Tech with Tom: Tips on Web site registration

Editor’s note: Tech with Tom Kirkham is intended to provide practical information about a wide range of electronic products, software and communication issues. Tom has promised to use layman terms, where possible, and to avoid geeky acronyms unless using said acronyms are the build up to an off-color joke built largely around sophomoric innuendo. Seriously, this should be good stuff and it will post on Fridays (barring any breaking news from Steve Jobs or elsewhere in the Tech world). Enjoy.

Lets talk. I bet your company owns at least one domain name. Something like thecitywire.com. Quick, tell me who the registrar is.

Many businesses just tell their Web or IT company to “take care of it.” Others register the domain themselves but don’t remember who it was with, how much it cost, or when it is up for renewal. Still others don’t know their account login information.

Small businesses need to not only respect all of these details, but also to understand that a company Web site address is an important and valuable part of their business. A properly built, purposeful website is a valuable method of marketing and corresponding with your customers and suppliers. If you were to lose the domain name, the site goes down and all the corresponding investments in marketing the site.

Have you received what appears to be an domain name renewal notice stating that your domain name is at risk of expiring? It looks important, and the “invoice” explains that if you don’t send in a check to renew, you might lose your domain name. Remember telephone slamming, when your long distance telephone provider would suddenly change? This is domain slamming. The “invoice” and corresponding payment if you were to make it would transfer your domain to another registrar, usually at a higher price, and it is difficult to manage the domain name at this point, so if you want to move the site to another hosting company or make other changes you could be in trouble. A legitimate registrar will not snail mail an invoice, and it is likely that when you purchased the domain name, it is setup to auto-renew using you credit card.

Perhaps you have a new business idea, or have thought of a clever domain name to register. Here’s something to know. Some registrars practice “domain name front running.” If you use one of the registrars that do this, when you search for a domain name, the registrar “holds” the domain name for five days, preventing another registrar from registering it. Sounds great right? Except for one thing, they only hold the domain for themselves, not for you. Should you choose to use another registrar to register the domain name, too bad. You will have to wait five days for the hold to be removed. Another person could beat you to it using the registrar you originally used to search for availability.

I could name names of the bad registrars out there, but lets just say I am not a fan of Network Solutions. The largest, and I believe the best, is Go Daddy. Yes, the Danica Patrick Go Daddy — the somewhat cheesy and frequently banned Super Bowl advertiser.

But, they don’t front run domains and their prices are some of the best. Be aware however that most registrars, Go Daddy included, move you through a gauntlet of up-sell, cross-sell and sell-sell in the checkout process. Take your time, read all the options, and check or uncheck appropriate boxes.

Domain Tips:
• Leave “auto-renew” turned on so you don’t let your domain name expire. Expired domain names, even for a day, are much more expensive to renew, and after grace periods of anywhere from 30 to 90 days, are up for re-registration. By someone else.

• Unless you are an extremely underfunded startup, go ahead and register the name for 5 or 10 years. This minimizes the chance of yearly expiration, frequently gives a discount, and as an added bonus, some think it improves search engine rankings especially for brand new domains.

• Know the registrar and your account login credentials. You will need them to change Web site hosts or to update expired credit cards. An expired credit card will not auto-renew the domain name.

• Consider registering the .net and .org versions of your domain name if you are registering a .com. Larger companies own literally hundreds of variations of their domain and company names as defensive measures.

• If you can’t get the .com version of a domain name, consider changing the domain name. People naturally assume that the domain name is a .com. Even if you’ve said “dot NET”.

• Consider paying extra for private domain registration. This way, when that “invoice” comes in, it does not automatically get paid by your controller or accountant.

Notes on Tom
Tom Kirkham is the publisher and co-owner of The City Wire. Tom also is host of the Tom Kirkham Show on Newstalk KWHN 1320 AM, which airs each Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. He also owns and operates Kirkham Systems, a computer, communication and networking company. Tom has more than 20 years of experience in business and technology, and claims to be a photographer, jazz lover, Cajun food expert and dog rancher.

You can reach Tom at [email protected]