Domain Squatters & Why You Need to Put Your Domain Name on Backorder
Living in Oak Park and being a member of Oak Park Biz Net – Networking Group, I wanted to share an experience we just encountered that also points a common problem people have with their Website. The OP Biz Net has been operating for some time now and much like any organization they needed a Website and so they had a current member at the time purchase their domain name (OakParkBizNet.org) and create an account for the group through GoDaddy.
As this happens to many people I want to point something out here. While it is a great idea to set up a Website to showcase your product or service…. Never and I mean never let someone or some 3rd party organization set up or purchase your domain name on your behalf. It almost always results in disaster. The most common scenarios I have seen it playout:
• The relationship sours with the 3rd party.
• The 3rd party forgets to renew the domain name.
• The 3rd party begins a new career and abandons their former client.
Whatever the situation it usually ends the same. With the domain name lapsing. Once the domain name lapses a Domain Acquisition company snatches up the expired domain and will offer to sell it back to you for $1,200, that’s usually the starting price to recover an average domain name. And these domain acquisition companies are often successful in getting paid. For several reasons:
1.) You may have substantial equity already built in to your domain name… Meaning you have a lot of traffic and systems in place feeding you new traffic. And it would be more costly to start over from scratch.
2.) It might be more costly to update all your printed marketing pieces to reflect a new domain name.
3.) Thinking about numbers 1.) & 2.) it would just be cheaper to pay the fee and get your domain name back.
4.) It makes you look incredibly unprofessional and unorganized if clients go to your Website and see some other company’s holder page.
Whatever the value of your domain name some people/business are often so butt hurt over the fact that this online tow truck company that goes around snatching up expired domain names snagged their URL that they refuse to pay. And for some businesses it isn’t such a big deal to launch their old Website to a new domain name.
But better to avoid the whole situation. If you were to think of your Website for a moment as a physical store location would you really let anyone set up your property location without having control over and knowing all the specifics i.e. what sort of lease you are signing, who has copies of the keys…etc. Not likely, so definitely don’t do that with your Website. Regardless, whoever registers your domain name just make sure that YOU put it on BACKORDER. If you need help, we recommend our GoDaddy partner site:
GoDaddy is the biggest Domain Registrar in the World and very reputable. Best of luck to you and feel free to call the Educo crew if you have any questions.
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