| Vol. 7, issue 2 - issued monthly |
Feb 2008 |
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In this issue:
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From the Editor: In the last 2 or 3 months I have gotten a few new clients because they either had a falling out with their webmaster, or their webmaster simply went out of business or disappeared. Great! I love new clients. BUT some of these clients did not register their domain name themselves. They had the webmaster do it. That would be fine if they had records of this or if the webmaster had put the domain in the clients name - but NO. The client had lost control of the domain name because it was in the webmasters name and they are now long gone. So read on and make sure this never happens to you. As always, remember to Surf Safely - use your anti-virus and firewall's! - Michelle
"The faulty interface lies between the chair and the keyboard." |
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Could you Loose your Domain Name?What do you think could happen if you lost your domain name (aka web site address, URL)? If it expired and you lost it your site would go down and your email would stop working! Then you would have to go about trying to get it back or get another one. If you were not sucessful in renewing it think of all the places you have your email and web site posted. All that would have to be changed when you got your new domain name. It could be quite a nightmare for some. How could this happen? Unfortunately it happens all to often. Recently I've gotten a few new clients because they found out their webmaster had gone out of business and left them high and dry. Then they realized the webmaster had registered their domain and put it in their name! They don't know where it was registered. They stare at me when I ask them if they have a user name and password for their domain account. Then the fun begins. For some, if the domain has not expired and the webmaster has disappeared all it takes to get it back is filling out some paper work. Then they will get control of their domain again. I've been working with a client since Thanksgiving trying to help her get her domain back. No luck yet. I had a client and their former webmaster had built their organization a "free website". Sounds nice. No contract, no paperwork. He was just a "nice guy" who did this for them. Hmmm. They had the site up for a few years then the webmaster would not return phone calls or update the site. He was angry that he had done all this work and it had not resulted in referrals or paid work from businesses in the area. So when the merchants asked him if they could take over the site he informed them that HE owned the site and domain name. He demanded $10,000 for the DOMAIN NAME only. Yes, you read that right. Well this little organization did not have that kind of money so they got another domain name and hired me to built a new web site and they got a new domain name. To this day he holds the domain name hostage by renewing it for years at a time. Their marketing took a huge hit by losing their domain name and has never recovered. Many people make a lot of money by purchasing expired domain names then selling it back to a company for lots more $$. How can you make sure this doesn't happen to you? 1. Register your domain name yourself. Keep a file on your domain name and make sure you remember where you registered it, like godaddy.com. Make sure you keep a record of your account number, login or user name and password. Then make sure you keep your contact info with the registrar current. The ONLY way they are going to contact you to renew your domain is via EMAIL. They will not call you. They will not send you a letter. They will email you repeatedly reminding you its time to renew. If you change your email address and do not give it to them. You will loose your domain name. Period. 2. If you have a webmaster register the domain for you make sure they put it in your name (that should be part of their contract with you). Make sure they tell you where they registered it and give you all the login info. You will need this if you ever want to change web hosting companies. 3. Register your domain name with a reputable company. Don't try to save $2 whole dollars and go with a fly-by-night domain registrar that will be out of business in a year or two. If they do, then you'll have to go through hoops to prove you are the rightful owner with the upper level registrar that takes over the failed companies accounts. GoDaddy.dom and Registrar.com are 2 good companies. I personally stay away from Network Solutions, alldomains and gisol. Recently on a web design forum I belong to another webmaster posted that a client of hers had registered his domain himself with some company she had never heard of. When it came time to renew they hit his bank account for $1800 saying they were renewing it for like 20 years or something as per the "fine print" in their contract. AND he did not own the domain. I had never heard of such a thing! We recommended they report the registrar to ICANN, the organization that regulates domain names. But what a nightmare he when through. What you don't know CAN hurt you. Know everything there is about your domain name and keep good records. back to top |
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Fr-ee Virus Protection "AVG Anti-Virus Fr-ee Edition is the most popular solution available at no cost to home users and provides the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers." |
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Just for Fun or Useful Links!Google Voice Local Search Stop paying for those 411 calls. GOOG-411- This is a great one to program into your cell phone. |
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