protection for your website: This ensures your contact information won’t be included on the WHOIS database for any marketer or fraudster.

By following these five steps, you can establish strong internet brand protection to help customers find you easily, and reduce the risk that they’ll encounter red flags or bad actors along the way. It also helps you comply with data and privacy regulations that require businesses to protect personal information.

2. It safeguards brand ID and market presence

“Typosquatting” — or URL hijacking — is a type of malicious activity where the bad actor registers common variants and misspellings of your domain name to draw traffic away from your business. 

Registering multiple versions of your domain name can be a good way to protect your brand. For instance, you might buy both the plural and singular variations of your domain name, as well as the same name but with different domain name extensions (like .pro, .app or .net). You might also buy the hyphenated and non-hyphenated alternatives for any compound words.

This helps guarantee that your domain name belongs to you alone. And because social media brand protection is also important, your domain can fulfill vital brand-building functions like serving as a social handle on decentralized platforms like Bluesky.

3. It helps prevent financial loss and legal risks

Small businesses typically spend less than $500 on cybersecurity, but the costs of remediation and recovery after a cyberattack can run into tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars — and that doesn’t factor in the damage done to your reputation.

Fortunately, there’s a variety of website security services available, which monitor for cybersecurity risks and threats so you can stay focused on growing your business, rather than fretting about disruptions that could hurt your revenue.

You can also protect your brand name by getting an SSL certificate for your site, which automatically allows it to run on the secure “https” protocol rather than “http”. This way, your customers will see that their connection is encrypted.
Strong security starts with your domain name, and a registrar like Name.com helps you safeguard your online identity by helping to prevent unauthorized access and brand impersonation. Find your secure domain today so you can start growing your audience and scaling your solopreneur side hustle.