Your domain should be your property!

So you finally decided that this “web thing” is here to stay and you need a website.  The first thing you need is a domain name.  A domain name is what comes between the “www.” and then the suffix which in most cases is “.com”.  For my company outr domain is WEBv5.com. 

I am working with a client now who decided they needed a website and found a web developer who could help them build their site.  The website developer got them a great domain name for their business and developed them a website.  Then things went south…

Now the web developer and the client are no longer on good terms.  They came to me to help them get their website back up as their developer took their website down. 

I called GoDaddy.com where the domain is registered.  I figured their must be a way to get the domain back for the client, but I was wrong. (My wife says that happens a lot) 

Moral of the story: Domains are the property of the “registrar” (the person who registered the domain) not the business described in the domain.  So if your website development company has registered your domain you should ask that they put it in your account.

The process is really very easy.  First, go to GoDaddy.com or another registrar – there are thousands to choose from but GoDaddy.com is the biggest and the best – and create a free account. Then, ask your website development company to move your domain into your account.  They will “push the domain” into your account and then GoDaddy.com will ask you to accept this domain in your account.

This way your domain is under your control all the time.  You may have a great relationship with your website development company, but what if something goes wrong, or the company gets sold, or disolves.  You need to have control of your domain.

A couple of other thoughts on the subject:

1. Did you know that the length of time your domain is registered for is a part of your overall SEO score.  Search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing figure that if your website is registered for only one year into the future you might be a fly by night organization and that lowers your SEO score.  If you have your domain name registered for 10 years (the max) then they figure you are here to stay.  Domain name registration costs only about $10/year.  If you plan on being in business for the next ten years, pay the $100 and get the domain for the long term.

2. Domains can be registered for upto 10 years into the future. If you register a domain today and register it for 10 years, next year you will be able to add one more year to the registration.  This way you will always have the domain for the next 10 years.