If you’ve ever registered a domain name, you presumably chose your business name, your family name, or something equally important. Now that the domain name is yours, the last thing you want is to lose it to someone else. You would likely be amazed to learn it happens nearly every day, to individuals and businesses alike. Fortuitously, a few simple steps is all it takes to help keep your domain name registration current and under your authority. But first, it’s beneficial to understand how a registrant can lose control of a domain name registration. There are two principal methods: domain registration hijacking and failure to renew a registration.

We won’t go into the explicit details of how scammers hijack a domain name registration, they generally take advantage of expired account information to assign a domain name registration to another registrar. So it’s especially vital to pay express attention to any email from a domain name registrar, Internet service provider, or Web hosting provider apprising you of a revision to your domain name registration account information. If you didn’t seek the change, contact your domain name registrar promptly.

Although accidental rather than deliberate, a domain name renewal failure is frequently a result of incorrect account data. For example, if the email address on record with the domain name registration is out of date, domain name renewal notices are unlikely to reach the registrant, who may not conceive that the domain name registration term is about to expire. To enable you to protect your domain name registration, adopt these simple guidelines:

• Lock It Up: Most domain name registrars offer means for “locking” your domain name registration. When the lock is activated, your domain name registration can’t be assigned to another registrar until you remove the lock.

• Keep It Current: Make certain the contact information on your account is current, especially email addresses, so that domain name renewal notices and other urgent messages will reach you.

• Keep It Private: Were you aware that the name and contact information for every domain name registrant is available in a public database called WHOIS? Network Solutions provides private domain registration, which ensures your privacy by replacing your personal data with different information in WHOIS and forwarding to you all non-spam email received at the alternate address.

• Make It Automatic: Sign up for automatic domain name renewal, which prompts an extension of your domain name registration prior it expiration. To diminish the interval of domain name renewals, you may consider purchasing a multi-year domain name registration, which is, in all likelihood, available at a discount.

In essence, safeguard your domain name registration by taking advantage of domain name services such as locking and automatic domain name renewal, and ensure your contact and billing information is current. Lastly, choose private domain registration to defend your personal information in the WHOIS database.