Years seem to fly by and you may have registered your domain name for a two or three years so you don’t worry about when it expires. You may also have a false sense of security because you feel that the company you bought the domain name from will inform you. You’re right, the company will inform you, but it is not fool proof.
Keep in mind, depending on which company you used, if their main business is registering domains they probably don’t care if your domain expires. Many of these companies have backorder options. Backorder options gives someone the ability to backorder your domain so the very second your domain expires it is registered with the person that backordered it. It may not seem legal, but it is.
In addition, the company that backordered your name can be kept anonymous – even if they end up with your name. Your name can be sold to someone else that may never use it and you may never be able to find out who has it. Just think about it. An unethical competitor can backorder your domain name and if you are not careful they can own it and sit on it just to keep you from having it. Or they can try to turn around and sell it to you for thousands of dollars and it’s all legal. Not ethical, but legal.
When you registered your domain name you most likely included your contact information, but has that changed? Is the email address still valid and do you check it often? If you’re like me, you probably receive hundreds of emails a day and many go straight into your spam folder and get lost. You should not expect the company that your registered your domain name with to call you. They won’t.
Each year you should check the status of your domain name. Have some sort of system to remind you such as a tickler file or an email alert. When you check on your domain name you may want to check to see if there are other domain extensions available such as .net or .mobi. You may not want to use these names right now, but they are inexpensive, so it’s worth buying them.
Be sure to register your domain name with a reliable company. Also, make it easy on yourself and consider registering it with your hosting company. Our hosting company’s main business is hosting. Registering domain names is a value added service. It may cost a few dollars more to register the domain name with them, but the convenience of having all the information at one location is extremely valuable. We are able to go into our hosting account information and on the dash board see when the domain names expire.
Your domain name is a valuable asset to your company. The age of a domain name also plays into rankings for search engines. Just image if you lost your domain name and everything you will have to do to change it or the cost of trying to get it back. Consider the cost of reprogramming your site, reprinting everything that has your domain name and not to mention any online ads you have running. Losing your domain name will cost you thousands of dollars. It is something you do NOT want to go through.
People are increasingly coming to realise how valuable domain names are as commodities in their own right. Businesses are realising that the right domain name can be the difference between success and failure on the web. A good domain name can generate enough traffic to turn an unprofitable website into a profitable one.
As an example of their potential value, creditcards.com recently sold for $2.75 million, a record for a 2 word domain name. Fund.com sold for $10 million in early 2008.
Obviously, the vast majority of domains will not fetch this kind of money, but there is the potential to make a very good income trading domain names. Making money from domain names is not new and not revolutionary, but it is an industry that is growing exponentially, and an opportunity that should be grabbed with both hands.
So, how do you get a good domain name?
1. Overly long and complicated domain names should be avoided. A short name is much easier for your potential visitors to remember. All 2 and 3 character names (for example aa.com or car.com) are already gone, but there are many good names still available.
2. Your domain name should be linked to the product your website is selling. For example, if you sell gardening tools, get a domain that makes this clear, for example gardentools.com. This way, potential customers know before they go to your site what they're likely to find there.
3. Make it unique - an original name will stick in peoples' minds, so they will visit and revisit your site.
4. Stick to dotcom extensions - people are familiar with these, and so are more comfortable with them, and more likely to visit your site.
5. It is essential that your domain name is easy to pronounce and to spell. It is very important that when someone hears your domain name that they know how to spell it - otherwise they will type in the wrong address, and you'll lose visitors.
6. Persevere! The domain name you first choose will probably already be taken, but keep trying. Stick to the rules above, but use your imagination - there are still lots of profitable domain names out there. As Bill Gates said, "Domains have and will continue to go up in value faster than any other commodity ever known to man." Don't miss this opportunity!
Both Patricia Hughes & Val Wilson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Patricia Hughes has sinced written about articles on various topics from Legal Matters, Site Promotion. Patricia Hughes is president of an Internet marketing firm, ePlus Marketing based in St. Louis. For more information contact her at. Patricia Hughes's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.
Val Wilson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Finances and Fitness. To learn more about picking the right domain name, and profiting from domains, get your free report at