Registering Your Domain Name

One of the common issues I keep seeing with many clients is that they don’t actually own their domain name even though they think they do. Unfortunately this is something that happens quite often to unsuspecting new domain owners.

So here’s what happens… A client wants to build a web site for their business. They find a web designer, they tell the designer that they need a domain name and most web designers can help here often reselling domain name registration at a profit. Sometimes a huge profit depending on if they are pretty unethical. The web designer then registers the domain name but instead of registering the domain in the clients name they register it in their own name.

So what’s the big deal? Well, if you ever want to change web designers for any reason you might find that you can’t access your domain which could have serious implications particularly if you have built some serious brand awareness.

An example, a friend of mine has a website and has had it for quite a few years. His domain name is his businessname and many people know the site and the domain name.
I told him I could save him some money by changing his web hosting however I find out that his current web host also registered his domain name for him and you guessed it… it’s registered in the company name of the reseller hosting provider. So that throws a serious spanner in the works and could cause some real problems for my friend if we want to move the site.

So either register the domain name yourself or make sure you mention to the web designer that you want the domain registered in your name not theirs.