2001 Butch Pujol
http://www.safeInternetbusiness.com
http://www.safedomainsolutions.com

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Let me ask you some questions that may sound “obvious” but can have downright scary answers. Did you buy your domain name from a service? Do you know who is in control of your domain name? Have you done a “Whois” search to find out? The answer may very well shock you!

Buying a domain name is a very easy thing to do. But if you buy a domain name without any knowledge of “ownership” vs. “control”, you could very well be headed down a bumpy road.

Unfortunately, most Web site owners are unaware that “ownership” does not equate to “control.” Just because you paid for your domain name does not mean you have access or authority to make changes, transfers or other necessary functions. But if not you - the owner - who does?

There are 4 components to a domain name:

1.Registrant: you - the person who registered the domain name
2.Billing Contact: could be anyone
3.Technical Contact: could be anyone
4.Administrative Contact: could be anyone

The registrant is you. You might assume that items two, three and four are also you. A natural assumption. Guess what most of the time they are not! THIS is where you get into trouble.

Who’s In Control?

So whose names are listed in the “control” spots? Nine times out of ten, it is a person within the organization you purchased your domain name from. Any inquiries about billing, technical issues and administrative questions are sent to this arbitrary person. The domain name registration company has FULL control over your URL. What does this mean?

Even though you are the owner, and you make a request for changes, the confirmation request will go to the administrator for verification. This person has the full authority to approve or reject changes to your domain name.

The Dangers

Keep one thing in mind, domain registrars can, and do, go out of business. They get bought and sold just like other organizations. They are not legally required to notify you of any changes within their firm. This fact alone can cause unlimited problems with renewals, changes, sales or transfers. But that’s not all.

Let’s say you put in a domain transfer request. A time sensitive confirmation will be sent from the registrar of your domain name to the administrative contact. This confirmation must be answered within a certain timeframe. Now, if the administrative contact is someone at the business you purchased your domain name from we could have a serious problem. That person might be on vacation, sick, fired, or even under orders not to respond. In any case, your transfer will be denied. Think it doesn’t happen. I’m horrified to tell you it does - every single day.

What does the technical contact control? Basically, where your Web site “lives.” What happens if you submit a hosting transfer request and your technical contact (not you - someone at the business you got your domain name from) does not respond to the message? Your domain name is trapped! Worse case scenario your site is down for days or weeks because your Web site lives at one place, and your domain name lives somewhere else.

And finally, the billing contact. At some point it will be time to renew your domain name registration. Most registrars send a notice to the billing contact 30 days before the payment is due. For whatever reason, the person listed as the billing contact does not contact you about the renewal. You just lost your domain name due to expiration!

Your Domain Name Is Being Held Hostage

When a domain name registration company forces itself into the contact fields of your registration records, it’s commonly know as being “held hostage.”

I personally know of countless horror stories of online business owners who have fought tirelessly to “free” their domain names and regain control. They will be glad to tell you the woes of losing control of your URL. So what do you do about it? How do you get back full control of your business?

Steps To Take

Make sure when you register a domain name that the registrant, administrative, technical and billing contacts are in your name. Just as soon as you receive confirmation and access information, log in and change any “forced” contact information to your name.

Use a contact email address you will always have. A good one is the one associated with your domain name. The email address on record must match the email address you are sending a request from. If you use an email associated with your ISP (@hotmail.com, @rr.sc.com, @earthlink.com) and later change ISPs, you’ll have to make contact information corrections prior to making any transfers, etc.

And lastly, if at all possible, register with a company that provides you with a management or control center. This is - without a doubt - the safest way to go.

You won’t have to wait for someone else to make needed changes.

You won’t have to ask anyone for permission to make changes.

You will never be denied the changes you need to make.

You won’t lose your domain name because the company listed as “contact” closed or was bought out.

You won’t lose your domain name because you weren’t notified of the renewal date.

You WILL be in full control of the most important part of your company - your domain name.

Take back control of your domain name today. Make the necessary adjustments to the contacts on record so that your URL can never be held hostage.

About the Author
Butch Pujol is an online Consumer Advocate who helps you make the most of the Internet. He is the author of “The Consumer’s Guide to Internet Safety & Online Professionalism” and founder of Safe Domain Solutions http://www.safedomainsolutions.com and Safe Internet Business Solutions http://www.safeInternetbusiness.com. Contact mailto:butch@safe-domain-solutions.com
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Here we will try to give you some tips that may be help you to purchase domain names you need.

Purchase domain names in the extension that is as much relative to your business organizational model as possible. For example, .ca means your business is based in Canada and .de clearly explains your German location. However, there are global domains, such as .com or .net.

Be careful when choosing a domain name registration service provider. Some of them are scammers and after you tell them the name you want to register, they do it themselves and then make you buy it from them. They may also charge you for more money than you though from the initial offer. Do some research - scammers are usually mentioned at least once on the Internet. Telephone support availability is a good sign your domain name registration service provider is a serious business and it is simply comfortable to settle up problems instantly by placing a call. Besides that, look for accreditations, for example from ICANN. Serious companies try to gain as much accreditations as possible so that it improves their image and guarantees their security. If a domain registration service doesn’t have any accreditations, it shouldn’t be considered to be a scam or alike, but it is a warning sign.

Try using keywords when choosing your domain name. Some search engines, like Google for example, do take keywords in the domain name into account so this may help you rank a little bit higher in search results. However, choose the shortest name possible so that it is easy to spell and remember.

Make sure you purchase domain names that are not potentially dangerous to be sued for. Avoid trademarks infringement and don’t try to squat someone’s domains. This is simply not fair and may cause problems.

If the domain name you want is available in several extensions, we recommend you to consider buying as much of them as possible so that no one can take advantage of your success.

Let s imagine you ve found a company you like. Hit Google to search for example for “domain registration” or “domain names purchase”. If you find information about the company your chose in the first several pages of results, it means the company has been operating in domain registration business for quite a long period of time. If you can’t find any traces of the company in search results and/or observe it only in AdWords, for instance, this is just another reason to check everything once again.

Therefore, when you purchase domain names, remember to go through careful planning and research. Choose the companies you trust not only because you want to. Register domain names that will appeal to your visitors and won’t infringe someone’s rights.

Kevin Dark is an online marketer. Read more on how to purchase domain names.

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The case for registering domain names is just a common event in the world today. In fact many people from different places around the globe engaged in registering domain names for certain purposes. Some of them were even searching for great resources that will aid them in the process of registering domain names. So if you are one of them, then you should further read this article for your great advantage.

Generally, there are so many important considerations that surround the process of registering domain names. Some of those are already given by some resources and some are not yet revealed. So to mention a few of those important factors for registering domain names, it is often considered that you should know that the sole way for registering domain names is to make use of the services of a domain name registrars. The domain name registrars are accredited organizations of the ICANN or the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to aid those who wish to get a domain name.

In registering domain names, it is very nice thing to consider that no one can access and modify the leading database of domain names which is now maintained by the InterNIC, except the domain name registrars. Thus, for registering domain names it is only the domain name registrars who get hold of everything when it comes to domain names. And mentioning the master database, the experts considered it as a database containing the documentation on the complete domain names registered to date.

Besides, when you are engaging in registering domain names, it a common fact that you know exactly that if you come across a domain name registrar that is out of the list, there is a great possibility that such domain name registrar taking hold for registering domain names is just acting as a reseller for one of the accredited domain name registrars as it is only an accredited domain name registrar who can amend the domain names database and so take hold of the process for registering domain names.

And in most cases under the process of registering domain names, some of the domain name registrars who take hold for everything regarding registering domain names, greatly specify the cost for registering domain names. But it is a common account that the domain name registrars largely expect to pay a yearly fee from the domain name holders or the consumers in general. Along with setting the prices for registering domain names, most of the registrars provide some sorts of discounts for more than a year, but then the domain name registrars have no power for selling more than a 10-year registration operation for any domain name.

About the Author : Laurie Mitch is a domain name specialist who writes for http://www.DomainsWithTraffic.com Source: www.isnare.com
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