Knowing your way around managing your domain name will pay off, especially if you need to transfer it to another registrar. So whether you are registering your domain name with us or somewhere else, there are a few basic things you should be aware of.
1. Your registrant email address is crucial.
When you sign up to get a domain name, you are known as the registrant. The email address you provide becomes the registrant email, and the reason it’s so important because it helps you prove your identity. For any major changes to the domain, the company will authenticate your identity by emailing the nominated address. Therefore, it’s necessary you have access to this address. You’ve probably had a few different email addresses over the years, and more often than not people will find authentication is being sent to an address they can no longer access. Keeping it up to date in your account can save a lot of bother and a phone call to the company.
If you can’t get access to update it, or the company have registered an email address that isn’t yours… read on!
2. You should be able to manage your own domain details.
The company you registered your domain name with should provide you with login details for a management area. In that area you should be able to update details like your email and phone number, whether the domain has privacy locks, and much more. Ideally you shouldn’t have to call or email anyone to gain access and update this info. Unfortunately, some domain name companies make this harder than it needs to be. Not naming any names, of course, but I have seen management areas that don’t let clients change their email address, provide hardly any info, and companies that register domains with their email address instead of their clients. Super inconvenient when you need to update that all important registrant email. However, they’re not all bad – Crazy Domains, GoDaddy, and more (like us of course!) all have accessible, easy to use domain management systems.
3. Transferring your domain requires a password.
This password exists for the purpose of transferring your domain from one company to another, and it is not the same as your login password to your domain management area. It is usually a combo of letters and numbers in uppercase and lowercase. There are a number of ways to find out what this password is. Some companies allow you to view it in your domain management area, others will email it to the – you guessed it – registrant email address.
4. Once you have a domain name, companies will try to sell you more.
So you’ve registered myfabulousbusiness.com.au and myfabulousbusiness.com. You get an email from a company suggesting you also purchase myfabulousbusiness.net.au, or another variation. Is there any point? Well, if you want to invest potentially hundreds of dollars in making sure you’re the only one who owns variations of your domain name, sure. But there’s actually no benefit to buying multiple domain names. Fact: Even if you buy up every relevant domain name, it doesn’t mean it’s more likely people will look at your site. This practice doesn’t help your rankings on Google, and can even have a negative effect, as explained here:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/8/prweb10982626.htm
This is only the tip of the iceberg, but hopefully I’ve helped to shed some light on the mysterious world of domain names.