Don't Risk Losing Your Business Domain Name!

I Can't Remember Where I Purchased My Domain Name! Thousands of small business webmasters briefly lose their domain names at expiration, due to a simple lack of understanding about the roles of three key players in the drama: domain name registrars, web hosts and internet service providers. Fortunately for most, they learn quickly how to save their web site from oblivion by using the 30 day redemption period for expired domain names enforced by ICANN. One simple solution is to extend domain registration for the maximum ten years. The other solution is to treat domain registrar data as the critical business element it is. It wasn't until my third client had called asking how to regain control of her domain name that I realized that it was a common problem for small business webmasters to forget where they had registered their domains. WHOIS my registrar? Why didn't I get an email about renewal? Why did my site stop working today? People rarely realize how important it is to keep their domain registrar notified of changes to their email address and and other contact information. The registrar will send renewal notifications to the email address last on file. For most domain owners, the only time they think about contacting a registrar is the day they reserve their domain name. If they move to a new city and get a new internet service provider, it doesn't occur to them that the old email address will change and that meeans that the registrar can no longer contact them through the previous address, or phone or fax as each of them change and we rarely notify the controller of our domain of those changes. Sometimes the first indication a business owner will have that there is a problem is the day their web site stops working. If they failed to notify their domain registrar of changed email address, they may never have received their domain renewal notice. Since many registrars honor a 30 day "redemption period" allowing expired domains to be redeemed, it may be possible to save the registration within 30 days following expiration by contacting registrars during 30 day domain redemption periods. The following URL leads to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (AKA ICANN) discussing the grace period and redemption period rules it enforces. http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=google.com Replace google.com +1.6506234000 Fax- +1.6506188571 You'll also see the domain servers, which usually includes the host name like so: Domain servers in listed order: NS4.GOOGLE.COM NS2.GOOGLE.COM This normally shows only two servers (Google is bigger than you.) So now that you are armed with WHOIS data, you can see: Who the registrar is. (Hence WHOIS) Who the Domain Administrative, technical contacts are. Owner names, addresses, emails, phone and fax numbers. Domain creation, expiration and "last updated" dates. Domain servers and backup servers. What do you do if your domain name shows expired and it has stopped working? Do that WHOIS search and contact the listed registrar at their customer support number. They'll ask you to prove who you are by verifying some registration details. If you can't remember access passwords to log in to domain management consoles, they'll often accept faxed copies of your photo ID or a some standard identification proof and reset your username and password to give you access again. Forgetting to notify your registrar is not the only way to lose control of your domain. There are hundreds of stories of unethical hosting companies, webmasters and even spouses (since divorced) holding domain names in the name of a small business because the domain owner was not web savvy and didn't understand how important that domain name signup day was. Keep your registrar name, your log in username, password and domain management URL permanently recorded somewhere with your most important business papers. Don't allow anyone to register your domain name for you if they don't put YOUR name, email address and phone numbers in "Administrative Contact" position during registration. Some business owners confuse their web host with their internet service provider and further confuse both with the domain registrar. Since many ISP's offer web space, or hosting, and also provide domain registration through their initial signup package, it's not easy to separate the three distinctly different entities. You needn't host with your internet service provider and they're (almost) never your domain registrar. Keep them separate and completely apart in your mind. Internet service provider. (AT&T, Verizon, SBC Global.) Web hosting provider. (Pair Networks, Verio web hosts.) Domain Registrar. (GoDaddy, Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl Mike Banks Valentine operates SEOptimism, Offering SEO training of in-house content managers http://WebSite101.com and blogs about SEO at