The Patient Way: Wait For It To Expire
If youre not comfortable contacting the domain owner directly, or you tried and didnt get a response, you can attempt to procure the domain when it expires.
This is anything but a guaranteed strategy, however. Most registrars remind their customers early and often prior to domains expiring. Many registrars also auto-renew domains by default as long as the customers payment details are accurate and up to date.
Even if a domains ownership does expire, many registrars give their customers a grace period after expiration so they can still renew it, sometimes at a considerably increased cost.
You could also try a domain monitoring service, which alerts you to status changes and expirations for your domains, or others that are of interest to you. Be aware though that this offering can be an upsell attempt by some registrars.
Backordering services are also popular, and if you want a maximum chance of getting the domain if/when it expires, we recommend using all of them. Most of these services will only charge you if they manage to procure the domain, but some charge in advance. Here are a few popular options:
Integrate With Social Media
If you’re planning to use social media to market your business, it’s a good idea to check if the name you want is also available on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or other social media channels you’d like to use. When you start marketing your business online, using social media channels makes it easier to send integrated messages to your customers make sure you note these down in your
Technical Issue #: Script
Another hurdle you’ll face in moving the website is if your website depends on computer programs that run on yourweb host’s computer to generate a part or the whole of the site’s content.
For example, if your website has forms of any kind, such as a shopping cart, a contact form, or a search engine form,it probably depends on one or more scripts. Blogs are also generated using scripts.
Since you can’t log into your website via FTP or your web host’s control panel, you have basically no way of gettinga copy of those scripts and a copy of any data stored in your web host’sdatabase system,if any. While you may think that it’s a simple matter to use your web browser to save the pages on your existing website, and thencopy those pages to your new web hosting account, you will find that your new site will not function the same way asit did previously if any part of your site depended on scripts. For one, the forms that are on your pages will nolonger work. Neither will your shopping cart.
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Prepare Yourself To Forego Justice
The most efficient route might also be the most difficult. You may have developer who is demanding money. Find out how much money they are demanding in exchange for your domain name and get this demand in writing. It could be helpful to your case if a legal battle ensues.
Enlist the help website consultant you trust to communicate on your behalf.
I Purchased My Domain When I Signed Up For Google Workspace
If you purchased your domain during sign-up, your domain is hosted by a Google Workspace partner host.
Follow these steps to identify your domain host. Then select that host below for steps to unlock your domain.
Sign in using your administrator account .
A window opens and shows your partner host and domain registration information.
The Domains page opens in a new tab.
The Domain Settings page opens in a new tab.
To unlock your domain:
To unlock your domain:
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Set Up An Email Address
Does any business run day-to-day without email anymore? There might be a few people holding out, but for the most part, using email is an integral aspect of running a website / company.
Not only is email the most common form of business communication, its also a hugely effective way to inform customers of new products and offers. Well get further into email marketing later on, but first, lets set up a professional email address for your domain.
For this, were going to already assume you have a hosting package that comes with email.
Receive mail and be as happy as Ralph
First, youll need to think about what your email address is going to be wed recommend keeping it personal, something like or something simple such as .
The shorter the better, as misspelling an address is a common reason for emails not reaching their intended recipient.
Getting an email address set up via your host should be the easy part. Here at LCN it couldnt be simpler: Just log in to your LCN account and look for the Email addresses icon on the my account page.
Wondering why you should get email working on your own domain instead of using a free service like Gmail or Hotmail? Having an address like plastered over a company van doesnt really scream professionalism.
What might your email address say about you? The Oatmeal
Considering it costs so little, there are few excuses for a modern business to be without a custom domain and email address.
How To Register A Domain Name
+ Ways to Get it for Free
Are you looking to register a domain name, but dont know where to start?
Part of creating a website, is buying a domain name that has to be unique.
In this step-by-step guideline, were going to show you several options on how to register a domain name and also cover some commonly asked questions that might pop up in your mind while registering a domain.
Ready? Lets first start by explaining why is it crucial to choose a good domain name.
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What To Do If Your Domain Name Isnt Available: 13 Strategies
Its part of the struggle of running a business in the digital age.
You come up with the perfect business name.
You design business cards, start all of the official paperwork, and tell everyone about it.
But when you go online to register the domain name, you discover something horrible.
Your perfect domain name is taken.
What do you do?
Do you give up your perfect name? Do you modify it somehow? Add a couple random dashes or underscores? Choose a weird domain name ending ?
Its one of the toughest situations to face as a business owner. It can bring your progress to a screeching halt.
This situation makes you rethink your entire brand.
The question remains: What do you do when this happens?
Ive gotten this question hundreds of times before, and Ive also heard some solutions to this problem.
Quite frankly, not all of those solutions are good.
Your domain name is a big part of any SEO campaigns you run, and it will affect your performance.
If you make a misstep with your domain name, it can negatively impact your SEO in the long term.
A large amount of your traffic will come from users who search your brand name. Its called navigational search. Thats why its good to use your brand name as your URL.
But if you cant, dont worry. There are alternatives that will still work for you.
Over the years, Ive seen what works and what doesnt. I want to share what Ive learned so you dont have to make any mistakes.
What Can I Do With A Ca
Host a website or build an online store
A website or online store is an obvious and powerful way to use your domain name.
Create your own .CA email address
Your .CA domain name can be used for personalized email addresses
Link your .CA to your social media profile
You can forward your .CA domain to another online or social media profile, like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Etsy – anywhere you want.
I think a .CA will always be the number one domain for us partly because of the brand value that Canada has abroad the quality that Canada brings, the brand recognition. I personally believe that a .CA has more brand appeal internationally than a .com does.
Connor CurranFounder and Chief Laundry Folder at locallaundry.ca
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Verify Your Site With Google Search Console / Webmaster Tools
Google, as you may know, isnt actually the internet, nor does Google actually search the entire World Wide Web.
What Google actually does is search their index of the internet. This index is created by relentlessly scanning the web for new sites, pages and content. This is how Google can provide search results so quickly.
This makes Search Console an absolute necessity for any website looking to get found online via search.
Not only does it help Google find your site in the first place , but it also helps them keep track of changes and updates to your site, such as new pages and content.
Since Search Console spots any errors Googlebot may find with your web pages, you can easily identify and fix common problems including
- 404 pages
- Server error
- DNS errors
- Thin content
- Penalty notices
You dont need to use Search Console in order to be included in Google search results, but you get a heck of a lot more control over how Google processes and views your site and its content so why wouldnt you use it?
Setting up Search Console is pretty straight-forward, and it wont take you long to get to grips with the basics either.
How To Recover From A Domain Name Hijacking
Even with over 15 years of experience working on the Internet, and having owned a large online retailer for the past 8 years, I had never heard of and wasn’t familiar with domain name hijacking. That is, until it happened to me. On Feb. 3, 2015, my company’s domain name — a very valuable one at that, as ShadesDaddy.com is a large, independent Internet retailer of eyewear as well as a content business — was hijacked by Chinese hackers.
How did this happen? Hackers got into our registrar account, changed all of the information on our account and went ahead and transferred the domain name from our account to their account in China. This is an increasingly common tactic by hackers, as it can be very lucrative depending on the domain name that has been stolen. These domains are used to redirect traffic to other websites or even sold on the black market.
Overnight, we lost our most valuable asset and were out of business. The domain name now redirected to a Chinese website that sold counterfeit merchandise from sunglasses to anything else you could imagine. They had all of our traffic and we were losing thousands of dollars daily in revenue.
1. Understand the Role of the Company That Runs the Domain Name
There are two names in the domain world you need to be aware of, as well as understand what they do:
2. Alert Your Registrar Immediately
3. Lawyer Up
4. Expedite With a Court Order
5. Make Noise
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Domain Expired Now What Heres How To Recover Your Domain Name
Apr 11, 2017 | Domains
Yup thats you. Youre probably wondering how you ended up in this situation.
Lets review
Domain name renewal notices are sent to the primary email address on file 90 days, 60 days, 30 days, 15 days, 5 days, and 1 day prior to the domain expiration date, meaning you have successfully ignored 6 emails from us . This is mistake #1. When we take a look in your 101domain account we see that you have auto-renew turned-off . Youre busy and human, so naturally, you made mistake #3 of leaving the crucial task of renewing your domain in your own hands.
So here we are
Your domain name has expired and you are trying desperately to get it back. The last thing you want is for your domain names to fall into someone elses hands- a competitor, a domain squatter, porn site, etc.
Recovering an expired domain name
We have the largest selection of domains available anywhere- if a domain extension exists, we offer it at 101domain! Each gTLD and ccTLD brand has different procedures for recovering expired domain names , so as not to bore you with each individual domain extension recovery process well break down a few examples and if you have a question about your specific domain name drop us a message in Your Account.
New Domains
Country Code Domains
.MU domains for the country Mauritius are also trending as a domain hack for music and stand out in the ccTLD renewal policies with the steep redemption price of $2,000 USD !
How to enable auto-renew
Dont Let Your Domain Expire
While this might seem like an obvious one, youd be surprised by the amount of people who let their domains expire without even realising it has happened and we dont just mean hobbyists and small business owners either.
Back in 2003 software giant Microsoft forgot to renew its Hotmail.co.uk domain name. Luckily for Microsoft the guy that re-registered it after expiry was kind enough hand it back. Disaster averted just.
The chances are, whatever happened, a huge company like Microsoft would have got their domain name back eventually anyway, but for hobbyists and small business owners this could prove a lot more difficult and stressful especially if you havent gone through the proper copyright and trademark procedures.
The easy way to avoid all this is to just remember you need to renew your domain, and do it nice and early. Most domain registrars, like us at LCN, give you 90 days notice prior to expiry.
Not only that, but in most cases you can register or renew your domain name for up to 10 years, usually whilst making some big savings for renewing over a longer period.
As well as setting up auto-renewal, you can make sure your contact details are always up to date, this way we can always reach you to notify you of any services close to expiry.
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