Be the Master of Your Domain

When someone asks us to prepare a proposal for a site redesign, I do a five-point analysis of the site that includes researching the status of the site’s domain name. It’s shocking how many times I discover the site owner doesn’t have direct access to their domain name controls.

Most of the time this is a simple oversight. The existing web vendor obtained the domain name for the client under their registrar account and just never got around to transferring it to the site owner. Every once in a while, I see web developers attempting to use the domain name registration to trap their client. That’s totally uncool. There’s almost never a good reason for the web developer to keep your domain name in their registrar account. We encourage our clients to create their own registrar accounts and simply give us the login information. If for any reason we don’t live up to their expectations, they simply change the password and choose another vendor.

If you’re a business owner that’s reading this and wondering who’s in control of your domain name, visit DomainTools and check out your domain information. Check to make sure there’s an email address listed that you check regularly, that you are the “Registrant”, and that you have access to the account listed in the Registration tab. If you don’t find a valid email address or you don’t have access to the registrar account, fix it right away.

Whoever controls the registrar account ultimately controls your website. Check your domain registration status today!