Are there internet domain registration issues of which I need to be aware The answer, actually, is yes. Internet domain registration is big business with competition for the best names that can be picked up by the top search engines. Like in any competitive field, there are always those out looking to take advantage of you. We both know that your domain name is important to you and so is your money, so it is important that you be aware of and concerned with certain scenarios where you can be taken advantage of in the internet domain registration game.
The most common trick you may encounter comes by way of internet domain registration renewal. The internet domain registration companies will use the credit card number you gave them to begin with and automatically renew your domain name several months in advance of when you need it done. This is a way of getting your money in advance of when you need it and thus cutting your paid for time down. It is a not a new scam that the internet domain registration companies invented; magazines sometimes will use the same method with regard to subscription renewals.
There is a way to stop this from happening, or at least reducing the risk. Never give the internet domain registration company permission to user your credit card to automatically renew your domain name. They may try to scare you by telling you that giving them permission in advance will ensure that you do not lose your domain name. The truth is, you can keep track of the time as easily as they can.
If you do not allow the internet domain registration companies to automatically renew, trust me, they will remind you when your time is approaching via email. This, however, is another time when scammers are out in full force. Be sure the emails you receive are from the internet domain registration company you are working with. Sometimes domain renewal is a way of hiding phishing scams. Just stay on top of things and be aware of who the sender is on any email you receive.
The truth is that if you use a legitimate internet domain registration company, they will send you email notices reminding you that you need to renew. They will send such notices well in advance, but will let you know when you actually need to renew. As ridiculous as it may seem to many people, you do have to renew your domain registration every time your registration runs out. The best way, though, to avoid the many scams and cons out there is to simply keep track of your domain timing and the companies with which you are working. Your best defense is being knowledgeable about your own situation.
One of the most important actions you will perform in the building of your presence on the web is internet domain registration. Keeping the name you want is valuable, but does cost you money. With such high demand for domains, there are obviously going to be those who want to take advantage of the situation. Your best defense against such people is to keep track of your domain, your registration time, and which internet domain registration company you are using.
If you would like the latest information on domain hosting, or find more of my personal articles like the one you just read, visit my .
Youve seen them before and wondered what the heck they were thinking: small businesses with domain names like eallylonganduniquebusinessname.biz. Half-out-loud you say: what, was reallylonganduniquebusinessname.com taken A new advertising technique of illegal casino websites helps prove that your snickering is absolutely justified.
Cheapskates and Johnny-dot-Com-Latelys
If youve consulted for small business websites as long as I have, you have probably encountered more than a few whose owners decided to save three dollars at Godaddy by buying a dot-biz domain name. Or a dot-net, dot-info, or dot-whatever was on sale that week. Whatever it is, forget trying to tell them that they may have lost out in thousands of dollars of business from type-ins. That is, from all the people who will type in the dot-com version and get an error message--or a parked domain advertising naughty-naughty pictures. Nor should you tell them that everyone who knows a dot-biz from a dot-com knows that the former is usually offered on sale and is the beast-mark of the most extreme kind of penny-wise-pound-foolish cheapskate. The obviousness of the truth of the observation will only make them hate you more.
Then there are the netrepreneurs who wanted that keyword-perfect domain name so badly that they took a dot-biz, dot-org, dot-cc, or dot-what-the-heck-does-that-stand-for when the dot-com version was already taken. You know what Im talking about: a one-man-band bookstore that buys the book domain with the Vaticans top-level domain extension because Barnes & Noble has book.com, and every other possible variant was also already taken.
Again, dont bother telling these people theyre just sending type-in traffic to Barnes & Noble. You are arguing against a cottage industry. Pitcairn Island, population under 100, has its own top-level domain name extension. No doubt they can cut back on their rare coin and postage stamp production thanks to the hundred bucks (US, not Pitcairnian) per domain paid by wishful Johnny-come-latelys. And GoDaddy is no doubt raking in the credit card digits from .us domain names that are worth their weight in gold pixels. This is the web version of small business owners paying thousands to put their kids in their TV commercials. If youre a business consultant, you correct their error at your peril.
Why Casino Sites Know Web Businesses Need Dot-Coms
In case you have some justification for a dot-whatever lurking in some self-destructive corner of your brain, let me write this as clearly as possible. For a US or international business, the only suitable domain name extension is dot-com. Nonprofits can get by with dot-org, schools with dot-edu. Non-US country-specific businesses can use their own national domain name extensions. No, my fellow Americans, there is no justification for dot-us, even if your shipping area does exclude Canada and Puerto Rico and military addresses to boot.
Why Heres solid evidence the dot-whatevers are so bad.
1) Type-in traffic.
Yes, many people really will type in the dot-com version of a non-dot-com business website. I discovered powerful proof of this once after I saw a television commercial for a website with educational information about gambling. Curious how they were making money on this deal, I typed in the domain--and found a website with actual gambling right on the homepage, which would be flagrantly (though perhaps technically) illegal for me to use. Only later did I realize that the TV commercial had advertised the dot-net version of the domain, and I had typed in the dot-com version. The dot-net version has the educational material.
How would a no-membership-fee content website--with little to no advertising--recoup the expense of television advertising Only if a vast number of the visitors to go to the money-generating dot-com version.
2) Prestige
You may think Im completely off-base and a businesss domain name choice is none of my dot-biz-ness But the fact is those opinions are my opinions, theyre not going anywhere, and if you want to impress me, a dot-whatever domain name wont do it. And Im certainly not the only one who feels that way. Maybe you can just devote your dot-whatever websites homepage to refuting the snickerers like myself
3) SEO
True snobs, search engine algorithms are suckers for anything that smells of respectability--and dot-whatever does not smell like that. How often do you see a high-ranking dot-whatever business site The irony is that many dot-whatever domain name owners hope that having the keyword in their unique domain name will help them in search engines.
In the end, I have to admit theres one good thing about the snobbery against the dot-whatever domain names. They provide a way for web business consultants to sort out the serious inquiries from the slush, just by looking at the from address.
Joel Walsh is a freelance business writer and web business owner. The following site provided information for this article: Internet Casino: