Before Parking Your Domain Name for Free, is it G Rated?

Purchasing a domain name for a business has become as standard as ordering business cards. Even businesses that don't intend to immediately invest in a website will purchase a domain name and park it for later use. For those in the process of reserving a domain name, or have one currently parked, here is a word of caution and disclosure that could ultimately affect your bottom line.

In the early days the initial cost of a domain name was about ten times what it is today. The first domain name I purchased cost about $100, and today it would be less than $10. With the significant price reduction, it is affordable for a business to obtain a domain name that they do not intend to use immediately. Should the business delay, they may discover a competitor has snatched up their name. When a domain is not immediately directed to a website, it might typically be parked for free by the selling vendor. This is where the problem can arise.

Godaddy is a familiar domain vendor, and one I frequently use, due to their low prices and my satisfactory experiences with their customer service. A few months ago I encountered an unexpected situation with one domain I had purchased and parked for free at Godaddy. The domain was for a website intended for a local non-profit organization. We wanted to reserve the name, yet weren't ready to create the site. Free parking seemed to be the easiest solution.

Several days later I was notified by another member of the non-profit organization, asking why pornographic websites were being advertised from our parked page. I checked, and sure enough, the ads that were showing up on the page were not only pornographic, they were graphically pornographic. According to Godaddy's policy, websites they host are not allowed to contain pornographic material. With that being their policy, I never expected a Godaddy sponsored page to contain pornographic ads, linking to explicit adult websites.

Fortunately, we discovered this immediately, and contacted Godaddy. I assumed it was a glitch, and that the page had somehow been hijacked by a hacker. This was not the case. We learned that the ads generated on a Godaddy sponsored parked page are not censored. Adult, even graphically pornographic text ads, are allowed on pages where their ad generator deems appropriate. Apparently they believed our site was an adult site. The name of our website? Our-Story.org.

This clearly could have adverse consequences for the reputation of a business or organization, if a parked page went unchecked. While I continue to purchase domains at Godaddy, I no longer use their park for free option.