Keep your domain name locked up.

Each and every day many different domain names expire, and when unsuspecting domain owners are not prepared, many frustrating things can happen.

In this article, we will be discussing the best ways to protect the domain name you worked so hard to get and how to avoid common pitfalls.

The Good

So you have spent the time and money to find the perfect domain name for your business web site. You have hosting services and email services attached to your domain and everything is working perfectly.

The Bad

The credit card you used to purchase your domain name has expired. You changed your email address, but didn’t update your domain contact information.

The Ugly

Someone transfers your domain name away from you without your permission. Your website goes down, email services go down, and you are left with a very frustrating situation.

You Are Not Alone

Even large corporations have experienced these same problems. In 2004, the Washington Post failed to renew it’s domain registration and email services were disrupted.

Many other companies have failed to renew their domain names and had them transfered away, leading to customer confusion and chaos.

How can I protect my Domain Name?

At the very least, you will want to make sure your email address listed for the Registrant and Administration contact is up to date for your domain name. This will help to ensure that you get important emails concerning your domain. You will also want to keep your preferred billing information up to date, and set your domain name to “auto-renew”.

While these methods seem simple, you would be surprised at how many people do not follow these simple suggestions.

The above methods will help you keep your domain name, but your information will still be publicly available from just about any whois tool. There are also extra protections that you can put into place to help keep your domain name safe.

Our Protected Registration bundle comes with many great safeguards, giving the safety and security you need.

• Expiration Protection: protects you from credit card expiration, outdated billing / contact information.
• Deadbolt Transfer Protection: extra domain locking protection, making it impossible for most transfers to even take place.
• Protection Reports: quarterly email reports keep you up to date on your vital domain name information.
• Private Registration: keeps your personal information private and out of the hands of would be spammers and scam artists.
• Business Registration: provides useful information about your business in the whois database, including a description of your business, map to your store, website snapshot, phone number, links and more.

Don’t fall victim to the common domain expiration pitfalls, instead protect yourself and your domain from cybersquatters, spammers, and scam artists.