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Protect
Your Website From Being Repossessed Or Stolen!
By Simon
Grabowski
Copyright © 2002-2003
Did you know
that you can lose your digital piece of real estate, even without an
eviction notice? Imagine losing everything in a single heartbeat: your
business, your brand equity, your traffic and your source of income ...
Without your knowledge or consent!
That's what
happened to many unfortunate online business owners, lately.
Specifically, a stunning controversy has emerged, which all Internet
marketers and business owners should pay very close attention to. If you
own an online business, be extra careful.
VeriSign, the
online security company, is now not only a domain name registrar but
also the company that runs the master domain database (.com's, .net's
and .org's). It's a responsibility once held by Network Solutions (since
acquired by Verisign), conferred to them by ICANN. Is this monopoly a
good thing? Apparently not.
If you
neglect to pay your mortgage, for example, you lose your home. But this
only happens after you've received several "past due" notices from the
bank and still failed to make your payment on time. (That's OK, since
your physical address never changes.)
Similarly,
most domain name registrars will notify you by email when it's time to
renew. But what happens if your email address is wrong? What happens if
your postal address has changed? What happens if you're on vacation away
from your computer? And what happens if you simply overlooked the
notification?
If so, you're
probably out of luck.
According to
Janet Kornblum in a USA Today article, you can lose your "digital home"
without ever getting an eviction notice. Says Kornblum, "What if you
just came home from work, one night, and found new owners sitting in the
dining room, eating your food?"
That was the
case with a few business owners whose domain names, which were
registered through VeriSign, expired and were quickly snapped up by
other people, putting the original owner right out of business in a
blink of an eye! VeriSign is not the only one, too. Some registrars fail
to even send a single renewal notice!
(One lawyer
became aware -- when it was too late -- that his URL for his law
practice website led to a porn site. Not only did he lose all that
business and traffic, but he also had to deal with a much bigger loss:
his good name, and not just the name itself.)
If the domain
name is a registered trademark, chances are greater that the original
owner can have it returned -- but that does not take into consideration
the time and money required for the legal process, as well as the
potential business wasted during the wait along with the incalculable
damage caused to the company's brand.
In other
words, if you fail to act (and act fast) when renewal time comes, it can
kill your business ... Almost instantly, too.
Certain
web-based services offer people the ability to snatch up expired domain
names, such as, for example,
http://BizMint.com/. These
services may appear to prey on these unsuspecting business owners -- but
keep in mind that registrars are really the ones to blame.
However, such
services can be used as effective tools by business owners who wish to
protect their online piece of real estate from potential loss. In fact,
services like these offer features that can become extremely helpful in
preventing online identity theft.
(Realize that
identity theft is not really a "theft." According to Kornblum: "It's
hot. It's legal. And if you've got a popular domain name, you can be
sure someone's out there just waiting for you drop the ball so they can
snap it up and run with it.")
Here's a
three step process to prevent online identity theft (or to protect you
from shady registrars with poor customer service):
-
Join an
online service like
http://BizMint.com/, and
allow for daily email alerts of expired and soon-to-expire domain
names to be sent to you the moment they arise. (Only a handful of
these subscription services offer this important feature.)
-
Create
filters in your email reader that watches for specific words,
including prospective domain names as well as your own, and
immediately flags them as they arrive in your inbox. (And note that
BizMint also offers an online tracking service.)
-
And
finally, renew your domains as quickly as possible. (Also, some of
these services offer members instant registration as well as domain
name transfers for existing domains. Therefore, if your registrar's
customer service is less than desirable, consider transferring your
domain names to better ones.)
So, be sure
to verify and be immediately notified well in advance of when your
domain names are about to expire. In fact, USA Today reported that an
average of 19,260 domain names expire every day in the last month alone,
as opposed to 1,200 just a year ago.
Is your
domain name among them? If so, you better watch out.
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Simon Grabowski is the owner of several
online businesses that serve a growing network of over 23.6
million people. He is the owner of BizMint.com, the leader in
expired and soon-to-expire domain names. Grab a great domain
name for pennies! Above all, don't let yours fall into your
competitors' hands! Join today before it's too late. Visit
http://www.BizMint.com/
right now! |
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