When you're running a presidential campaign, it's key to maintain control of your brand. But Some 2016 presidential candidates seem to be having problems. They forgot to register a key web address, leaving opponents to seize the opportunity to create havoc or for significant profit.
Take Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), for example. The popular conservative candidate announced his run for president on April 7 during an appearance in Louisville. But that wasn't the only thing he did. Records show that Paul paid an exceptional amount for a key web domain. "Federal campaign records show Paul used his Senate reelection committee to pay $100,980 to Escrow.com, a domain service, on March 27 for what is described as a "domain name" reports National Journal. Before this, Rand Paul relied on randpaul2016.com for his online campaign presence.
The sum of $100,000 is a significant amount of money to spend on a top-level domain like that. Many experts consider it to be "a lot." But a domain like randpaul.com is what one GOP digital strategist called "The gold standard in the digital world." It's the one thing that users have to know to access your website.
But what's the history behind this domain? "Under its prior ownership, RandPaul.com had been a bare-bones fan site, calling the Kentucky senator "the statesman we need in these difficult times,"..... It was an independent page as of late March 2015, when the The Des Moines Register published a story about presidential-domain squatters and included the site. In October, The Hill reported RandPaul.com was available on an Internet auction site for $125,000" reports National Journal. But as of April 7, the day of Paul's announcement, the URL leads to Paul's home page.
Many experts believe that this kind of price will lead many "cybersquatters" (people who buy domains on speculation intending to sell them for big bucks) to start acquiring presidential candidate-related domains and offering them up for sale to the right parties. Chris Christie, for instance, doesn't own chrischristie.com, and jebbushforpresident.com is currently owned by a couple from Oregon.
It's clear that that the 2016 election is a seller's market for web domain entrepreneurs.
