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.Com, .org, .net and organizational domains make up the core group of generic top-level domains. Most Internet users are familiar with these TLDs.

As a brand, you are most likely aware that the expansion of domain names is about to explode with hundreds currently in the process of becoming a reality.

This new development is one of crucial importance and is one of the the most critical since the birth of the World Wide Web. Like any change of monumental proportions there are both pros as well as cons. Let’s start with the cons.

Pros and Cons

With the number of gTLDs shooting northward from about 300 to over 1400 by the end of 2013, the number of spaces where your brand can be infringed upon and exploited will increase exponentially.

On the positive side, the expansion of gTLDs presents an opportunity of paramount importance as brands seeking to revitalize their domain names and their online presence will benefit considerably.

That being said, brands will need to have a domain strategy that is comprehensive in nature where they can take advantage of the benefits while needing to be vigilant about minimizing the risks and harm that their online brand identity will be subjected to.

As a brand marketer you will be empowered to reinvent as well as define your presence online while securing the addition of domain names that are in line with your business objectives. This will help you market your products to additional audiences and markets which in turn will allow you to generate new streams of revenue.

Piracy in Cyberspace

The global fear in this whole gTLD development is that counterfeiters, cyberpirates, typosquatters and all the other no good lurkers will start grabbing domain names, in the WWW (Wild Wild Web), where they can utilize gTLDs that are trademarked, at will and hold onto them for ransom. They then can market them back to the brands for huge amounts of money.

That isn’t even half of it. These cyber-thieves can steal your traffic, diverting them to your competitors or counterfeit sites. This adds to the nightmare, as even while there are laws against this, legal fees can add up very quickly as pursuing action against mostly invisible culprits sometimes thousands of miles away is no easy feat.

How to Cope

Now that we presented you with both the risks and opportunities, we will outline our way for coping with this gTLD development. First off, you must be thinking, WOW. I need to register every gTLD that is remotely close to my own. Every misspelling, every gTLD. Hold on. Not so fast. This can prove to be gut wrenching as well as very expensive. You might also be thinking of hiring a bunch of personnel to manually scan the internet for every violation. Hold on there as well.

As a brand you ask: Do I need to register all these new TLDs? It could prove to be quite costly to register not only your domain name but just think of all the variations out there. We’re talking about perhaps registering thousands of TLDs. Going out and registering every TLD variation, misspelling, extension, etc will prove to be more of a burden as far as cost and effort.

So what can you do? The only way to really keep up with all the new gTLDs (taken and available) is by constantly monitoring the web. On the one hand, you should monitor the new gTLDs for websites that violate your brand or trademark, and on the other hand, monitor these domains for opportunities, available domains that by registering them your brand value is increased..

Be Vigilant and PROactive

By proactively monitoring the internet for websites that threaten your brand with a brand protection system, you will stay in command of shielding your brand from harm. It will help you in finding and prioritizing new gTLDs websites that may be abusing your brand as well as sites that appear to be suspicious. Such a system will present you with a visual report on threats and list them according to priority. It will provide you with the intelligence you need to make decisions related to the health of your domains and empower you to devise a plan for handling those websites that are infringing your trademark and reputation, thereby protecting your brand.

This type of monitoring not only protects you from threats but via the use of sophisticated algorithms will present you with opportunities it sees as advantageous to your domain strategy and allow you to continue strengthening your brand.

The new gTLDs present a challenge to marketers everywhere. But, with the right brand protection system in place, you can overcome this challenge as well as expand your online presence.