December 8, 2015
U.S. Presidential candidate Jeb Bush may not be too happy about this situation, but Donald Trump probably is - and it's all to do with a domain name.
If you visit DonaldTrump.com you'll see a site about The Donald. If you type in JebBush.com, you'll see a site about ... Donald Trump - as the name redirects to Mr. Trump's campaign page.
Donald Trump (or his staff) are pretty big on defensive domain registration - thousands have been registered; variations on his name, aspirations and business interests. However, it's not clear who has control over the JebBush.com name as according to a WHOis query, it's a private registration.
Whoever it is, it's probably reasonably safe to say it's not Jeb Bush.
The website address has been registered for a long time - since 1997, and apparently the domain name was up for grabs for USD $250,000 prior to the redirection.
Failure to secure the name has provided a bit of a red-face moment for Mr. Bush while giving Mr. Trump a great deal of free publicity as aside from any type-in traffic, the story has been published on many web sites.
The redirection of the name may not be a political statement at all by someone opposed to Mr. Bush, but rather a bit of subtle (or not-so-subtle) pressure to encourage him to make an offer.
There's a lesson here for individuals and business owners alike - even if you think you may not want a web site now or even in the future; it can be a very wise move to register your business name and own name as a domain before somebody else does and creates mischief.
Who knows - you may be running for President one day.
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How to register a name: Enter your choice in the search tool and click 'GO'. If after the check the domain names search results show your choice is available, you will then have the option to proceed to purchase registration; which is a very quick and easy process - start a search and find your ideal website address now.
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