Annual Website Search Engine Listing

By Michael Dorausch, D.C.

I received a notice today from a corporation listing service that was reminding me to renew my domain name (in this case it was rssware.com – forgot I even owned it).

If you own a domain name you’ve probably received a letter similar to the one I received today. It looks like an invoice but it’s actually a solicitation for domain registrar services. If you take the time to read through the notice, you will see that the very bottom states “This is a solicitation for the order of goods or services, or both, and not a bill, invoice, or statement of account due.”

I wonder how many hundreds (or thousands) don’t realize this is not an invoice and send payment for at least $35. The back of the notice has directions on how to make a payment, and it looks very much like an invoice. There is a section that says Current Payment Details with an annual listing amount of $35. Reading through the entire notice, one can see that there is no “amount due” information listed anywhere. Domain owners are under no obligation to send money to this domain listing service.

I wrote about this same company (or one that appeared similar), back in the summer of 2007, when I received a domain name expiration notice. I mentioned back than that I prefer to use GoDaddy when registering and renewing domain names.

I’ve used Godaddy since weeks after the company launched, and of purchased hundreds of domains through them, and referred thousands of others for their numerous Web services. GoDaddy girl Candice Michelle and her husband are friends of mine, and I like the philosophy of Bob Parsons, the company’s founder.

You can typically registered domains from GoDaddy for under 10 bucks (which is $25 less per year than what was being offered in the mailing I received) and that’s super affordable (unless you have hundreds of thousands of domains and need a bulk solution).

Glad I Received the letter, it reminds me to check up on all my domains registered at GoDaddy, and get them renewed for at least the next year. I typically like to register domains for multiple years, so I’m not having to do renewals each year.

Do some searches online for coupons or discount codes or subscribe to GoDaddy e-mail newsletters and you’ll likely save yourself some bread when purchasing domains and other web site related services.