Thread: Do You Own Your Domain Name?

Since forum category is, in a sense, my baby, Id like to kick it off with a warning. This is an internet marketing problem I find a lot in my job, and whenever I get involved with a new firm it's the first thing I check. A lot of accountants don't actually own their own domain names!

If you already have a domain make sure you actually own it!
Don't assume anything. Go online and check using any publicly accessible WhoIs database. These records tend to be incomplete, but you can pretty much always find out who the "domain name registrar" is. The "registrar" is the company that the domain name was registered through. Once you determine this go to the registrar's website. Each registrar will keep its own whois database. There's usually a link to it right on the welcome page. Search it again and look at the results. Are you listed as the domain owner?

The next thing to check is the administrative contact email address. This is the single most important piece of information on your registration. Registrars will use this email address as a security measure. In order to prove that you are who you say you are you need to be able to reply to their emails. If your email address isn't shown here then you may own the domain, but you have no real administrative control over it.

If your email address is listed, but is out of date, don't panic. Registrars have procedures for this. You'll just need to fax identification to prove you are who you say you are and they will reset it for you. If the email shown is someone else entirely you may have a problem.

If you're just getting started, register your own domain
A domain name is an asset of your business -- it belongs to you: There are some simple steps you can take when signing up for service (registering) a domain to ensure the record reflects this. Registering is a simple process and, when done correctly, will ensure that you maintain control of your address even in the event that you change website providers. Domain registration is handled by specialized firms called registrars including companies like GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Register.com, etc.

What to do if someone else owns your domain
If you are not listed on domain name, don't despair, it may be that a web host or other third part registered the domain in their name. Contact the company or person that set up your domain and ask them to change your records. Tell them you want to be listed as the registrant and the administrator, and you want your email address listed as the administrative contact email address. If this does not resolve the problem, you may have to consult with a lawyer with experience in such issues.

Here are some excerpts from one of my blog articles:

Some tips for domain name owners
Don't mark emails from your registrar as spam. You may miss important notices about your domain name, particularly in regards to expiration and billing. Non-payment of domain fees can result in your web site and email service disappearing with no advance notice, as described above. When you change your email address always make sure you log into your domain name registrars site and make sure they have the new email. Small steps like this may save you a huge headache when the time comes to renew your name or if you should forget your password.

Auto-renewal is a great service, but remember... your domain will only auto-renew if the credit card the registrar has on file is up to date! Beware of domain name scammers. Your registrar's competitors can access WhoIs records and they will often try to entice you into switching registrars or registering unnecessary domain names.

Some really good tips. Being a technology geek myself and in the business of buying and selling websites, I know first hand that it is important accountants take out some time register a domain name.

Sooner or later, one of the domain brokers will register your name and you will miss out. Even if you approach the domain name broker, you will be asked to pay a lot more money than mere $8/year right now.

I recommend godaddy, I have all my domains hosted there.

I couldn't agree more. I use GoDaddy for all my personal domain needs. The price is right, they have 24/7 phone support, and their techies know what an SPF record is for.

Do you recommend listing your details on the domain as I had a friend who listed his name and address and got people threatening him on other internet forums. I'm sure nothing came of it although it was slightly concerning that people who didn't know him went to the trouble of finding out his details so easily.

People could set the administration details to private. However the down side of this means if you ever want people to approach you with an offer for the domain they can't find your details to contact you. Unless you guys know a way around this?

Frankly, I don't use privacy services. If my name was Brad Pitt or Dick Cheney then sure, it'd be a no-brainer, but I don't think I need to worry too much about stalkers or terrorists.

My main reason for not using privacy services is accountability and transparency. I always check out domains "WhoIs" records before I do business with a new company, and while it's not a deal-breaker to find the domain contact info protected, it's a HUGE red flag. I'm a business owner. I'm asking people to give me money in exchange for a product I'm selling. They have a right to know who I am and be able to contact me, for better or for worse, at any time before, during, or after that sale.

Another reason I avoid privacy protection is that if they aren't already, it's only a matter of time before Google starts using WhoIs information as part of it's ranking algorythm, and I think you'll find protected domains treated with similar suspicion.

Good Grief! Two people recommending GoDaddy on this thread. All I can say is that I know a couple of people who have been badly treated by GoDaddy. Bob Parsons makes the best advertising videos ever, but I would not trust his services.

Really? I have always found the opposite to be true. I have always thought GoDaddy's ads were in very poor taste. Rather offensive actually. But the price is right, they are the only low-cost solution with 24/7 phone support, their tech support people usually know their posteriors from their elbows, and their UI is easy to use, intuitive, and very powerful.

If GoDaddy really doesn't ring your bell try Network Solutions. NetSol is three times more expensive, but they have a comparable service.

Avoid using "resellers". Often "domain registrars" are actually outsourcing their domain registration services to other companies. Many are fine (like me) and will use their reseller status to help their customers, but most are really really really bad and once they sign you up they wash their hands of you and pawn off your support on the actual registrar. Some even deliberately obfuscate your registration to manipulate you into using their services.

The worst experiences I've ever had managing client domains have been with Yahoo. Yahoo resells domains through a company called Melbourne IT, and while retail accounts with Melbourne IT are easy enough to manage, the Yahoo interface is a nightmare and their tech support is almost universally bad (especially for Web Hosting customers). I can't decide if they're being deliberately deceptive or just shockingly inept, but I strongly advise against registering domains through Yahoo.

Originally Posted by CPA Site Solutions

... I have always thought GoDaddy's ads were in very poor taste. Rather offensive actually...

I wholly agree. My earlier post had a typing error. I really think that videos of semi-clad young ladies prancing about are awful, wrong, immoral, indecent and abhorrent. I think I shall just watch them again, to rouse myself to a state of righteous indignation, and then do something about it.

I shall Tweet the President himself. He is following my Tweets. Yes, really! I am one of the select few that our nice Mr Obama follows, only 720,243 of us in fact. But if the President says he is following me, then he really reads my Tweets personally. One can always trust a President.

Unfortunately, I cannot trust GoDaddy. They setup a friend's DNS wrong, and for three weeks his sites blinked on and off the internet, while GoDaddy stoutly denied that they had done anything wrong.

I would never vote for Bob Parsons as President. I do not trust him. Also he degrades, abuses and debases young ladies by treating them as mere sex objects without respecting their human dignity. I would never do anything like that. Or if I did, I should feel ashamed of myself. Come to think of it, I might have an awful lot of shame heading in my direction, if I ever remember!

You're remarkably articulate for a man with his tongue planted so firmly in his cheek.

I wouldn't vote for what's his name as president either, but I'm not talking about giving the man veto power over federal legislation. All I'm saying is that I have had extensive experience working with Domain Registrars, and I have found that GoDaddy offers a superior product at a low price.

I'm not sure I understand the problem your friend had with Godaddy. It's not their job to do DNS setups, so saying they set up his DNS wrong doesn't really make any sense.

All your registrar is able to do is register the domain through ICANN and provide a Dynamic DNS interface, and this GoDaddy does extremely well. Your friend would be expected to set up his own DNS (or have a web professional do it).

It sounds to me like your friend was suffering from a case of GIGO. Most likely he was trying to do the DNS change himself without really knowing what he was doing, and DNS can get extremely complicated. If you don't know exactly what you're doing you need to hire someone who does. It's not reasonable to assume that a newbie can configure his own DNS beyond doing a simple Name Server change, and it's not reasonable to assume that GoDaddy tech support can know the correct DNS settings for someone else's server (website, email, domain alias, etc). Only the server hosts can provide this information.

In this much DNS is simple... If the information provided is wrong the DNS will fail and there's nothing a domain name registrar can do to change that. If it's right it will work.

This principle is called GIGO. In geek speak it means "Garbage In: Garbage Out".

Originally Posted by CPA Site Solutions

... I wouldn't vote for what's his name as president either...

Bob Parsons is GoDaddy's CEO. He's the old guy in the videos, surrounded by adoring young females. (Perhaps I'm partly anti-GoDaddy because I'm jealous! I want a job like that, provided I can take my work home with me. )

My friend had set up the front-end customer-side DNS parameters OK. Several of his friends, who have all set up DNS correctly for their own websites, checked out everything he had done. It was GoDaddy's back-end software that was malfunctioning. It wasn't so much the fault that was annoying; these things happen. It was that GoDaddy took so long to believe that it might just possibly be a fault at their end, and therefore took so long to fix it.