Domain name registration is an important…and fairly simple part of your website program. Domain name registration is the purchase and renewal of your URL, or website address. There are many providers through whom you can purchase your domain name: GoDaddy, Network Solutions, and eNom, just to name a few.

If you do not renew your domain name, your website will go down and the domain registrant may put up a placeholder that actually advertises for your competition.  Most domain registration providers give you a 30 day grace period to renew your domain. Once your website has gone down, your website provider should be able to republish it from the files stored on their server, however this process can take up to 72 hours while the domain name system updates the pointing of your domain to the appropriate server.

It is also important to make sure that your organization has a reliable and accessible contact listed as your domain name contact. One of the worst situations is for your domain name to expire and the person who is listed as the contact on the account to not be accessible…because they are on vacation, or perhaps have left your organization altogether. The domain registration company will require you to provide company documentation to gain access to your domain name…which extends the time that your website is down!

We take support many of our clients by purchasing and renewing domain names for them.  We set each of our domains for automatic renewal, and in the event that an issue with a domain arises, there are multiple contacts on our registration account who can resolve the issue.