Need some brand domain name advice...

[imjustme]

I've spent the past few days breaking my head over this to the point where I don't believe my own opinion is neutral anymore, so I'm hoping that you guys here can give me better advice on this matter.

I am launching a new online service soon and I have a domain name registered that is based on the actual word of the service.

I will use a different word in this example but the scenario is quite similar.

Let's say the service is an online "wallet" service of some kind.

My domain would be "wallio.com". The problem is, someone else has already registered "walleo.com" several years ago. They're not using the domain but they're not selling it either.

My worry is now, if users for example, by word of mouth heard the brand name "wallio", they could be confused and end up going to the "walleo" website. For now, the other person doesn't have a website on that domain, so the risk is quite low, but my primary concern is that if a competitor acquired "walleo.com" and competed against my "wallio.com", it could end up ruining my business.

The risk is primarily that the word ends with "e" (wallet), so they might think that the correct domain is wall-e-o instead of wall-i-o. Does that make sense?

Again, the name wallio/walleo is just an example, but it's quite close to my project and the scenario is pretty much the same with the "io" and "eo".

What are your thoughts?

[tmastermind]

It makes sense but that's the risk you get with creating a brand of a name that sounds like it could be spelt in different ways.

Of course there's away around it and word of mouth will cause confusions so make sure your online marketing efforts establish the brand, using links in business cards, QR codes, hyperlinks, signatures etc all help. Don't forget if your doing PPC campaigns, there nothing stopping you bidding on mistype keywords so your website appears if users do put the mistype brand name into Google.

Finally there is another option.... Pick a new name entirely!

On a final note, online wallets make me nervous a bit (if that is what your looking at doing), there's some very established brands out there and wallets suggest some form of currency and there's a whole lot of financial laws, rules and regulations to adhere to etc so be careful. There's been some huge backfire lately on the e currency Bitcoins on wallets so again just a precautionary warning if you was going down these lines but otherwise I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours.

[jeffweico]

Using a domain name that can be spelled more than 1 way will always cause confusion. The only way I have seen companies get around this is by registering both names and having the domain name with the secondary spelling re-direct to the first domain.

Have you considered trademarking the name of your service? If you do this, you MAY be able to file a dispute over the unused, hoarded domain name. But that tactic does not always work, I am not an expert so I am not sure what exactly is involved.

[imjustme]

Thank you very much for your advice

No, my service isn't anything about online wallets, it was just as close as I could give an example with the io / eo domain variation.

I guess I will indeed to with another domain then. If I filed a dispute, it would likely end in a lengthy lawsuit and delay both the launch of the website and risk ending up not winning.

[oompaloompa]

is this your new site to rival ebay!!!! I cannot wait....youve been talking about it for years,
I want a job on it too.....call me!

[JamesNorth101]

I have had a similar theoretical issue like this myself

My solution was to simple take ownership of all domain names that could be confused with mine and have them all forward to the actual domain. In the end I had 4 different domain names, and then each of these 4 I had the .com and .co.uk to. Each domain only cost £4 (or so) a year, so did not cost much, but did prevent any possible future issues.