I suppose everyone at some point has fantasies about living off the fruits of their kayaking hobby. I don't seriously dream about that day, but I began thinking of owning the URL 'ckayaker.com'. It's always smart to plan ahead, to take care of the 'what if's' in life if you can.
The other day I applied for the 'ckayaker.com' name only to discover it was already taken! Imagine that! It was grabbed in July of 2005, before I began blogging. To make matters worse, the owner of the URL has done nothing with it to speak of. Go see for yourself!
Not to be outdone, I hurriedly bought the rights to 'ckayaker.ca'. After all, I am Canadian and proud of it. So now, if you want to reach my blog, you can use the URL ckayaker.ca. You'll discover an annoying banner ad at the bottom. Some day I may pay to have it removed, but not today. Today I'm buying a new watch to replace my old Casio which has broken after many years of service.
Oddly enough, I'm not the only kayaker who doesn't own their URL name. Looking around, I was surprised to find at least one other regular blogger who's site name is owned by another person. Want to guess who it is? ;-)
2 comments:
Something to watch ... you build an audience, people link to your page, you are rated and at the top of different search engines, and then you decide to host your own site, and your domain is claimed. I was surprised two years ago when I started my own blog that nobody owned "northern waterways." So I purchased it through a web host, and it is home to my WordPress blog. WordPress is very easy to use and has a lot of flexible features. And like many paddlers, controlling your own site is like riding a rapid, you get to choose your own course. Choose a reliable host, however, I made this novice mistake, and I'll have to move soon (it's too slow at peak times).
Unfortunately, domain squatting is a lot more common than people think. With the relatively low cost of domain registration, many people snag as many domains as possible in hopes of selling them to people willing to pay a premium price. At the same time though, some people register with good intentions to build a website or blog but just never get around to it. I'm guilty of the latter for a couple domains.
Anyway, do a whois on the domain and make note of the expiry date in case s/he doesn't renew.
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