Do not let the registration of your domain name expire! Guard this name - the address that finds your site. Don't let the registration for www.yourchurch.org - run out. If it does, you probably will never get that special name back again!
Our web team keeps posted on the ABC/GRR web site a list of all churches in the Region with active web sites. From time to time I go through the list looking to see what churches are doing.
The first time I reviewed this list after setting it up, I found one church's web address lead me to a site that was not theirs at all. I checked to make sure that I had entered the address correctly. I had. What was more distressing is that the content of the site was what most of us would call raunchy, even pornographic. But, the address was the one that spelled out the church's name.
How would you react if you were looking for a church and entered or "Googled" what seemed to be a legitimate church name and found such material? How would you feel if you had heard that your church had a web site and you thought you'd take a look?
When I checked on this - after deleting this address from the list - I found out what had happened. Someone in the church had been given the responsibility of setting up and maintaining the new web site. No team was developed. After a couple of years, that person who was "doing the web site" moved away.
- The web site became grossly out of date.
- The web site stayed, unchanged, but not forever - only until its address' registration ran out.
- Then another company purchased the address' registration and changed the material at that address.
This often happens when only one person is responsible for a site; however, even when a team is responsible, if the church allows their ownership of their address' registration to run out that name is most likely gone. Even if one person or a group is keeping the site up to day, but no one renews the registration of the address, the church will end up losing its chosen web address.
Losing the address does not always lead to such an embarrassing situation;however, losing your original address is always at least very inconvenient. It means having to come up with another domain (address) that isn't being used, registering it with a reputable domain registration company, and putting out notices to your church, community, and world that your address has changed.
Complicating all of this is that your original name will still be used, but by someone else. This is especially true because of what has become known as "domain farming." There are people who have started businesses and make a profit from gathering up those addresses (domain names) whose registrations have not been renewed by their original owners.
These domain farmers register these domains in their own names. They keep the name active with a site composed of any material they wish hoping that the original owners will pay more to them to get it back.
If you are a church and this happens to you:
- You probably will not get this original name back.
- Grieve it. Put it behind you. Go on.
- Then compose and register another name.
- Publicize this change.
- KEEP THE NEW DOMAIN (ADDRESS) REGISTRATION UP TO DATE.
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