Looking for the perfect domain name for your new website?
Before you open up your internet browser and starting searching for domain names, think twice. You could find that your domain name is snatched before you have a chance to go back and register it.
Cyber squatters take advantage of the fact that there are ways to “steal” someone’s domain name. The idea is to hijack someone’s domain name so they have to buy it back from the squatter. There are many variations on the cyber squatter formula for stealing commerce from good honest internet businesses, but the two that I want to highlight are:
1. Cyber squatters watch for expiring .com domain names, and snatch them up before you get a chance to renew them. Lesson - don't let your .com domain names expire. Always renew in advance.
2. Cybersquatters buy domains that are being searched before they are purchased. It is such a strong urge to type the domain name into the address bar and see what website comes up. Most users think perhaps there is already a company using the name and this will be a quick end to the question. Wrong! This is the most dangerous thing to do. Internet Service Providers (ISP) sell NXD data. (NXD Data is a response the systUpdateem tells the asking computer if resolution on an IP address fails because the domain doesn’t exist.) Lesson - Avoid address bar guessing, and go directly to trusted registrars and whois companies. Jay Westerdal gives his advice in his blog on the subject.