Is Your Domain Incarcerated?

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You may very well be under the impression that you are the sole owner of your domain name. Are you absolutely sure that you are? Your domain name should be yours alone and it is extremely important to your business.

It is very important that you know as much as possible about your domain. You should know exactly where it is registered. You should also know who it is registered with. The sad truth is that many people don’t know anything about their domain at all.

What is a domain name?

Your domain name is the most important identifier of your website. If you don’t have a domain name, people will not be able to find all of the great content that you are publishing on the Internet. Your content is at the heart of your business. A good analogy is if someone were to steal the number off of  your house. If that were to happen, in order to ensure that you were protected from that occurring again, you would install an alarm or take some other protective measure that would deter anyone from doing that to you.

When it comes to your domain, the concept is the same. If you bought your domain name and took care of registering it yourself through a hosting company, such as GoDaddy or HostGator, you can feel secure in the fact that no harm will come to it and that nobody can touch it. In that case, there is a guarantee that only you own your domain. If anyone else tries to touch your domain, the hosting company will send you a warning, alerting you to the fact.

On the other hand, if you didn’t go that route and you got someone else to set up your web presence (they promised you that they would take care of everything), there is a very good possibility that when they registered your domain, they supplied the hosting company with their business information instead of yours. What commonly occurs after that is that they make you a prisoner to their web hosting company. If you hire someone whose prices sound too good to be true, they will probably take advantage of you in some other way—maybe through the hosting of your domain. The expenses surrounding hosting your domain should not be expensive at all. If you are quoted a high price, something is wrong.

The reality is that the domain name belongs to the person whose information is in WHOIS (a searchable database that is maintained by the registrar that contains information about domain names as well as the contacts that are associated with them). It doesn’t matter who actually paid for the domain. Anyone who wants to know can contact WHOIS and request information about any domain name, which server the domain name is on, where it is registered, and even when it will expire and thus become available to someone else to buy.

Here are some tips to ensure that only you are the registered, legal owner of all of your domain names.

  • Only buy your domain name from a hosting provider if you are sure that your domain name will be placed in WHOIS.
     
  • Beware of people who offer you a free domain name with their hosting package.
     
  • Always check out your domain name on WHOIS before you purchase a website.
     
  • Check out the legitimacy by searching for them on WHOIS. Search for the date of creation of the domain. This will let you know how long that particular company has been in business under that domain. 
     
  • Register your domain for a longer period of time rather than a shorter one, if possible.

Conclusion

Having a domain over which you have absolutely no control because someone else has done everything for you and has given all of their business information to the hosting company instead of your information is very dangerous. Never allow anyone else to take control over what is yours. If you find that you are in that situation, try to get out of it as soon as possible. Even if it means that you will need to register a new name with one of the reliable and legitimate hosting companies, do it. It will definitely be worth it to be able to have the control.

Just to reiterate, regarding your rights, if you are paying money for your web presence, make sure that you own the website, own the domain, own the copyright, own the analytics data, own all other data, own the content, and are able to move the contents to any hosting company of your choosing whenever  you like.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. Please contact us at CompuKol Communications for further discussion on how we might be able to assist you and your team and don’t forget to “like” our Facebook page.

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Author

  • Michael Cohn

    Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has decades of experience in IT and web technologies. Michael founded CompuKol Communications to help small businesses and entrepreneurs increase their visibility and reputation. CompuKol consults, creates, and implements communication strategies for small businesses to monopolize their markets with a unique business voice, vision, and visibility. Mr. Cohn earned a Master’s degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master’s degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.

5 Responses

  1. Hank Shrier says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Writing Mafia
    Discussion: Is Your Domain Incarcerated?

    Very sound advice. Setting up an account with a service such as Godaddy is very easy. Register your domain name BEFORE you hire someone to build your web site. Not having control of your domain name means that you don't have control of your business. The hosting or web building company can wait until you build a good business and then step in to seal it from you. Also be careful when you build a web site using a hosting company's tools. You may find that even though you own the domain name, you may not have the right or ability to move your sight to a different web host. It's expensive to save money
    Posted by Hank Shrier

  2. Juan Ramirez says:

    May I traslate this article to spanish, this is very interesting.
    thank you

  3. Prasanth Joseph says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: CXO (CEO, COO, CKO, CFO, CMO, CAO, CVO, CDO, CRO, CLO, CSO & CTO) Community
    Discussion: Is Your Domain Incarcerated?

    Who else could be the owner of a domain registered in my name ?
    Posted by Prasanth Joseph

    • Michael Cohn says:

      Prasanth,
      When registering a domain make sure that all 3 contact groups Admin, Billing, and Technical are registered under your name.