Anja Kainz runs a travel agency offering personalised holiday experiences in Sri Lanka. For the Austrian native, her website – www.sri-tours.at – is the most important marketing tool of all. So it stands to reason that the entrepreneur took steps to secure a large number of domains.

Anja Kainz fell in love. With an island nation in the Indian Ocean: Sri Lanka. It wasn't planned, it just kind of happened. The island’s endless sandy beaches, captivating landscapes and cultural heritage cast a spell on her. It’s not for nothing that Sri Lanka is often referred to as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. For the company, based in the town of St. Margarethen in Carinthia, its website is its business card. "I do my marketing through the website," Kainz explains. Her customers come from all over the German-speaking world. "The website is my holiday brochure." All anyone interested in travelling to Sri Lanka needs to do to find out about Kainz’s latest highlights is visit the domain www.sri-tours.at. She quickly struck upon the domain name when she founded the company. "I chose sri-tours.at because it represents my company name," says Kainz. The entrepreneur also thought about including a keyword in her domain. "At the time, it was common to use the company name as a domain. When I saw that it was available – and I checked before going ahead and setting up the business – I didn't hang around."

.at domain delivers advantages
As Kainz confirms, the online landscape in the travel sector has changed a lot in recent years. "In the past, more people went to travel agencies to plan their holidays. But today, there is significantly more online competition in the travel industry." So it stands to reason that websites are becoming increasingly important. And for Anja Kainz, it was clear from the outset that only a .at domain would do. "This is an Austrian travel agency, registered in Austria. I don't want to hide where I come from – quite the opposite, in fact. I see it as an advantage." Simone Binder, Head of PR & Marketing at nic.at, confirms: “.at is associated with positive attributes such as a strong image, likeability and respectability. Something which is supported by various studies. The majority of users confirm that they would click on a domain with the respective company name and a .at ending in a list of search results.”

Keywords in domain names
In addition to her main domain, Kainz has secured another fourteen or so domains with different endings and different spellings and keywords over the years. “Some with a hyphen and some without, some with a keyword, some with an abbreviation – I tried a lot of different combinations," says Kainz. But what motivated the tour operator to register so many different domains? "I don't want a competitor to get hold of any domains that are similar to my main domain. In addition, I have learned a lot over the years as an entrepreneur, including the importance of SEO. In retrospect, I would actually register even more domains with keywords – it’s just that I was not as aware of this topic when I founded the company," says Kainz.

Secure domains strategically
While Kainz has secured a lot of domain names, she advises people to still think carefully about what ultimately makes most sense: "I’ve also considered selling some of my domains. You just need to ask yourself: what is strategically important, which are the domains that competitors should not be allowed to get their hands on?"  Kainz notes that there is no point in snapping up domains indiscriminately: “Given the new extensions .travel or .reisen, there are now so many opportunities for travel agencies to register domains. But I didn't do that because it didn’t represent good value for money from my perspective," she explains.

First come, first served: every domain is unique!
Businesswoman Anja Kainz has secured multiple domains featuring different spellings. Domains with keywords are particularly popular. Each domain is a unique and valuable asset. Even though domains are virtual, they have real value – and that value can increase significantly over time. So owners need to make sure that their domains are well protected and should think very carefully before parting with them. If you want to find out more about a specific domain or are looking to register a new one, you can do so at nic.at. Alternatively, you can use our partner finder.