Domain names are becoming an increasingly important tool - or weapon - in the race for the US presidency.
The 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election is expected to be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. While it's some way off, the contenders are already jostling, dueling and seeking to win hearts and minds.
The savvy politician understands just how important having the right domain name - and the right name is their own.
The Hill reports the field of presidential hopefuls is faced with a big challenge - cybersquatters seeking to cash in by registering names and others looking to do mischief (including the politicians themselves).
Rand Paul understood the importance - and value - of securing his own name. According to Cleveland.com, he paid more than USD $100,000 to gain control of RandPaul.com. Mr. Paul was lucky in that the previous registrants of the name were running a pro-Rand site.
Not so lucky was Republican presidential contender Carly Fiorina. CarlyFiorina.org was registered by someone not particularly fond of her. However, Ms. Fiorina's team appears to have control over the .COM version - which is really the Beverly Hills of online real estate in the USA.
What's happening in the presidential race is a bit of a lesson for the rest of us. While we may never aspire to be famous or even particularly well known, it can be a good idea to register your name as a domain. These names can come in handy for online CV's or a multitude of other purposes. Even if you do nothing with the domain, at least you have it rather than someone else whose intentions may not be good.
Of course, with hundreds of domain name extensions now available, very few of us have the means or desire to register a name in every single extension - but two good domains to focus on are .COM and registering .COM.AU.
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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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