value of multiple domain name variations

Wondering about the merits of multiple registrations

[dsandall]

Hi all,

Here's a conundrum I'm facing in our design firm. A client (let's just call them Xray Yello Zebra) who is having us do what amounts to an on-line brochure site wants to have every possible combination of their domain name:
Xray.com/ca/org/net
x-ray.com/ca/org/net
XrayYellow.com/ca/org/net

and so on.

My gut is to to have one or two variations as they are not going to be relying on traffic to generate revenue, most people who will visit the site will have known about it from print materil (business cards, brochures, etc)

I am anticipating a bit of a 'sell' to keep it simple, am I being too simplistic in my thinking here? I just don't see it as being necessary to have what would amount to 20 domains all pointing to one site when the traffic source will know the URL.

Thoughts? Comments? Advice?

Thanks a ton,
Dwayne

[Webwork]

Hi Dwayne and welcome to the neighborhood.

My question is what's the approximately value of a sales lead to them? $10? $50? $200? Might they lose some of those leads to typos, near hits, etc.?

If there's value then I'd go for they near hits: typos, close variation, etc.

If there's a chance they will become very popular in the future that's another consideration.

It's a bit like an insurance policy. You take one out and then you hope you never have to make use of it.

[dsandall]

About the value of sales; They don't do any transactions on their site. It is really an on-line brochure; traffic will be driven by the visitor having received something printed (business card, postcard, etc).

Popularity wise, not likely. A very niche vertical market.

The insurance policy approach is one I have always taken with this, and in this case, it seemed like buying flood insurance when you live half way up the mountain.

thanks for the feedback!

[nativenewyorker]

Try this. Email 20-30 people that you know and tell them the name of the domain. Send them another email the following day and ask them to tell you the domain name, without referencing your original email. That should show you how easy the domain can be remembered and whether or not there is likely to be confusion over the address. Generally speaking, for what you are trying to accomplish, I think the .com and the ccTLD is sufficient. If this is some million dollar marketing campaign, then the extra expense is a drop in the bucket and I'd say go for the other variations too.