One of them most important things that you can do right now is to check up on your Domain Name Registration.
Here are some quick tips . . .
If you have a website, then you also have a domain name.
And if you have a domain name, your website depends in it being registered.
But there are many ways that your domain name can lapse without you knowing about it.
1. Ignore It
Your domain name registrar will send you email reminders when your domain name is due for renewal.
These will start up to 3 months in advance of the renewal date, and get more frequent as the date approaches.
One way to have your domain name lapse is to ignore these reminders, thinking that you will attend to it later on.
2. Wrong email address
Worse than this though is if you don’t get the email reminders.
Over time, the email address that you registered your domain name with might change.
Or if it’s a gmail or yahoo account, you might just stop checking it regularly.
3. Watch out for hoaxes
Over time, you will quite likely also receive FAKE renewal notices – by email or even in the post.
Here is an example that we reported on recently:
http://hotpinkwebsites.com.au/domain-renewal-group-invoice-warning
Watch our for these.
You just don’t know what will happen with your domain name if you hand management over to these companies.
Check your domain registration now
1. Check you registration email
Hopefully, you still have the registration email confirming the original registration of your domain name.
From this you can check renewal dates, registrar names, etc.
2. No registration email?
If you cannot find the original registration confirmation, go to Google and search on “whois lookup“.
Select one of the results that Google offers and type in your domain name.
From there you will be able to get the information that you need to follow up on.
Well, that is quite simple really!
Better to be safe than sorry, so contact us if you need more help.
What should you do now?
- Follow the instructions above to check your domain name details.
- Want some help or ideas? Just contact us at Hotpink Websites now.
Quote
A man who can correctly guess a woman’s age may be smart, but he’s not very clever.
~ Lucille Ball
Yes. Better to be safe than sorry! A massage therapist I know recently missed re-registering and her domain was taken by a competitor, who then accessed all her other related directory listings (via password retrieval), and changed all the phone numbers to her own (without altering the profile). Very ugly, and highly unethical, but it happens!
She may have some recourse if she owns the business name, company name or a trademark.