By Alli Summerford
October 15, 2005
I wrote on this topic a couple of years ago, but it deserves a regular look. When you register your domain name, you were not buying it outright, you simply purchase a license to use that name for a certain period of time. When that period of time expires, if you have not renewed the name, someone else can buy it on the open market.
The cost in time and money associated with losing your domain name can be very high. Losing your online identity could compromise the name recognition you have developed, interrupt email and business communications, and render useless any other marketing materials you may have that include your web site address. Bottom line: don’t let this happen to you. It is an easy thing to check and do when the time comes.
Please take a moment to look up your domain name’s official information. You will want to make sure of two important items.
- The expiration date of the license;
- The contact information for the Admin Contact, particularly the admin email address — all communication regarding your domain is sent to the Admin contact’s email address.
You can go to http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jhtml and type in your domain in the field indicated. Or, you can simply go to Network Solutions at www.netsol.com and choose the link for “WHOIS” from along the bottom of their site. Doing so will bring up your domain name’s license information.
Should you find incorrect information, you will need to update your account. That can be done by logging into the site of your registrar. The registrar is listed in the bottom section of the WHOIS results screen.
I have been asked by several clients if this is something that I could manage for them. Unfortunately, it is not. Your domain name license is a business asset owned by your organization. I am not notified in any way about issues related to your domain name such as upcoming renewals. It needs to be the responsibility of someone within your organization to make sure that the contact information is correct and is set to an email address that is not likely to change, even as personnel changes. Further, please document and store this information in an easy to find location.
I am happy to walk you through the above process if you like. And, as always, please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you for your business!
