Shout With Joy

Are you sure you’re setup as the registered owner of your domain names?

Almost everyone knows by now how important it is to secure your brand name, and even your personal name, by registering it as a domain name on the Internet.

Registering your Domain Names should be an easy process. Don’t let anyone tell you that it is complicated. But it is very important to remember, that if you aren’t going to register your own domain names, be sure to tell the person or company registering it for you, to set YOU or YOUR COMPANY up as the Registrant (Owner) of the domain name and this registration should also be completed with your contact information, including phone number and an email address that you monitor. The Administrative Contact and Billing Contact should also be setup as you or your company. The tech person registering the domain name (other than if it is you personally) can register themselves as the Technical Contact, but only with your permission of course.

Too often we have seen, and personally worked with, clients who run into problems and issues with their domains being registered in someone else’s name, when all along they thought they were the owner. We’re not saying that everyone is out to scam you, but please be sure that your domain names are registered with you in charge. If you aren’t setup as the Registered Owner and/or Administrative Contact of your domain names, then whoever registered your domains and set themselves up as the Registrant, Admin Contact, etc., well, they are technically the owner and you’ll need that person’s or their company’s approval to make any changes and updates down the road.

An easy way to verify domain registration information is by going to any link to the WHOIS database. Once there you’ll be able to key in any domain name and see who a domain is registered to. That is unless they have private registration. But if your domain names were registered privately without your prior knowledge, then you should be asking even more questions.

This should be taken seriously. We have a client who has had to wait 5 years to gain back control of his domain name from a past colleague. And that domain name was our client’s personal name. The ownership rights here were so blatantly obvious, but still, there was nothing that could be done without a lot of work and a lawyer, maybe two. There was even incorrect information being posted to that domain’s hosting account about the true owner of the domain and no amount of communication could get it taken down. It wasn’t defamatory enough to raise the proper bells and whistles.

Another client we have been working with for about 2 years, has a yearly domain name registration that is about to expire again. This year, we have been unable to get in touch with the person who originally registered the domain. We have now started the process of trying to have the domain account transferred, but it still takes multiple forms and time we won’t have in order to keep the website live. If the domain registration expires, we’ll have to wait 30-60+ days for it to hit the streets again, leaving it open for re-registration. What if a moments delay, leaves the domain registration open to someone else? We’ll have to monitor this one closely (daily), to be sure nothing goes wrong. All of this could have been avoided if the registration had been done properly to begin with.  Don’t even let trusted employees register your brand, your company’s domain name under their name, with their email address, as part of the company. Unless you have access to that email address, you’ll be stuck should that employee leave and/or become disgruntled.  It’s like a contract, be sure to dot all of your i’s and cross all of your t’s.

All of this can apply to the registration and setup of Hosting Accounts as well. It’s not as serious because you can always just let the Hosting Account go and point the domain name to a new hosting plan account. It may just costs you some money. But the domain registration is a completely different story. Do your due diligence and give it all one quick check as your domains and web hosting accounts go live.  You’ll be very glad you did, if, and hopefully only if, something or someone goes astray.

Want us to help check your domain’s registration data? Contact Us, we’ll he happy to help in every way we can.