Domain Spats & Disputes

As a website designer and developer, I have had the dubious honor of helping numerous clients recover a domain name that a previous webmaster was holding hostage or was unwilling to let go. I’ve read numerous reports on webmaster forums and blogs about hosting companies holding domains hostage, about domains being stolen through hacking or social engineering, and in myriad other ways.

Your domain is not only your home on the internet; it has value in and of itself. I’ve had clients with a 10-year-old domain that has tons of inbound links and gets tons of traffic from Google tell me, “Well, if we can’t so-and-so to turn it over, I’ll just get another domain that we can use.”

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have an aged domain with inbound links and strong search-engine performance, that domain is very valuable. If you have to start over with a new domain, with no inbound links and no search engine history, you’re crippling yourself. You’re likely to take a hit in traffic that is likely to last for a very very long time.

It’s worth a great deal of time and expense to gain control of your original domain so that you can continue using it. If you’re considering changing your site to a new domain, you should only do it after thinking long and hard about the consequences and the potential gains of the new domain. You should never switch to a new domain simply because someone is being a poopyhead about turning over your domain that you’ve been using for years.

Domains matter. Companies and individuals have huge fights over domains — in private negotiations, in ICANN hearings, in arbitration, in legal hearings and lawsuits. This site is intended to track and recap interesting domain disputes.

(BTW, we’re a “do follow” blog. Please leave your comments!)