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How the recent ICANN changes affect your website

Do you own a website domain? Are you considering becoming a domain owner? If so, there have been recent changes to your domain name that took effect on January 7th, 2014. If you want to keep your website live and online, please read through this entire post.

To start, let’s talk about ICANN.

What is ICANN?
ICANN, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, manages and controls the distribution of domain names, ensuring that each URL is unique and has an associated IP address. That being said, ICANN has a range of rules and regulations that domain registrars (companies who have the authority to sell domain names) must follow when distributing domain names.

As of January 7th, ICANN added a new rule, stating that each newly registered domain must have a validated email address within 15 days of registration. Moreover, any existing domain owner who updates user information or has had a domain notification email bounce (for example: renewal or WHOIS data reminder), must validate his or her email address as well.

Say what?
Don’t worry. It’s simple. You’ll be done with just a few clicks. We’ll walk you through it.

If you have recently purchased a domain from Yola, updated your domain registration contact information or have had a domain notification email bounce, we will send you an email on behalf of our domain registrar, OpenSRS. This email will ask you to click a link to validate your contact information.

When you click that link, you will see the screen below. It should show your first and last name as well as your email address. You will then be asked to confirm that these details are correct, agree to the terms and conditions and click submit. ­Easy peasy!

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When will I receive this email?
The day you register a new domain name, update your registrant information or have had a domain notification email bounce, we will send you the email to the address that appears in the “Domain Registration Info” tab of your Yola account. You can find this from the “Domains” tab in My Yola under advanced settings.

If you’ve registered your new domain before reading this post, do a search in your email for “Urgent action needed: Please validate your domain name(s).”

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If we do not receive a response from you, follow-up emails will be sent 5, 10 and 13 days from the time you registered your domain or updated your contact information. When you receive these follow-up emails, you will be directed to use the link included in the first email (sent on the day of registration) to validate your contact details. If the third and final follow-up email is sent and your contact details have not been validated (16 days after registration), your domain name will be suspended.

What this really means is that your website will go offline.

We don’t want this to happen to you, so please validate your email address. After purchasing your domain name or updating your registrant information, keep an eye out for these emails in order to prevent your domain from being suspended. If you do not receive the first within 24 hours of registration, be sure to check your Spam folder.

In the event that you are receiving contact validation emails due to a domain notification email bouncing, keeping an eye out for these emails may be a little more tricky, as they are unexpected. Do yourself a favor – check the advanced settings of your Domains tab now, and ensure your details are correct.

If you have any questions about ICANN or any of these changes, feel free to contact support – we’re happy to help!

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