picking up misspelled domains,

is it worth it for the cheap traffic?, it is for some webmasters

[penfold25]

Ive noticed some ppl i know mentioned about getting some misspellings on high producing websites, do you think it is worth the trouble registering. This is a ethical dilemna as well, but then again the world isnt a fair place.
What do you think?

[Hawkgirl]

We had a competitor snap up a domain that is a common misspelling of our name.

We've lost some traffic to them, but not much.

It's rare for people to find us on a company name search; however, when they were paying for some of their traffic (such as on Adwords), they were able to go head-to-head with us on some of our really excellent keywords. (Until, that is, Adwords' relevancy rankings kicked in and they weren't getting the clicks.)

It certainly happens. But it won't make you any friends. And we've just secured the trademark on our name, and we've got some excellent lawyers. :)

[martinibuster]

...but then again the world isnt a fair place.

So why would you want to contribute to the ugliness?

Maybe I'm spoiled by having been born in the U.S., but money isn't everything. I'd rather go hungry- and I have - than participate in activities that I considered shady, unethical, or generally contributed a negative impact to my fellow human being.

Also remember the case of the guy who owned the misspellings of yahoo, amazon, and whatever... something like 10,000 domain names. He was sued out of existence.

I guess it boils down to how important money is to you, and how limited your financial options are.

[StanBo]

You know, penfold25, I've but a couple of sites across the net I will never visit, much less give a dime to.
And those are exactly the same sites I've seen to utilize the technique that you've just mentioned.
God knows I hate pop-whatevers...but there's a thing that I hate much more than that. And believe me, I'm hardly the only one to think this way. martinibuster is right - it's an issue of money vs. image. And for all I know, it's much easier to make a decent living than to improved image once you've messed it up.