Domain Name Information

Protect Your Domain Name or Risk Losing It


Your domain name is an important part of your brand and identity. Losing it could be disastrous! Yet, month over month we see people lose their domain name, either because they ignore or forget to renew them, or do not keep their contact information - especially their email address - current and up to date.

A whole new industry has been created out of lost and neglected domain names. It is now common place for an expired domain name to be snagged the moment it is released back to the 'available' pool. These poachers will grab any domain name that has a decent search engine ranking and forward it to anything from a competitors web site, to a pay per click advertising site. They are hoping to have you pay a big ransom to get your domain name back or to capitalize on the residual traffic left over by your domain name's high search engine ranking.

There are steps you can take to protect yourself from these tactics:

  • Activate the 'Domain Lock' feature with your registrar. This prevents changes in contact info, DNS servers and most importantly, blocks transfer away requests that could be sent by a poacher trying to steal your domain name
  • Keep your contact information, especially your email address current and up to date. Be sure to white list the domain name of your registrar so renewal and other important email notices don't get caught in your Spam filters. If you are worried about listing your email address in the public Whois database, ask your Registration provider about Whois Privacy Service
  • Most registrars send out occasional Whois Confirmation emails to domain owners, giving them the opportunity to double check and correct any invalid or outdated information. Do Not ignore these emails, double check the information and correct any errors
  • Be on the lookout for fraudulent renewal notices that arrive both in email and especially by regular paper mail. There are a few companies sending very officially looking paper mail renewal notices that look very much like invoices. They are not! They are carefully crafted marketing documents designed to fool an accounts payable clerk into thinking its a bill that has to be paid!

Your domain name registration provider should be more than a domain name clearing house. They should help you manage your domain name with locking and privacy solutions and most of all, help you protect your name and brand, the one you worked so hard to create. Talk to your domain name registration provider to be sure you have done everything you can to protect yourself today!

About the Author: Robert Schwartz has helped thousands secure and manage their Internet identity and is President of LaneChange.net a Total Domain Management solutions provider. Find out more at http://www.LaneChange.net


MORE RESOURCES:

Boosting numbers in .ke domain names
Business Daily Africa, Kenya - 3 hours ago
August 20, 2008: Internet domain names have increasingly become part of our daily lives, but the uptake of the .ke (dot ke) is still lagging behind. ...


Try Domain Names Before You Buy
AddPR.com (press release), TX - 7 hours ago
Up until now the high asking price of premium domain names has been a show stopper for entrepreneurs and business owners but if the experts at ...


Registered .CN Domain names on the Rise
RedlineChina, CA - 3 hours ago
According to government researcher CNNIC’s newly released figures, as of July, registered .CN domains reached 12.36 million, up 94.6% from the previous year ...


VeriSign to Extend SSL Security to Web Sites With ...
CNNMoney.com - Aug 18, 2008
VeriSign today announced that its SSL Certificates will now support Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). IDNs display Web site addresses in local language ...


PagesJaunes blocks pagesjaunes.com, .net, .biz domain names
Telecom Paper (subscription), Netherlands - Aug 13, 2008
In 2000, PagesJaunes' former owner, France Telecom, tried in vain to block or recover the .com and .net domain names before the world IP organisation. ...


Me Oh My Domain Names
AddPR.com (press release), TX - Aug 15, 2008
Following the recent rash of .me domain names sales oone domain investor says don't forget my domain names. From our early childhood days we have all been ...


Domain names and webpage designing services from Webset
Ferret, Australia - Aug 14, 2008
Webset provide Australian domain names for a period of 2 years and global domain names for a period of 1 to 10 years. Webset provide Australian domain names ...


Melbourne IT (MLB) $3.10
The Australian, Australia - 6 hours ago
"Relying solely on domain names will be a challenge in the future," says Melbourne IT webmaster Theo Hnarakis. Melbourne IT yesterday posted a 20 per cent ...


HONG KONG: A Case Study of Closing Down Spamvertised .hk Domains ...
IBLS INTERNET LAW (subscription), CA - Aug 18, 2008
A list of spamvertised and phishing domain names is supplied by OFTA, the anti-spam enforcement agency in Hong Kong, in partnership with leading anti-spam ...


Fasthosts Internet Ltd, web hosting company, has announced a new ...
ClickPress (press release), UK - 4 hours ago
The offer means that customers simply register any .com domain names, before the end of August 2008 and they will receive a 2 year .uk domain registration ...

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