Domain Name Scandals!

If your domain name falls into the wrong hands it can be disastrous for your business.

Once you have a name for your business it’s important to secure the domain name which will direct visitors to your website. Your domain name is a vital part of your online presence, so you should take care of it. Unfortunately there have been several cases where businesses and individuals alike have forgotten to keep an eye on their domain name, and it’s not just the lower profile entities who are culprits.

Back in 2015, one of the least likely domain name scenarios hit the headlines when Sanmay Med managed to register google.com for a whole minute. An ex-employee of the search engine giant, Med stumbled upon the domain name due to a technical fault in the system and managed to purchase it for just $12, although the rights to the name were restored in next to no time.

While Google’s faux pas was in fact a mere technical difficulty that lasted less than a minute, there are many big names who neglect their domain name strategy and let their web addresses fall into the wrong hands through their own error. Back in 2014 Playboy fell foul of this. Following the release of London’s very own geographical top level domain name the playboy.london web address was snapped up by Michael Ross, a London resident who identifies as a self-styled “playboy”. As Playboy Magazine missed the right of reservation window for their domain name Ross was able to obtain it for himself; the ensuing legal battle could’ve been easily avoided if Playboy had simply registered their domain.

In more recent domain name news it was Jeb Bush – candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the USA – who fell foul of a domain name scandal. His online campaign hit the headlines this year when it was found that JebBush.com has been redirected to the website of Donald Trump, his campaign rival. His official campaign website is now Jeb2016.com, which we think doesn’t have the same ring as his full name. Certainly much misdirected traffic has ended up on Trump’s website as a result of the redirect.

Forgetting to renew your domain names – or even neglecting to register them in the first place – can mean disaster for your business. Your domain name is vital to your company as it will guide much of your website traffic to the right place; if you forget to renew the web address your customers who are familiar with your site will not be able to find it, or could even end up on a competing site if the domain name gets snapped up by a competitor.

Domain names are relatively cost effective – especially if they aren’t considered “premium” – and are worth the investment. When you consider the amount of revenue you could lose out on if your customers can’t visit your website, or are redirected to a competitor site, the cost of registering and renewing your domain name certainly seems minor in comparison.

If your domain names are registered with UK2, you can opt to auto renew them. This feature is available from within your control panel; you simply select your domain name and choose “auto renew” from the dropdown menu which may currently say “manual renew”. Once your domains are set to automatically renew you don’t need to worry about them falling into the wrong hands, but be sure to keep your payment details up to date so our system can automatically bill you when renewal time approaches. We’ll notify you by email if there are any problems with your renewal, so make sure your contact details are also up to date to be sure to know when expiry is approaching.

Register your very own domain names now over on our website!