Protect Your Domain

Your domain name is your website address (www.yourcompany.com). Protecting this address is crucial for every website owner. If you don't, the address could be sold to someone else, like another business with a name similar to yours, a domain speculator, a competitor, or a disgruntled ex-employee.

All business owners should be familiar with their domain(s). If you are not, a good place to start is BetterWhoIs.com. You can enter your domain name at this site to view your account information. (You may have to go through two screens to get there.)

Dig through the text to find the:

The Contact(s) listed will receive renewal notices by email before the domain expiration date. So, it's critical to keep the information up to date and it's safer to have more than one Contact, if possible. For example, if there is only one contact person and that person's email address is incorrect, your domain could expire and be legally resold without you knowing it.

How to maintain a domain

Each registrar has a different method to provide access to domain records. You should be able to find it by searching your registrar's website. You will need a username and password to get in. If you don't have these, email the registrar's support staff and request them to be sent to you. Once inside, domain updates are typically straightforward, just type the new information into the labeled fields.

It's a good idea to recheck your domain after making changes. Simply go back to BetterWhoIs.com and pull up your record again. Updates can take a few days to propagate to the entire web, so don't be concerned if your changes don't appear right away, just check back again in a day or two.

Once lost, a domain can be difficult, expensive, or even impossible to re-acquire. So don't put off checking your domain information to ensure it is safe and accurate.