Solving a Domain Name Registration Crisis

Contributed by Millie Dearborn

Domain Name Registration Crisis 1: You Didn't Renew

Forgetting a renewal on your domain name registration in and of itself is not a crisis. Your site will go down until you remedy the problem, and you may miss out on a few sales. Overall, though, you can re-register, and all is well. The problem is what to do if someone buys up your domain name in the meantime. In this domain name registration crisis, you can contact the new owner. If that person is planning to use the site for personal benefit, there probably is little you can do.

If, however, that person owns a domain name registration farm, you may be able to pay a slightly elevated price to retrieve your name. Consider your traffic and ads that you have out when you decide if it's worth it to purchase the domain at a higher rate. If you cannot repurchase the site, start contacting your newsletter subscribers, advertisers, and people who have linked to your site and do damage control. Get them re-routed to your new site as quickly as possible.

Domain Name Registration Crisis 2: You Don't Own It

Say you went with web hosting company X who promised they would take care of your domain name registration for you. They did, only they registered your site to web hosting X, instead of you. Now, you want to switch hosts because you have found a much better deal, only X is not willing to let go without a fight. Sure, they will sell it to you - at a grossly inflated price. What are you to do?

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