Last week we presented our domain name industry report at our first .uk registrar conference. It was well received and has provoked subsequent interest from a broader audience.

The report shows that the domain name industry both globally and in the UK is healthy. The report demonstrates the extent of the uptake of the Internet in the UK. It reveals areas of potential future growth and gives pointers as to current trends in domain name registration and the changing nature of the UK registrar market.

It’s clear that despite impressive growth to date, this is still a relatively young and certainly rapidly changing market. Trust remains a key issue for consumers and businesses alike. The winners in the industry will be those that have developed the strongest, most trustworthy reputations.

Another finding that stands out is that businesses and individuals should prioritise renewing their domain names, as failure to do so could result in their online brand identity being snapped up by someone else. It shows that 70% of registrants renew their domain names, and a large proportion do so well ahead of time, either a month (25%) or a day (14%) before they are due to expire. However, a surprising 14% of businesses do not renew their domain name until the day after renewal is due.

Renewing a .uk domain name is a relatively easy process, and it is possible to renew the registration up to 6 months in advance of its expiry date. For full details please see here.

However, if a registrant has incorrect contact information associated with the domain name they may not receive any renewal reminders from Nominet or their registrar. In such cases they may lose the domain name when it is eventually cancelled and made available for re-registration.

Based on current renewals trends revealed in the report, in the next two years alone, over 140,000 .co.uk domains will be re-registered in less than 10 seconds after they become available. There is an active market in buying, selling and storing domain names, with regular sales exceeding £100,000 and peak values reaching more than £1 million. Domain names are either being registered for resale or for monetisation, by creating a web site that makes money for the registrant through pay-per-click and affiliate advertising.

The point here is that there really is no good reason for any business or individual to lose their domain name in this way, provided that they keep their contact details up to date, and advise their registrar that they wish to renew.