Brand identity from a domain name is valuable. Small organizations with volunteer-built websites risk damage to their brand and loss of audience due to misunderstanding the nature of Internet domain names and how to manage them. Those responsible for the Internet presence of such organizations should take pains to understand that domain names are long-term assets to be protected in order to safeguard the organization’s identity on the Internet.
Losing the Asset
One scenario is that a small organization stands up a website and invests in promoting their domain name – to get visitors to their home page – only to lose control over that domain name for one or a combination of reasons:
The site is moved to a new provider and the old name is left behind
There is a lack of understanding that a name can point to the new site
The old provider makes it difficult to assume control of the name