Apple® launched its iPad today and just so happens NOT to own the matching product domain name iPad.com . Many people seem to think that owning the matching domain name isn’t that big of a deal? It is! Heck yes it is and there are several reasons why it is important to own it.

Well that image above, very shortly after the announcement of the product by Apple named iPad, the iPad.com domain name is the # 18th most popular site on the net for those with the Alexa.com toolbar. What does that mean for all internet users? It’s a good guide and proves that traffic is driven to the exact match domain names because clearly no marketing was done before hand of the domain name iPad.com . This likely will continue to climb as more people find out about the name of the product. Proof that people naturally visit the matching product name and add .com to it. See proof here in a later article I wrote about the iPad.com’s traffic increase.

Will Apple end up buying the domain iPad.com? They will for sure try and they likely already have tried but it may cost some big bucks now the product is launched. Apple may also already own it but right now it doesn’t appear so.

The domain name whois is privacy protected and the domain doesn’t resolve to anything Apple related. Whois shows a Enero 6 Corp. as the owners and a Martine Bejasa name that has been in whois records since at least 2001.

Domain Names are Very Important and it is important to own the exact match of your company name, product(s) name, services etc before you launch! If you figure this out later, it is still not to late and is worth trying to contact the current owner using the whois database.

iPad.com was first registered in 1997 and has been ever since if you were wondering when the domain was registered.

I was thinking the other day that Apple® should own AppleTablet.com with all the "Apple Tablet" rumors floating around before launching tomorrow but no they do not. Some squatter owns it.

According to whois records:

The same owners of AppleTablet.com happen to own the domain name AppleIncorporated.com to boot!

Now just owning a generic term like Apple doesn’t always mean you are infringing on a registered trademark but profiting from ads related to a registered trademark while using a registered trademark in your domain name does! Coming across by displaying a picture of an iPhone® a product Apple happens to make! From the AppleTablet.com site and clear other Apple related products. AppleTablet.com (which is basically a clone of AppleIncorporated.com) is pictured below.

Plus in the Amazon widget, you can clearly see a Mac computer and other Apple related products. The site tries to display some text at the bottom of the page that it is "not affiliated with the computer maker Apple" but in the same screen you can see ads for iPhone Accessories. Again, confusing! Clearly AppleIncoroporated.com is Very Confusing and one may think Apple Computers may own it… because they are Apple Inc. and Apple products are being displayed on the site.

This in my book is a clear case of domain name cybersquatting and is a crystal clear example of what NOT to do. Not only with AppleTablet.com but with AppleIncorporated.com. These people own at least two domain names with a registered trademark in it and are profiting from ads based on products the registered trademark holder owns. To add insult to injury and further ad legal backing trying to profit.. AppleTablet.com and AppleIncorporated.com domain names are both listed For Sale at Sedo.com.

The REAL Apple is located at Apple.com and we will find out tomorrow what the real name for the Tablet will be!

Advice

It is not worth purchasing or using a domain name that contains a registered trademark, certainly not in the same industry or field. If you have questions about a trademark, you should consult a lawyer.

Oreo® cookies is the latest to jump on the Facebook.com category domain used in a recent TV ad campaign asking viewers to visit Facebook.com/Oreo .

With some 350 Million+ registered users on Facebook, I can see why these large and even small companies are marketing towards fan pages on the popular social networking site. Becoming a fan of the page easily allows for Oreo to market to it’s "followers" and stay connected! One big downside with using a category style domain is for those that miss the Facebook.com/Oreo URL displayed or simply forget it. Good luck in finding the page itself using Facebook unless you know how to use the search function, which many do not! You can not just visit Facebook.com itself and easily find the fan page for Oreo.

Clearly this is a downside to using a category type domain name in advertising. A category is something that is used after the domain name itself and looks like this:

• Domain Name: Facebook.com
• Category: /Oreo
• Looks like: facebook.com/oreo

If you visit the domain name directly, you will end up at a different spot than if you include the category with the domain. In this case, since Oreo does not own Facebook.com, they can not easily direct users to the specific page for those who forget the category.

Another confusing part to a domain name and is used from time to time in ads is a Sub-Domain. Technically, every domain name has a Sub-Domain, which is www. but many sites use keywords as well before there domain to direct people to specific pages on a website.

• Domain Name: Facebook.com
• Sub-Domain: login.
• Looks like: login.facebook.com

Sub-Domains IMO are best used for search engines and the keyword values used with the domain name. They certainly can help users to navigate to specific pages as well.

Advertisers do have options instead of using the category style domain in an ad. Domain name forwarding. Technically, Oreo could take the domain name they own, Oreo.com and use 301 redirection domain forwarding to it’s "Fan Page" URL facebook.com/oreo on Facebook  That way they would be telling people to visit Oreo.com instead of Facebook.com/Oreo. Since the domain name Oreo.com is vital for the company as it is it’s brand and leaves the door open for unlimited options on it’s own site, that is not be the best option for the use of THAT domain.

For the specific ad they are running, they are promoting it’s DSRL! What is that? Double Stuf Racing League. This is what they are promoting on the Facebook page and they also have a special section on it’s website.

Oreo wisely owns the matching acronym as well to the racing league, with DSRL.com but are not using it in the ads that I saw . They do put the domain name to use and use 301 redirection to the specific page on it’s Nabisco site http://www.nabiscoworld.com/oreo/dsrl/home.aspx but as far as I can tell, they do not promote the DSRL.com domain or have used to to send traffic to it’s Facebook/Oreo page.

DSRL.com may be another option to run in it’s ads for those that have a hard time remembering 17 characters (facebook.com/oreo) compared to 8 (dsrl.com). A lot of people are familiar with the Facebook.com site but for those that just see that part and forget the /oreo Nabisco can be losing traffic to it’s campaign.

Either way, Oreo does a very good job with both of it’s Facebook fan page as they update it often and have a bunch of followers! Over 3.5 Million at posting! They also have a similar page on it’s NabiscoWorld.com website, which they link to using Facebook as well to help further promote the campaign.

Facebook is not the only social networking stream used but is the most widely marketed by Oreo. Oreo also includes links to it’s Twitter.com page and it’s YouTube.com pages on both Facebook and it’s DSRL.com pages.

Oreo uses a nice mix of social networking, domain use (could be better in ad IMO), special pages on it’s own site and giving plenty of things like Games, Videos and more to keep people interested and coming back!