Sword Saint Studios

Just because you have a website about your business does not mean you actually own it.
I ran into a situation recently where a client had this problem.  Their website was built for them by an out-of-state company.  It was a nice looking site but they were looking for some local help to make some changes to it.  As a standard practice I checked the WhoIs listing for the site.  I found that the domain name was set to expire in a few weeks.  I also found out that the domain name was actually registered to the company that developed it for them.

I recommended that they get in contact with that company and get the registration changed to show them as the domain owner.  They tried several times to contact this other company with no response.  It turns out that the other company has gone out of business.  Now their domain registration has expired and they are having trouble getting the name back.  They are working with the domain registrar but it will take them awhile.  Meanwhile their website is in limbo.

If you or someone you know has a website and they did not register the domain name personally, they should check this right away.  Go to Whois.com and click on the link that says Whois lookup.  It will take you to a page that has all of the important information about the domain registration.

If you have any experience o war stories on this issue, please comment below and share it with us.