Protect Your Domain Name

Don't lose your domain name (or your money) to carelessness and scams.

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Your business name is valuable.

Imagine being in business for years only to discover you can't use your business name anymore. Switching business names can be costly, not to mention the setback in building your brand recognition. That is why you choose your business name carefully and protect your rights to it. Your name is too valuable to lose.

So is your domain name.

Your domain name may cost only a few dollars a year, but losing it can be expensive. Yet countless businesses lose their domain names each year and discover there is no way to recover them. Ouch!

Here are steps you must take
to protect your domain name:

Make sure you own and control your domain registration.

Before you agree to use a website service that provides a domain name for you, read the fine print of the agreement. When they register your domain name, do you get control of the registration? Or do they retain control and ownership?

Make sure the domain name is registered with you and that you are allowed to keep the domain should you ever decide to change website services. Otherwise they can hold your domain name hostage. Your only choices will be stay with them or walk away from your domain name.

Know your domain name registration account.

Access to your domain name registration account is critical to protecting your domain name. You need to know:

1. Which registrar holds your domain name.
2. How to log in to your domain name account.
3. Your account's username and password.

Know your domain name vendor.

There are two types of vendors for domain name registration:

Registrars

A registrar is is officially authorized by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to register domain names to individuals and organizations.

Resellers

Resellers partner with a registrar to obtain domain registrations at a wholesale rate to resell to individuals and organizations. Some people become resellers because it is the quick and easy way to get into the domain name business. Others become resellers so they can offer domain name registration as an added convenience to their website service customers.

Which is better?

There is nothing inherently wrong with buying from a reseller instead of a registrar. In fact some top registrars are wholesale-only operations. What is important is that whoever you buy from is trustworthy and provides good customer support should you ever need it.

Some resellers prefer to hide their reseller status fearing that it will drive customers away. Resellers who sell domain names as a part of their website service offerings are more likely to be open about their reseller status.

The most trustworthy resellers will gladly tell you which registrar they use and how to access your account directly through the registrar should the reseller be unreachable.

Keep vendor information handy

Whoever you choose to register your domain name, make sure you write down the name of the firm, the URL of their website and account access area, and your login information. Keep this information in a secure place where you can refer to it as needed.

Know when your domain name registration expires.

Most domain names are lost through neglect. If you don't know when your domain name expires and don't get the reminder emails for whatever reason, you will wake up one morning to find your website and email isn't working. If you wait until after your domain name expires to renew it, you will likely have to pay a significantly higher fee. Plus it will take a day or two before your domain name comes back online throughout the Internet.

If you really screw up and allow your domain name to go 30 days or more past expiration, you may find that someone else has registered it. At that point there is little you can do to recover your domain name short of offering a large sum of money and hope the new owner agrees to sell it back.

Protect your domain registration from expiration by:

• Renewing your domain name at least 45 to 60 days before expiration.
• Buying 2 or more years of registration as a safety cushion and then continue to add another year of registration annually to maintain that margin of safety. You can register your domain name for a maximum of up to 10 years.
• Make sure your contact information in your domain account is always up to date so you don't miss renewal notices and other important announcements.

Lock down your domain names.

Registrars and resellers are required to offer an optional "transfer lock" for each domain name. This "lock" prevents others from transferring your domain name away to their account.

If the lock is in place and turned on, the registrar will not honor any request to transfer the domain to another owner or account. The only way to unlock the domain is to login to your account and manually turn the lock off. As long as no one else knows your username and password, nobody can unlock the domain except you.

Always use the locking feature of your domain name account. Double check your domains to make sure the locks are turned on.

Watch out for domain name scams.

Scam artists take advantage of the fact that most people do not know their domain name expiration date, the renewal fee, or where it is registered.

These scam artists send out notices in the mail months before your domain expires that look official and legitimate. They ask you to send a fee to renew your domain name. Many people send in the money without reading the fine print or double-checking the information against their domain name account.

If you read the fine print carefully, you'll find that the letter is actually:

• Asking you to transfer your domain name away from your current service to their service. Usually at a fee that is much higher than you normally pay. Signing the form and sending the money is giving legal permission to transfer the domain.
• Asking you to renew "domain name search engine registration." This is a worthless service for which they pocket all the money you send. And your domain name doesn't get renewed.

The best way to protect yourself is to:

• Be familiar with how your domain name registrar or reseller notifies you of domain name expirations and other notices. If anything out of the norm arrives, examine it carefully and question its authenticity.
• Know the name of your registrar or reseller. If you get notices from anyone other than your registrar or reseller, bring it to the attention of your registrar or reseller and ask them to verify if the notice is legitimate.

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For My Clients

If you have purchased a website package from me, I continue to manage your website, and your domain name is registered through me, I personally make sure your domain name is locked down and regularly monitor your account to help protect it against loss due to fraud or neglect.

You are also encouraged to contact me any time you get a notice regarding your domain name that didn't come from me. Chances are it is another scam.

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