What does a domain name mean to you?

Recently on 9 August 2013, domain name of a well known travel portal Yatra.com was expired. Their IT person or the managing team forgot to renew it before the expiry date. This made their website inaccessible till they renewed it. So did renewing the domain solve their problem? Well, certainly not. It takes approx 24 to 48 hours globally to reflect this change.

Once a domain name is expired, it goes to the parking page set by the registrar. It may or may not show related advertisement on your site. So, as a matter of fact it is possible that one such time, your site is showing advertisement of your competitor. Quite horrible right? Once renewed, wait for 24 hours and pray it starts reflecting your website content sooner.

Lets learn a lesson from this fiasco

• If you wish to do a serious business, always make sure to register your domain maximum number of years. QualiSpace provides domain name registration for maximum up to 10 years.
• If your domain name is coming up for renewal, why waiting for last date? Either way, it is going to add year(s) to the current date and nothing to date or month. From QualiSpace, you start getting renewal reminders 30 days advance. So, it is always suggested that you renew it immediately after first reminder and. Its like just shutting door of your office and not locking it because you think you are coming back in some time. You never know what will happen in that some time.
• Always renew your domain for maximum number of years. Domain name is an online identity of your business so why to take a chance?

Few points to note about domains

• Always lock your domain to protect it from unwanted transfer.
• Always keep domain contact on your own name. Remember, domain is your intellectual property, so it must be on your name.
• Always check your email regularly which is listed as registrant and admin user.
• Almost all the registrars provide control panel including QualiSpace. Make sure you have your panel with you.
• Always white-list the email id of your service provider. Remember, service provider will update you via email, so do not miss one.

Few inputs by Vinay Murarka. Vinay is Cyber Consultant.

• Domain whois contact should never be on a personal name but should be a generic name like Domain Admin or Hostmaster etc.
• For any kind of subscription services, whether it is domain name or web hosting or any legal services, make sure to use common email id like hostmaster@domainname or legal@domainname or billingadmin@domainname etc.
• All such email ids should be forwarded to multiple persons in the organisation. So that any notification is received, it goes to multiple persons and it is not missed.

Few references of yatra.com domain renewal fiasco

• https://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/1873176/report-yatra-com-forgets-to-renew-domain-name-site-inactive
• https://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-08-12/internet/41331337_1_domain-name-yatra-com-social-networking-sites
• https://www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/Yatracom-forgets-to-renew-domain-name_17159.html