Is Your Domain Name In Trouble?!
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Alyice Edrich May 26, 2004
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Alyice Edrich |
About the
Author:
Alyice Edrich is the author of several
work-from-home e-books and the editor of The Dabbling Mum.com-a national
publication for BUSY parents. She is also a telecommunications rep and sales
discount domain names at http://edrichcommunications.com |
Alyice Edrich
has written 1 articles for DomainInformer. |
View all articles by Alyice Edrich... |
How long ago was it
that you purchased your Domain Name? Is it time to re-register? Check your
expiration date today! If you have six months or less on your contract,
re-register today, before something happens and it's too late.
Don't think it can
happen to you? It has already happened to many small and large businesses. They
waited until the last minute, business got so busy that they forgot altogether,
or an error occurred with the registrar company and before these businesses knew
it, someone had come along and snatched up their domain name, right out from
under them.
One business man
had close to two weeks to re-register his domain name, so he went online to make
a payment and renew the domain for a few more years. However, something happened
with his domain host that prevented him from making a payment online, so he
called the company and asked them to take care of it. He gave them all the
necessary information and paid with his credit card, by phone. Thinking the
problem was solved, he went about his daily business.
A week later, his
domain name "officially" expired and someone purchased it right out from under
him! All that work, gone!
A work-at-home mom
had a fairly successful online business, but for whatever reason, didn't get her
domain registered before the deadline. Know what happened to her site? A porn
site snatched it up.
Others have lost
their domain names due to harvesting software programs that now let others know
the second your domain name is vulnerable.
Talk about a WAKE
UP CALL! If you have a domain name, register it at least a few months in advance
of it's expiration date. That way, if anything does go hay wire, you have time
to fix it before you lose your domain name.
You put a lot of
hard work and hours into your website. You put in a lot of money for
advertising, so that people know where to find you. You have gained the respect
and admiration of many people and businesses. Don't throw caution out the door
thinking this cannot happen to you.
Jeanne of
Devine-Designs has experienced her fair share of what I like to call scrupulous
behavior. When she started Expat-Moms, she began it on a free web host server
(like geocities, tripod, and the like). Her reasoning was simple... test the
waters and see how successful the business was before going all out,
financially.
Once her cold feet
turned warm, she went to purchase the domain name http://expatmoms.com, but to her surprise, someone had bought
it out from under her! Now, the site sits unused, while her new domain with the
hyphen is doing extremely well.
Jeanne isn't the
only one this has happened to. "Harvesters" often snatch up domain names in
hopes of re-selling them at a higher, if not outrageous price!
How do they know
which domain names are going to be viable? Simple. They go to free web host
servers, find the business name chosen, then purchase the domain name in hopes
that the owner will one day get so big that he or she goes looking for that
domain name. Others simply go to a keyword program, like Overture and
purchase domain names using the top keywords.
I recently read
about a woman who befriended a man, shared her hopes and dreams, including the
name she had chosen for her "new" company. After a few more months of
deliberation, she went to purchase her domain name, only to find her so-called
friend was not a friend at all. He had gone out and purchased the name she had
chosen for her company... right out from under her!
If you are serious
about an online business? Don't wait until it is too late. With domain names as
low as $12.95 per year, there is truly no excuse NOT to invest in a web address.
And don't forget, it's a tax write-off.
TIPS:
Pick your company
wisely. Try to find a company that sends out reminder notices. If the company
you use doesn't and you are happy with where you are at, please mark your
calendars every year! I have a monthly bills-to-be-paid sheet, and I list my
domain names, web host, and other business related expenses as a monthly
expense. That way, I know every month what is due out the door, when.
If you must insist
on using a free web host server, take the precaution of ordering your domain
name and have it redirected to your free web host server, for under $30 per
year!
Be safe, and check
the expiration date of your domain name today. If it is up in six months time or
less, order an extension or renewal of that domain name today... and try to
order at least two years or more.
While it used to be
advantageous to purchase a domain name that had expired to keep the high
rankings, Google as changed its algorithm policy to weed out sites that
purchased domain names for this sole purpose. (Keep in mind that taking over
someone else's completed site does not fall under this category.) |